What is one way to bring your best self to work?
To help you bring your best self to work, we asked business professionals and CEOs this question for their best insights. From practicing self care to starting with positive affirmations, there are several tips that may help you bring your ideal self to work every day.
Here are twelve ways to bring your best self to work:
- Practice Self Care
- Eat Breakfast
- Expand Your Circle
- Add Some Play in Your Day
- Communicate Openly With Your Manager
- Challenge Yourself Every Day
- Commit to Improving the Work Environment
- Be Productive Before Work
- Reflect On the Journey
- Eliminate Your Shortcomings Earnestly
- Remember You Are Part of a Team
- Start With Positive Affirmations
Practice Self Care
When we don’t take care of our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health, we set ourselves up for burn out. Exercising, eating right, getting restorative sleep, and carving out quiet time to renew your spirit are critical for a healthy, happy personal life, but it is also paramount for professional success. Time spent on self care will result in better focus, greater creativity, stamina and increased productivity.
Lorraine Bossé-Smith, Concept One LLC
Eat Breakfast
Always have a big breakfast before you go to the office. It sounds simple but is a great way to keep your energy levels high, and your productivity in check. Additionally, if you make food that you really enjoy, your mood might be increased and you might find yourself in a happier, more collaborative mood. Breakfast is a really important meal and it’s important to wake up a few minutes early to ensure you have the nutrients you need for the day.
Tom Mumford, Undergrads
Expand Your Circle
If you are looking to bring your best self to work every day, you should try to expand your connections at work. One of the best ways to become more comfortable at work and let yourself be your best self is to take advantage of any opportunities to work with other team members, especially those outside your immediate team. Once you start to make these connections and grow your circle, you will not only have more professional contacts for the future, but you will also foster quality relationships with your peers and create a much more enjoyable working experience.
Brandon Brown, GRIN
Add Some Play in Your Day
Making the time to enjoy life helps me be and feel more successful. While many people assume a rigid work schedule is a key to achieving goals, I find being overly focused on your career gains can sometimes take your eye off the bigger picture. So, during the week, I go surfing, practice tai chi, or go to a concert with friends. Doing things I enjoy helps me maintain a positive attitude and feel refreshed for the workday ahead. However, finding the right work-life balance doesn’t mean cramming in every activity possible. Doing so will only leave you feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. But putting a little play in your day makes you more likely to succeed as you’ll have more energy and focus on being more productive tomorrow.
Chris Gadek, AdQuick
Communicate Openly With Your Manager
If you are facing issues at work or home, try to be open and honest with your manager. Not only is this important so they can understand if you need time off work or are struggling with completing tasks, but they can also try to offer help if possible. When you are able to openly communicate, it can help alleviate undo stress and give you an ally to help solve your problems. You are less likely to be your best self at work if you keep your struggles to yourself and eventually let it impact your productivity and engagement.
Maegan Griffin, Skin Pharm
Challenge Yourself Every Day
While we all know there’s simply room for growth within our comfort zones, we still struggle to get out of them, often because we don’t know how to take the first step. A great starting point is making a deliberate effort to challenge yourself in a new way, every single day. It includes going out of your way to help a colleague, having a difficult conversation that you’ve been putting off, or simply leveling up in your responsibilities and putting in the extra effort.
Riley Beam, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.
Commit to Improving the Work Environment
When you work on elements beyond yourself, you also improve your own abilities. Your work environment impacts you in more ways than one, so when you choose to bring improvements to the work environment, you also improve your conditions as well as those of your fellow employees. With this mission in mind and actionable steps to take each day, it is also easier for you to bring your best self to work each day, especially when you hold the knowledge that your presence is set to influence and improve the entire workspace.
Larissa Pickens, Everfumed
Be Productive Before Work
Don’t come into work “cold”. It’s not good for a runner to start a training session doing wind sprints without first getting the muscles warmed up and the blood flowing. In the morning, before work, complete a task. It can be something as simple as making your bed to something more strenuous, like doing a workout. The first productive thing you do should not be when you get to your desk that morning. Start early and get something done before your workday. It will have a positive effect on your productivity.
Scott MacDonell, Bambee
Reflect On the Journey
The day-to-day responsibilities can seem more dreadful than joyful. Reflect on your work journey and all the milestones you’ve accomplished that got you to where you are today. There may have been difficult customers or a hurdle you had to leap to succeed in a project. While there were tough times in the past, it has made you a stronger person and capable of the job you have today.
Natália Sadowski, Nourishing Biologicals
Eliminate Your Shortcomings Earnestly
We all have our flaws and shortcomings, and while it is essential to turn up even when these elements are impacting your true potential, what’s more important is to commit to action that brings improvement. First, recognize these shortcomings, then work towards eliminating them earnestly, and finally, consistently work towards solutions to eliminate these flaws forever. When you are aware that each passing day witnesses an improvement in you, you will be able to bring your best self to work every day.
Mary Jurgensen, Gary and Mary West PACE
Remember You Are Part of a Team
If you want to bring your best self to work, then you need to remind yourself constantly that you are part of a team. Even in the most intense work environments I have been in, remembering that I am part of a team helps me keep focused on not only my work and success, but the success of the team as a whole. Does it mean more work on your part? Yes, but it will pay dividends in ways you never imagined or considered.
Dylan Miller, DSM Story Forge
Start With Positive Affirmations
Starting off the morning with positive affirmations does wonders for employees’ mental health and work productivity, as well as my own. This allows us to connect as a team and focus on a common goal, especially for the younger generations. Affirmations like “I am a valuable asset to my company,” and “I accomplish what I set out to do” encourages workers to tackle any challenges throughout the day while reinstating they’re an essential part of the business. This is a more effective strategy in a remote setting as virtual work is a more isolated setting than an in-person office. Employees need to feel appreciated and inspired, and this is a great way to build a positive work culture in any work environment and start off the day on a high note.
Corey Ashton Walters, Here
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