By Stewart Sims, CC Licensed
It’s important to be aware of your productivity at work and the factors that can affect it. I thought I’d share some tips I find particularly useful as a software developer to be aware of, although these can apply to countless other jobs.
Any work can be potentially mentally taxing, but software development can be a particularly cerebral activity requiring a lot of concentration. Every programmer will know how difficult it is sometimes to juggle system architectures, models and concepts as well as more specific programming language related constructs and syntax. The complexity of these tasks can be comparable to solving mathematics problems and manipulating scientific theorems. Any intense thought processes take their toll on your energy and occupy your mind, and the more they do so the more difficult solving problems can become. When you add into the equation any work or home related stress and project deadlines that may crop up, this can become all a bit much and even affect your wellbeing. Here are some tips for keeping your head fresh at work that hopefully may prove useful:
- Take regular breaks – this is probably the single most important piece of advice to follow to increase productivity and your wellbeing too. It can be difficult to adhere to this particularly when a problem presents itself, however this is exactly the sort of situation where a break is most beneficial. If you can arrange to have a short break every hour or two, it will help to alleviate fatigue and can give you a fresh look at your work. Sometimes seeing a problem from a new perspective is exactly what you need to advance with your work.
- Make notes – no matter how intelligent you are there is a limit to the amount of information you can keep in your head at any one time. The chances are that the more you try to remember, the more things you will as a consequence forget. It’s much better to make a few notes either electronically or physically to remind you of things you need to do or be mindful of in relation to your work. Sketching diagrams and scribbling down your ideas can also help where design is required or you are having trouble understanding something in particular.
- Communicate – this is both important to do in order to share ideas and obtain assistance from others, but also simply to keep socially active and avoid feeling isolated from your colleagues. Software development can often be a somewhat solitary activity where words are rarely spoken amongst people. However for most people, the less you interact with your work peers the less pleasant your work environment may seem to be. The odd conversation can help to lighten the mood and boost your confidence in the work you are doing.
- Pay attention to your working environment – this one is carefully worded because there are several potential issues here. Firstly, the physical surroundings in which you work can have a big impact on how you get on at work and your feelings about your job as a whole. An ideal environment for many developers would probably resemble their own desks in their own rooms at their own homes. Really what I’m saying is that its a matter of personal preference and so any opportunity to improve your surroundings to your liking should probably be taken. If you feel comfortable and relaxed you’re probably going to work better as a result. Also though, there are aspects of your work environment beyond your control and so it is worth being aware of how you feel about these aspects. These external environmental factors can be poignant enough to make you feel very negative about things. If this is, or has become, the case then you really need to monitor the situation and consider your options to improve the situation or remove yourself from it entirely. Remember that work is not a selfless act, you do it in expectation of something in return, and if it is not providing for you what you need in any particular aspect it is time to consider moving on.
- Monitor your physical and mental wellbeing – these things are affected by so many factors I could not possibly list all the things to watch out for. But be aware that everything from your diet to your leisure/hobby activities can affect your physical and your mental health. It is easy when you’re working hard to ignore how you are feeling personally and your health in general. However one of the most important things in your life is your health so you need to avoid causing yourself any harm and take any problems you may be experiencing seriously and talk to a doctor about them.
At times you may have to actually force yourself to be mindful of these things, it is easy to forget or ignore them – we all do it! However it is worth it in the long run to be happy when you’re not at work and at the very least content as often as possible when you’re at work. And the more this is the case, the more productive you’re likely to be.
