1. Get up early enough to eat breakfast at home.
2. Bring along enough reading material to last through both ends of my commute (and sometimes lunch).
3. Get up from my desk at least once an hour. (Harder sometimes than it sounds.)
4. Drink water/tea at my desk.
5. Treat myself, once in a while, to a chai latte.
6. Spend my lunch breaks on the go – walking to the Brattle, the post office, the Common, Second Time Around, etc.
7. Make tomorrow’s to-do list in the mid-afternoon slump.
8. Bring healthy snacks to eat at my desk.
9. Listen to music (sometimes).
10. Buy myself flowers on Mondays.
What are your tricks for getting through – even enjoying – your workday?
If I’m feeling particularly unfocused, I listen to This American Life. The sound of Ira Glass’s voice is so strangely soothing.
I also take walks, but I’ll also take out my iPod Touch every hour or so and play a few levels of a game, just to let my mind unfocus.
The best thing I do is during the summer and winter (but it will be all the time once I’m full time): I never arrive or leave at the same time. If I get in at 8:30, I might work through lunch and leave at 4:30. Or, I’ll get in at 7:00, take a leisurely hour and a half lunch, and leave before 4:00. Or do a normally 8-5 day. It really just depends on my mood. I love the freedom in that, though.
i love your monday flowers idea 🙂 especially since it’s always such a difficult day – might have to do that myself!
Sigh. This one hits me where I live. I also try to get up a lot – since I work from home that means stepping out on my porch or wiping down the kitchen counters. I really don’t take enough advantage of that proximity. I also like to light candles or listen to music (only sometimes, like you). And then I read or watch Friends on my lunch break. Mostly I pout though, tired of the same ol’ frustrations all the time. So this post was lovely inspiration to try harder.
I hate to admit how long it took me to figure this one out, and I know I work in a unique situation. But my coworkers and I have started taking the first five or ten minutes of the day to pray together before patients start coming in the office. I don’t know why I’m amazed at the difference this has made in all our attitudes, but it has. I’m blessed.
(but I think I need to add flowers!)
I know how hard it is to get up from the desk regularly. It sometimes feels like a huge effort.