Want to remain at the peak of your productivity and ensure your success at work? Most successful people have habits they carry out each and every day that help them achieve their goals, stay focused on their tasks, and simply get on with things. Though the right workplace rituals can make all the difference to your career, success in business requires hard work, persistence, self-confidence and kindness, among many other ingredients. While your position and how well it fits with your expertise and passion plays a role in your career success, your routines in the office can also affect your happiness and productivity. However, it can be hard to ensure your success when you have a never-ending to-do list. Try including these habits in your work days to supercharge your success: Just smile: Smiling lowers stress and anxiety. It can increase serotonin, the neurotransmitter in the brain responsible for happiness. Even if you fake your smile, there is still an increase in serotonin. Smiles are also contagious, so smile, even if you have to fake it, to improve your positivity, boost your activity and make yourself and your colleagues feel happier and more approachable. Focus on strengths: Don't waste valuable time and energy in an effort to be perfect at things that aren't part of your natural skills. Work on tasks that use your core strengths instead of trying to improve your weaknesses. Make a habit of prioritising as many of your true skill sets as possible on a daily basis. Give yourself enough alone time: You are valuable and worthy of time. But with hectic modern life, schedules jam-packed with meetings and family responsibilities, making time for yourself can be hard. So, try to schedule time for yourself and make it happen. Make yourself feel rejuvenated with a hot cup of coffee, or maybe a day at the gym or spa is more your style. Control your mental attitude: Regularly check your viewpoint, because negativity can govern your life, depressing not only your mind, spirit and body but also your productivity levels. The mood you bring to work can affect your morale and work performance and that of those around you. Challenge yourself: Set yourself goals and then push them a little higher and yourself a little further. Challenge yourself intellectually, physically and mentally. As soon as you stop, your success could stop too. Add healthy practices: Health is a mindset, and it is not about just going to the gym. Add one thing to your daily practices and focus on that. Then, once it has become part of your new normal, add another. Start with a nutritious meal. Include low-calorie, protein-rich food such as eggs or Greek yoghourt in your first meal of the day within one hour of waking. These can have significant impacts on your ability to perform at your best. Eat snacks or meals every three to four hours thereafter and stay hydrated by drinking at least four to six cups of non-sugary beverages at work. Avoid caffeine at the end of your workday to allow for adequate sleep after you leave the office. Educate yourself: Success requires knowledge. Research the topics you're interested in or learn a new skill by taking a course or class. There are countless ways to learn these days, so make the most of them. Learning also doesn't have to be all business or career-related. Take a break: Give yourself fixed working hours and work within them. It's not always about how much you work, and it can also be about how effective you are when you are working. One of the ways to improve your quality of work and effectiveness is to take a break and enjoy yourself. Celebrate your wins: Don't just reserve celebrations for big wins and big changes; celebrating the little achievements along the way can be just as important. Whether it's big or small wins, celebrating your goals helps keep you motivated, driven and balanced. Establish after-work habits: Your after-work habits help set the tone for your next day in the office. So, when you have a bad day at work, you may find yourself replaying the conversation that didn't go well over and over in your mind. This keeps your stress hormones high as it activates the same biochemical and hormonal processes in your body as when the event originally occurred. Allow yourself 10 minutes to decisively replay the event in your mind, identify what you can learn from the experience, and then close the flashback and move on. Another habit is to review three things that went well during the day or that you feel grateful about before leaving the office. This can become something to look forward to. No matter how tough the day was, end each day on a positive note and steer your brain towards habitual, positive, growth-oriented thinking.
