Productivity check: Do these five things before you leave work for the day
Instead of rushing out the door when the clock strikes 5 (or 6, or 7), do these five things with the help of your Lumia to set up a successful morning tomorrow.
At the end of a long workday, it’s tempting to just shut down the computer and head home.
But how you end your day at the office is as important as how you start it when it comes to your productivity, motivation and attitude.
So here are five things you should do at the end of your workday, with the help of your Lumia or other Windows Phone, to make for a happier office environment tomorrow.
Update your to-do list: Cross-off all the tasks you’ve completed (always a good feeling!) and move up the items that still need to be done. Re-prioritize your to-do’s depending on their deadlines.
I use the Wunderlist app for Windows Phone on my Lumia to keep track of my daily to-do list. I love its clean interface and a new folders feature that helps me better organize lists for the office, home, and personal projects. The app syncs with Wunderlist’s desktop software so I can always see a current to-do list, no matter what device I’m using.
Review your schedule for the next day: What’s your schedule looking like the next day? Do you have an afternoon meeting that you need to prepare for in the morning?
The native Calendar app on your Lumia device is the smart choice to keep track of meetings, appointments, and other important events. You can also schedule time to complete any remaining times from today’s to-do list. Last tip: Make sure to set up the Calendar’s reminder feature so you won’t miss important meetings.
Tie up loose ends: If you’re like me, you hate that feeling of something hanging over your head. So in the last hour or so at the office, compose and send emails, return phone messages or texts, and complete other tasks that aren’t deadline-oriented but should get done sooner rather than later.
I tend to use my Lumia instead of my laptop when sending brief email messages or when connecting to colleagues via Skype. My smartphone comes in handy especially when I have a half-dozen applications open on my computer, or when I have a document on my laptop screen that I need to refer to when replying to colleagues.
Touch base with your boss and colleagues: To help prepare for the next day, check in with your co-workers to get updates on projects and confirm deadlines. Bring your Lumia instead of unplugging your laptop and lugging it with you to a colleague’s workspace down the hall. That way, you can make any necessary changes to an Excel spreadsheet directly on your smartphone.
Check in with your boss before you leave the day, too. That saves him or her the trouble of reaching out to you for status updates on your work.
Leave on a positive note: Work can get stressful, and sometimes, all you see are looming deadlines and a seemingly endless series of meetings. So find something positive that happened that day that makes you feel good about your job.
Then, share that good feeling: People like to feel appreciated, so email a note of thanks to a client or compliment a colleague on a job well done. That can be done with a quick text or call on your Lumia—or, better yet, in person.
Last, but not least: It almost goes with out saying, but take a few minutes to tidy up your desk. No one likes to work in an office that looks like it had been hit by a tsunami. Trust us, you’ll feel glad you did in the morning!
How do you end your workday? If you find these tips helpful, please let us know.
And if you do other things at the end of the workday that you think other readers may find useful when it comes to productivity, please share them in the comments section below.