Improve work performance: 5 tips for success

Taking good care of yourself for better work performance and job satisfaction

If you don't take good care of yourself, it will ultimately affect your job satisfaction and your job performance.

And you have to avoid this. But how do you do this? In this blog 5 important tips that could help with that.

1) Take advantage of every opportunity to move

Everyone knows that exercise is healthy. A ten-minute walk at break time can activate your brain enough to get you through the rest of the day productively and creatively. Twenty minutes are totally ideal.

In addition, you can always take the stairs instead of the elevator. And if you want to consult with a colleague from another department, walk there instead of calling. And something less obvious, but just as effective: if you have a consultation or meeting with two or three colleagues, do it on foot. Nice touch: the meetings become shorter and more creative! You can record the conversation to make minutes later.

2) Limit incentives

Most people tend to work constantly. And the moments that are free are often filled by grabbing our phone or doing something on the computer. This while it is good to be "stimulus-free" every now and then. The moments when you do nothing are very important.

At times when no stimuli come in, your brain networks are strengthened, your creativity can develop and your energy reserve is replenished. So staring out the window for five minutes once in a while during working hours is not a bad thing at all.

3) Limit work stress

Stress is bad for job satisfaction and for health. And therefore also for work performance. All reasons to keep the number of stress moments as low as possible. Preventing stress is not always easy. What can help here is limiting the moments you are available and reachable via email.

Schedule one or more set times for this. This will prevent you from being busy with several things at once and feeling overwhelmed with work. Another thing that can help relieve stress is doing breathing exercises. The 4-7-8 breathing is suitable for this.

"Inhale for 4 counts, hold your breath for 7 counts and exhale for 8 counts. Do this a maximum of 5 times, but often 3 times is enough."

4) Rule concentration time

Those who can work with concentration are more productive and experience greater job satisfaction. If you have a busy workplace, it can be difficult to concentrate. This can be difficult if, for example, you have a deadline or are working on a job that requires your full attention. In situations like this, send an e-mail to your colleagues stating this. Ask them not to disturb you until a certain time. With this you create peace for yourself and you create clarity for your colleagues.

5) Dwell on the positive things

Job satisfaction is necessary for good job performance. But especially during busy periods, it can be difficult to keep fun in your work. Grumbling about how busy things are and what's not going well is easy. But did you know that for every negative comment it takes seven positive comments to negate its effect?

So focusing too much on the negative things can really have a big effect on job satisfaction. Try to teach yourself to focus more on the things that are positive. You can do this, for example, by agreeing with yourself to write down three positive moments from your working day every day. You can then read this back at a later time.

Research: Did you know that people with more personality capital (PsyCap) generally experience more job satisfaction and have better job performance? PsyCap are these 4 positive character traits: optimism, self-confidence, hope and resilience.

Take good care of yourself at work in the coming period by applying these tips. This will certainly benefit your job satisfaction and thus your job performance.

Read the previous blogs on physical health and mental health for more information on how to take good care of yourself.