John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory Attachment Theory is a well-known and widely accepted concept in human development and psychotherapy. British psychiatrist John Bowlby developed it in the 1950s. The crux of attachment theory is that the early emotional bonds between...
John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
The Helpful Ideas of Donald Winnicott
The Helpful Ideas of Donald Winnicott Continuing my series on the founders of psychoanalysis I'm exploring Donald Winnicott this month. Donald Winnicott (1896-1971) was a paediatrician who then trained as a psychoanalyst, first to adults and later to...
The Importance of Melanie Klein
The Importance of Melanie Klein Melanie Klein was a groundbreaking and highly creative psychoanalyst. She was born in 1882 in Vienna but spent most of her life in UK, dying in London in 1960. Her life was fascinating, with many losses and tragedies but...
Carl Jung – Is He Relevant Today?
Carl Jung – Is He Relevant Today? Carl Gustav Jung was born into a religious family in Switzerland and studied to be a doctor. During these studies he became fascinated with current philosophy, anthropology and psychological theories and work in...
How Freud Is Still Relevant Today
How Freud Is Still Relevant Today Prompted by last month’s blog on Narcissism, this is the first in a series on some of the founding members in psychoanalysis and some of their ideas, many of which, I believe, are still useful for us today. Widely...
Narcissism
Narcissism The term 'narcissism' is banded around a lot. But what does being a narcissist actually mean? And how do we work out if we are in a relationship with one, or even if we might be one ourselves? Origins of Narcissism The term narcissism comes from...
The Art of Self-soothing 4: Using Our Senses
Using Our Senses This final post in my series is about using our bodily senses to self-soothe. There are lots of ways that we can self-sooth by looking. Sight Natural Vistas As I’ve already mentioned in a previous post, nature and landscapes are very calming. For...
The Art of Self-soothing 3: Creativity
Creativity is a sure way to self-soothe. People have lost themselves in creative pursuits since time began. Getting in touch with our creativity is a way of reaching something within ourselves. By allowing this to develop we can usually make something bigger than...
The Art of Self-Soothing 2: Nature
This month’s way to self soothe is by being in nature. It’s long been known and proven that being outside and preferably in nature can improve our mental health. Take a Short Walk The simplest ways are often the most effective. Such as going for a short walk from your...
The Art of Self Soothing
There is so much going on in the world now. It’s hard watching the news, in fact I am more likely to just quickly check a news ap than I am to watch the news in real time. Many people I speak to are unable to watch the news at all because they struggle to think of the...
Why is it a good idea to think about working smart?
Well, working smart is the healthiest way to work. It’s vital for our mind and body to rest and play as well as work.
Working so many long hours that we don’t have time to recover is not a good long term situation. Work related stress is becoming increasingly common and if it continues over a prolonged period it can lead to chronic stress, depression or illness.
The good news is that working smart and being productive doesn’t necessarily mean working longer hours. By having better structure and a plan to focus on what needs to be done we actually end up accomplishing the same amount more quickly. Consequently as a result, we may choose to get even more done or give ourself some well deserved time off due to being on or ahead of schedule!
Why not take an honest look at how you are spending your time at work
Do you:
- procrastinate at any given opportunity
- get distracted by technology
- get involved in unnecessary chat or gossip
- find yourself forgetting what you were going to do
- find yourself daydreaming
These are all really normal ways of distracting ourselves from what we need to do. So what can we do about it?
Once we have worked out what our own distractions are we are in a good position to do something about them.
Here are some ideas to help us work more efficiently:
- clear our desk and workspace to help us focus more clearly
- prioritise our workload
- chunk our larger tasks down into small achievable tasks
- set an alarm, for example 50 minutes to concentrate hard then have a 10-minute break
- give our tasks realistic deadlines and work to them seriously
- write a list of easy to do small rewards we can give ourselves
- reward ourselves for each task achieved
- turn off our notifications whilst concentrating
- remove our smartphones from our working area whilst we are focussing on a task
- And finally, tell someone. Research has shown that we are more likely to get a job done if we tell someone we are going to do it and when we are going to do it by. Find a colleague/accountability partner/mentor to report our progress to regularly.
Here’s to a productive week!
Other relevant blogs to read: