Is your ‘A Game’ Slipping?

It happens to everyone, and it can happen to anyone. We get comfortable and we stop putting in the effort that we should do.

This happens as much in our careers as it does at home or in relationships. Over time we get a bit complacent, a little bit contented and we start taking things for granted.

This can result in a drop in performance and a drop in your work ethic, so to stop this happening, we’ve come up with some simple tips that you can put into practice each and every day to ensure you stay on top of everything.

1. Make a plan for every day – At the start of every single day, take 5 minutes at your desk and make a plan for the rest of the day. This will ensure that the tasks that are the highest priority get attention first. Leave checking your emails until after this plan is made and only respond to the ones that are absolutely urgent. Leave the rest until later.
2. Don’t lose sight of your goals – After a while, every day life can feel monotonous and routine and it can be quite easy to feel as though you’re going through the motions without actually achieving anything. Keep your long term goals firmly in your sights in order to keep yourself motivated to progress.
3. Learn – Realise and understand that you always have something to learn, whether that’s a new skill or how you can improve your work. Never assume you know everything about your field, even if you’re an expert.
4. Keep away from negativity – Resist the urge to get bogged down in endless amounts of negative energy and office politics. It won’t help you get ahead in your work and it won’t help you when the time comes for a promotion. You’ll be much happier if you keep most of your time and energy focused on your work and ignore anything detrimental to your work or mental state.
5. Be Efficient – Decide what you want to have achieved by the end of the meeting and make sure you reach that goal as quickly and as efficiently as possible. If you have goals to meet by the end of the day, remove all distractions and ensure you meet those goals. Work as efficiently as you can, you will achieve 10 times more that way.
6. Recognise the Need For Improvement – If there is something you could be doing to improve, then do it. Put your phone away, switch off from everything and find the best way to do whatever you need to get done. If there is something you could be improving upon, then do so, and improve upon it as quickly and as effectively as you can.