Here are 35 random things you can do to improve your work day. Some of them are short term solutions for entertainment while others are about creating a deeper sense of satisfaction.
35 Easy Ways to improve your day at work
- Smile: Smiling makes you feel better as it releases endorphines and triggers happy thoughts in the brain. It also makes others more likely to smile back
- Eat fruit: Fruit is what mankind was supposed to eat. Full of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients it is a sure-fire way to make you feel better
- Drink green tea: Last week we had a look at the benefits of tea. Feeling happier is one of them
- Talk to a friend: Go and see someone in the building that you like to talk to. Conversation is one of the best ways to pick yourself up
- Get fresh air: Sometimes being indoors all day can be pretty depressing. Go outside and breathe some deep breaths of fresh air. If you work in the inner city try and go up to the roof as the air is better there.
- Get sunlight: Sunlight is one of the best ways to beat depression. The vitamin D that is produced when we get some sun is a natural anti-depressant. Get some sun.
- Leave the computer: The PC will be fine without you for a few hours. Turn it off and do some paper work or something a bit different. I sometimes think that the computer with all its electricity and heat is not good for the body. Get off it for a while and see how you feel.
- Run the stairs: Something I used to do at University when I was feeling a bit sleepy was go outside and run up the four flights of stairs. It gets the heart racing and the blood pumping and makes you feel a bit more alive.
- Watch Borat: Sometimes when work is a bit boring I go over and watch 10 minutes of Borat clips on Youtube. Nothing too deep but it always makes me smile.
- Talk in Borat’s voice: That always makes other people smile! “Sexy time!”.
- Meditate on the breath: Breathing meditation is incredibly relaxing. This is often all I need to make my work day better. I talk a lot about this in my free eBook Enlightening Stress Relief.
- Get a fresh juice: Take a look at the benefits of freshly squeezed juice. Take note of what someone says in the comments – this stuff makes you feel awesome!
- Lift weights at lunch: Lots of executives go to the gym in their lunch break. This is a great way to improve your day as it gives you something to look forward to as well as all the usual health benefits of working out.
- Exercise before work: A great way to pick yourself up for the whole day is to exercise before work. This gets your body and mind fresh and in a state ready to tackle the day.
- Get a motivational daily calendar: I got given this book for Christmas. It has amazing photos of buddhist temples and Tibetan landscapes and each day has a new quote. This is the best one I have seen on the market and it is a great addition to your workdesk. Read a quote at the start of the day and try to implement it into your work life.
- Do something for someone else: Sometimes doing something kind for someone completely out of the blue is a good way to make yourself feel better. I know it might sound a little selfish but at least you are doing something helpful. Why not?
- Make friends with someone you don’t like: It always feels good to make up with someone you have had a fight with or make friends with someone you don’t like. Give it a go. It will be one less stress on your shoulder.
- Try some organic coffee: Try replacing your regular brew with some organic fair-trade coffee. It tastes better and is good for the struggling people in Africa.
- Bring your Ug Boots: I know someone who brings their Ug Boots to work and leaves them under her desk and then when she gets to work she changes her heels for the warm sheepskin comfort! A little thing like that can make some people’s day a lot better.
- Delete all your emails: Something I try to do every few days is delete everything in my inbox. For some reason this makes me feel a lot less stressed.
- Reply to all your emails: Before you can delete them, however, you need to reply to them all. Set aside 30 minutes or however long it might take to reply to everyone and then delete them. See if you feel less weighed down.
- Clean your desk: A clean workspace is a much happier workspace. Try cleaning up some of your clutter and see if you feel a little less cramped in. It always works for me.
- Buy some flowers: The Buddhist masters always say that flowers in a room makes your mind feel light. My mother always puts fresh flowers around the house and it does make the area feel more friendly and warm. Try it on your desk.
- Watch Buddhist masters on Youtube: I like to watch videos of great Buddhist teachers on Youtube when I feel in need of a bit of inspiration.
- Stop thinking so much: Westerners think to much. That is what the monks in India tell me. You will be a lot happier and more content if you stop thinking about everything so much.
- Meditate on compasson: The Dalai Lama always says that if you want others to be happy, practice compassion. But, if YOU want to be happy, practice compassion. You can learn how to meditate on compassion in my free ebook which you can download here.
- Download FireFox Plugins: If you are still using Internet Explorer to browse the web you are way out of touch! Check out FireFox as it has so many plugins and addons that you can download to make your work day more efficient. There is a list of good ones here.
- Cut out foods that make you depressed: Take a look at some foods that make you depressed and try cutting them out of your diet while you are at work. It might be a good way to lift the mood of your day.
- Work harder: Sometimes I find that when I procrastinate I get a little down because I feel like I have not achieved anything important during the day. If I work harder I challenge myself and can go home knowing I’ve really done the best that I can.
- Discover Ask a Ninja: Need I say more. Ask a Ninja.
- Eat lunch with friends: Quite often at work everyone takes their lunch break at different times. However, if you can organize to have it at the same time with your friends and all go out for lunch it can be a great mood booster. I know someone who meets five other people from different firms around the city at China Town everyday for lunch. They all look forward to it and they all love it.
- Meet your spouse for lunch: It is always really nice when the two of you make time to meet each other. Suprising the other person is also a really nice way to cheer them up on a crappy work day.
- Open the window: Fresh air and some new noises always makes you feel less cooped up and can wake you up a little bit too. Get rid of the carbon dioxide and get some fresh oxygen.
- Forget Facebook: I do not really like Facebook. I think people spend far too much time on their looking at things that they don’t need to know. I also think it creates a lot of anxiety in people. If you cannot function unless you look at Facebook every two minutes then I think you have Facebook Syndrome.
- Add to this list: Of course!
Got any more to add?
Originally posted on May 30, 2008 @ 1:51 am
