Supercharge your performance at work

Whether you’ve just started a new job, or you’ve been in the same one for a long time, there'll be times when you feel lacking in motivation or you’re not achieving your goals. This can have a negative impact on how you feel about yourself, therefore, affecting your wellbeing. Ongoing stress or feelings of inadequacy can leave us feeling tired, anxious and even depressed.

Ways to supercharge your performance

So, what can we do to get our spark back and find the motivation to do better at work?

Listen to music

Many places of work allow their employees to listen to music either in the place of work or through headphones. Research undertaken by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information has demonstrated that instrumental music can improve your attention and increase productivity.

Stay healthy

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that eating healthily and keeping physically fit helps our bodies and minds deal with stress better. There are certain types of foods that can improve our focus and boost our mental energy. Water, fish, seeds, berries and vegetables are great brain foods which will aid concentration.

Get plenty of sleep

Although it might be tempting to get as much sleep as you can, too much sleep can almost be as detrimental to our health as not getting enough sleep. It’s important that we do get quality sleep though, so there are a few measures you can take to help with getting a good night’s sleep:

Make sure your bedroom is dark at night.

• Don’t drink too much before bedtime.
• Don’t watch television or look at a screen for an hour before you go to bed.
• Go to bed at a reasonable time and try to get between 7 and 9 hours sleep a night.

Keep learning

No matter how experienced or knowledgeable you are in your line of work, there is always something new to learn. Many employers will pay for staff training so long as it is beneficial for your job, so consider a course that will add to your skillset and knowledge.

Visualisation

This is a great way to focus and help you achieve your goals at work. Whenever you visualise situations with positive outcomes, you're creating neural pathways in your brain that will help you achieve your goals in the future. Find out more about the impact of visualisation on the brain in this study by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information.

Meditation

Practising meditation daily, either at home or in your lunch break at work, can increase levels of concentration which, in turn, will make us much more productive in the workplace. Meditation can also help us cope better with stressful situations, so we worry less and become happier, therefore improving our working relationships with others.

Staying positive through collaboration

There are many aspects to creating a successful work environment, but research shows that collaboration can play a huge part. A study undertaken by researchers at Stanford University in 2014 found that collaboration (even when physically apart) generates higher levels of engagement as well as a higher success rate. It seems even just feeling part of a team working towards a common goal is enough to increase interest, enjoyment and productivity in the task. 

Why is collaboration important in the workplace?

There are several reasons why collaboration plays an important part within any business:

1. Firstly, it can reduce monotony. While some people might prefer to work alone, it’s beneficial to work with others on certain occasions to reduce the tedium and repetitiveness. It can be easy to fall into a habit of wanting to work alone but in the long run this can lead to boredom, apathy and a lack of motivation. If you continue to work alone for long periods of time, it could begin to affect your mental wellbeing and positivity.
2. When working alone, you are also less likely to challenge yourself as it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. Working collaboratively with colleagues can ignite healthy competition, which means you will push yourself harder to achieve results, and this will also give you a greater sense of achievement.
3. Working in a team is a great way to inspire each other. Activities such as brainstorming can spark your imagination and make you think in more positive ways. When you’re inspired, you begin to feel more motivated, passionate and positive about the task at hand.
4. Working alongside others also allows you to share the burden of your job. Whether that’s talking about your worries or being able to delegate a task to someone who’s better equipped to do the job, it will certainly lighten the load and ease some of the pressure. With less to worry about, you’ll start to have a more positive outlook.
5. Another benefit of working collaboratively is being able to share your knowledge. Unlike working alone, you can teach each other new skills that you wouldn’t have otherwise gained. This can save you a lot of time trying to figure something out for yourself and by sharing systems, you’ll start to see much more positive results. This is not only advantageous for the company your work for, it’s good for your own development too.
6. There’s nothing better than experiencing a positive team spirit that not only brings everyone closer together on a work level, but also on a more personal level too. You can help each other to remain focused and positive during challenging times and offer support when it’s needed. Also, you can share the success with your colleagues and feel proud of being part of a team.