Are you ready for your workday?
Prepared to charge into your day’s activities? Set to take on life’s challenges as they come?
Or will you make it up as you go? Stumbling through your appointments and obligations, all the worse for the wear.
Being ready for your day makes everything go easier.
Ready to Work or Not?
Not being prepared sets you up for a bad day at work. You create your own stress, bad happenings, and daily mistakes.
Forgotten tasks. Unexpected events. Missed opportunities. These are self-inflicted examples of life friction.
If you have ever walked into a meeting unprepared, you know how awkward it can feel. Being unprepared feels like you are faking your way through your day. It leaves you racing at the last moment to complete a task or project before a missed deadline.
Yet, with a little preparation you could be ready ahead of time.
How much better would that feel?
“A little advance preparation can make all the difference in your workday.”
Here are just a few ways to be ready in advance of your workday:
- Ready to Work – Don’t fake your way through your work day. People can tell when you aren’t prepared. If your work isn’t done, or you aren’t aware of important information, it will be noticed.
- Prepared for Meetings – Prepare for meetings before they occur. Review the materials if you are an attendee. If you are the host, make sure the agenda is clear before you begin.
- Be Early to Appointments – Five minutes early is on time. (Maybe even 10.) If you try to show up at the exact appointment, you will most likely be late. Being early often brings advantages, even if it is just a moment to collect your thoughts beforehand.
- Finish Projects Ahead of Deadlines – Most people (and companies) don’t take deadlines seriously. This results in missed opportunities, and delayed results. Finishing before deadlines not only feels great, but allows for corrections, rework, and finishing touches.
Be Ready for Your Work
Starting your workday unprepared is a recipe for poor results.
It feels out of control. It is not enjoyable to be unprepared and behind the curve.
Spend a short time at the beginning of each workday to prepare for your meetings, tasks, and deadlines.
How much more successful would you be at work if you were prepared? And being successful feels great!
Question: How do you prepare for your workday? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Couldn’t agree more – thanks for sharing. Last year, I started making a habit of carving out the first 15 minutes of every day for planning and prep, even if it meant getting into the office extra early, and it’s made a huge difference in my day-to-day output.
Great post. I was just listening to a committee meeting last night where the BIG complaint to a department head was that a vital report was 9 months in coming. Wow!
Productivity apps are great for time and personal life management too, Tweio is coming soon for Android: http://tweio.com/