Establish a new routine – Stop the Old Habits. 

Don’t go back to work and pick up where you left off, make new habits. 

Now is the perfect time to kick the old habits to one side and make small changes that hopefully make life a little easier. 

We all know the science behind sleep. We all need to be getting more. So get to bed earlier and try to wake up at the same time every morning. If you work out how to do this, please do share your tips?!

New routine, plan your breakfast and prepare your lunch the day before. Trust me, the 7;30am you, will thank yourself for getting it sorted the evening before. 

Dig out the reusable cup and enjoy your coffee with a podcast as you commute. If you haven’t jumped on board yet, I can highly recommend you have a listen. At Nustream we’ve huge fans of podcast, from Politics to Comedy, it’s a great way to change up your commute. Talking of commuting – how about jumping off the bus a stop or two earlier and walking the rest of the way. Or can you grab an earlier train to beat the rush? 

Enjoy Your Desk – Productive Environment. 

Make your desk somewhere that you’d like to be. Purchase a plant, mouse mat, pen case, or nice mug. Having items around your that make you comfortable and allow for a productive working environment. 

If you have personal goals, perhaps have a picture of the holiday that you’d like to book on your desk and use it to motivate your work performance to make that extra call, work more productivity or support new colleagues. Your extra efforts will be recognised and promotions, a bonus or pay rise for your high performance will follow.

The office noise may seem an unwelcome element of returning to the office, but ensure that you can focus effectively in the office, by giving natural signals when you are deep into a piece of work or busy on a call. ‘So sorry, right in the middle of this’ or Just about to join a call’ – ensure that you signal to your colleagues that may have forgotten about office etiquette. 

At home using remote working tools can be useful to set them to Busy so you are not disturbed. In the office, you will need to deploy some of these signposting phrases. 

All about boundaries – 

Now is the time to change, there is no better time to put the clear boundaries back in place. 

Do you need to take your laptop home every night? Find a secure place to leave it, you will not be tempted to check your email overnight and you will feel lighter mentally or physically on your commute home. 

When you are at work, work hard, do your best job. But the same applies to after you finish work and at the weekend. Don’t let work interfere with your time, the same way that you wouldn’t let your personal life interfere in the office. 

If you have a work mobile phone, can you switch it off on Friday night and turn it back on Monday morning? Why is it that we feel we should be contactable? If it is not working hours, you do not need to have the mobile phone turned on. 

Lead by example and encourage your team to deliver their best at home but also in the office. As a business owner and mentor, I see it as my responsibility to encourage and motivate my team to do the same. 

If there is a need for individuals to be contactable out of hours, ensure that there is a rota and individuals are compensated. Don’t let the creep happen so you never switch off.

Don’t bite off more…

As everyone is back in the office, managers may get excited about team meetings, events, drinks, or charity fundraising. I would advise you to wait a while before challenging to get the team to attack the 3 peaks challenge and give everyone a chance to settle back into the new routine.

Ultimately, decide what’s important for you and go from there. 

Making a note of the positives and some of the things you are excited to return to the office for can help put you in a more positive mindset. It might be the social time you’ve been missing out on over a morning coffee break or Thursday night drinks or just fewer video calls! 

Also, be aware of others in the office, graduates, apprentices, and individuals that have been out of the workplace or struggling to return. Give them time, offer opportunities for them to learnt and listen and help introduce them to other members of the team they may not have met yet. 

Apprentices and Graduates will learn about different management styles from watching and learning from you and other team members. The return to office allows them to understand a more complete view of the effectiveness or NOT of line managers. They will spot body language, whispers at the end of meetings and the morale of the team. 

This is a critical element of development that they will have missed out on this, ensure that they are included in as many different environments as possible to upskill in the area.

Look after yourself.

Change for some can cause anxiety and stress. Choose to get to the office in plenty of time, this will ensure that you arrive at your office relaxed and calm. Running down the platform or worrying about being late is not a great way to start the day and you end up feeling stressed before you even begin your day. Where possible, plan to use your lunch break positively, do you need to eat your lunch at your desk? Run some errands so that you don’t have to do them at the weekend. Catch up with a friend or read a book in a café. Don’t understatement that sometimes the simple things are the best. Fresh air and a walk can make all the difference, especially if the sun is out. 

Be aware of what you need that day and makes changes if you need to adapt – if you could do with getting some life admin completed or a long chat with a friend, then get those things in the diary to ensure that you feel good and relaxed.