Interestingly, I made a note in my bullet journal to write this post after hearing some work hacks on a podcast.
Of course, I thought that, as a full-time working mother, I should also talk about my own work hacks.
So here we go with mine, and I’d love to know about your own work hacks too.
- I hold fast to my end-of-work-week routines
I wrote a whole post about this year. If you haven’t read that post, give it a read – I’ve been following that new work routine for more than 18 months, and it’s honestly, changed my work life.
2. I make a daily to-do list (also known as my Eat the Frog list)
This is linked to number 1, but not quite. I started a day recently with 3 meetings and only got back to my desk after lunch. I realised towards the end of the day that I was feeling unproductive. Do you know why? I ended up working in my inbox instead of on my to-do list.
3. I reply to emails straight after reading if I can, and then file/ delete immediately
This is one of my best hacks. It’s like the one-minute rule, but for your inbox. When you’re in email process mode (in other words, dedicated email time), read and answer, and then file or delete (I have always been in love with the delete button). Not all emails can get done quickly but if they can be attended to quickly, do so.
4. I make an agenda for meetings and circulate beforehand (preferably in the meeting invite notes), and I send out action points afterwards
It’s always useful to know why you’re attending a meeting and what you want to get out of it. Linked to that point, I try to make the meeting shorter rather than longer, and if I know a meeting is likely to run over due to chit-chat, I schedule it before another hard-start one, so I have a legit excuse to leave.
5. As far as possible, schedule days for deep work and days for meetings
I currently have the option to work from home occasionally and I protect that time for deep work. I probably get done on a work-from-home day what I get done on two days at the office.
It does mean that when I’m in the office, I usually have many, many hours of meetings, but I find that I’m more productive on a weekly basis than having meetings scattered on every day during the week.
I’d love to know what your best work hacks are so I can also add some tips to my arsenal 🙂
Do leave your comments, big or small, I want to hear them all.
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I take advantage of the work from home option and I find myself working from Home at least once a week and some weeks even twice and I find it has made a big difference to help with balance. Granted I started working from home because K has gymnastics on Thursdays at 4 (these things are clearly not geared towards full time working parents without au pairs)
I make a to do list about 3-4 times a week and that’s because I try to finish up the things on the list before making a new one. But I find it helps a great deal especially with admin tasks that are easy to abandon until they then become urgent!