Equity & Help Inc

Schedule time for emails

It’s estimated we spend over 2 hours a day reading and answering emails. That’s a bit disturbing when you think about how much office admin you can do in 2 whole hours. 

Considering it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task when interrupted by something it’s worth also blocking out a particular time of the day that you use specifically for a team meeting and replying to emails.

Allocate a specific time of day for answering emails, rather than swapping between tasks and breaking concentration. For immediate stuff, there’s instant messaging, or even a quick chat.

Keep a notepad for ideas and reminders
Ideas can hit at any time, and we all know that even if we say we will, we will not remember them the next day. Buy a small notebook or grab some sticky notersd from inventory and jot down anything you want to remember or use later. It’s particularly useful when you’re on the phone and madly searching for a post-it.

When you’re stuck for inspiration, or want to jog your memory, refer back to it.

Ignore notifications. Temporarily…
If you need to focus, you don’t need productivity apps or notification blockers. Just turn your phone to silent and put it face down in a drawer.

It feels strange at first, but push notifications continually distract us, and app developers keep giving us more and more to look at.

Stand up every hour
The NHS advises we “move more, sit less.“ If you’re often at a desk, it could be slowing down your metabolism and weakening your muscles and bones gradually over time.

Stand up every hour, even just for a few minutes. Take calls on your feet, walk for 20 minutes at lunchtime, and park further away from the front door.

Remember, multitasking is a myth
It’s virtually impossible for a human to focus on more than one thing at once and do them both well. Our brain switches between tasks quickly, pausing one and picking up the other.

Have a to-do list, do each task individually, and tick them off. You’ll work through it far faster.

We spend a lot of time in the office and at our desk. Make that time count and keep your admin to a minimum.

Control the clutter
Let’s face it: clutter is distracting. The sense of disorganization that surrounds a cluttered workspace can seriously affect the happiness and productivity of your team. So before you attempt to improve your working environment by adding things, try removing things

We’re sure that, with some thought, you’ll come up with plenty of unique ways to keep your office environment clutter-free.

Take a natural light break
research shows that natural light has a significantly positive effect on mood, focus, and productivity. Get a healthy dose of natural light by sitting near a window or going outside every hour or two. Even just five minutes of light exposure is enough to improve your mood.

If sitting near a window or going outside isn’t physically possible, the next best solution is to use a small desk lamp that mimics natural light with softer wavelengths.

New technology even allows lamps like these to change automatically from the cooler greens and blues that occur in the morning to the warmer yellows and reds that occur in the afternoon.