Take control of your work life
Many of us struggle with a feeling of a lack of control in our work lives.
Although we can’t control everything that happens at work, three areas we do have control over are:
Our own ingrained behaviours or habits
Our personal ways of working or routines
The amount of time we focus on important but non-urgent tasks we often ignore.
Our Habits
Changing our ingrained behaviour is not easy, but doing so can make a huge difference in our work lives.
How we communicate with others in particular can have a huge effect on our work. Habits like active listening, being less reactive, and giving constructive feedback can make our work experience more positive.
The good news is that the science of habit formation can help undo bad habits, and create new ones.
Our Routines
Changing our work routines can have a positive effect on our work life. This is particularly the case in areas such as productivity, health and well-being and thriving in a remote working environment.
Routines such as setting a daily highlight, keeping an accomplishments journal, or just taking regular breaks during the day can help us deal with the stress of work.
Important But Non-Urgent Tasks
In Stephen Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” he introduces a framework for task prioritisation using a matrix with four quadrants
Quadrant 1: Urgent and important
Quadrant 2: Not urgent but important
Quadrant 3: Urgent but not important
Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important
In our work lives, we often focus on Quadrant 1 tasks that are both urgent and important, such as tasks with project deadlines or crisis management.
When we get stuck in focusing on Quadrant 1 tasks can lead to a feeling of stress, burnout and a lack of control.
Quadrant 2 tasks are equally important, and include tasks like relationship building, learning and studying and strategic planning. If we can free time to focus on these we can get a better longer-term perspective, a sense of growth and fewer crises.
Lasoo
We created Lasoo to give people a sense of control over their work lives. It allows users to try better habits and routines, and focus more on the important long-term tasks that make our work lives better.
