In the midst of the hustle and bustle at work, it’s normal to get distracted and lose focus, do you agree? But the good news is that there are some tricks that can help us have a more productive routine. This is revealed by Ak Ikwuakor, an expert in executive coaching at Google. He’s been part of the tech giant since 2019 and has selected six habits that can positively impact our professional performance.
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1. Know your potential
Do you know the feeling that we are not good enough? Ak calls it impostor syndrome, and believe me, it even affects Google employees. But the good news is that we can counteract this by making a list of our skills. It’s like saying to yourself, “I’m good at this” or “I’m a real expert at this.” This attitude helps improve our state of mind and fills us with confidence.
2. Fear x animation
Our mind vacillates between these two feelings, doesn’t it? Ak suggests learning to identify them and guiding them to the desired outcome. When we are afraid, we are full of negative thoughts. Animation, on the other hand, causes us to project positive outcomes. So how about we choose the brighter side of life and focus on the good things we want to achieve?
3. Be who you want to be
It’s common for us to set bold goals, but Ak invites us to go beyond them. He suggests that we ask ourselves who we must become in order to achieve these goals. For example, if we want to be promoted to senior manager, we must not only strive for the job, but think daily about who we need to be in order to become what we want to be. It’s quite an interesting change of perspective, don’t you think?
4. Say goodbye to distractions
We agree that cell phone notifications are a real invitation to distraction, don’t you agree? And not just them, people can throw us out of focus during the day too. Ak suggests that we recognize these distractions and make a conscious decision to limit or even eliminate them from our lives. How about putting your phone on silent and getting on with the things that really matter?
5. Time for yourself
Time is a precious resource and Ak reminds us that it is important to make time for ourselves. One tip is to shorten the length of meetings to make them more productive. Therefore, before each meeting, we take the opportunity to organize our thoughts and rest.
6. Manage your expectations
How many times have we seen ourselves anxious and full of expectations in meetings or project presentations, right? Ak encourages us to put aside these idealizations and focus on what these moments have in common with situations we are already used to. It’s a way of dealing with anxiety and maintaining our performance.