Dear Reader: How can you change unhealthy habits at work?

Whether it’s an hour-long meeting that you ran that could have been a 15-minute conference call instead or holding a sandwich in your left hand while eating lunch as your scroll your inbox with your right hand, chances are there are some habits we’ve settled into that need to be altered or deleted altogether.

Cecily Mak, a former Silicon Valley C-suite executive, law school professor and author of “Undimmed: The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom from Unwanted Habits,” said, “Hidden habits that drain both managers and employees often include multitasking, such as being on a call while responding to email, in a meeting while making a to-do list or working while having a meal. Back-to-back commitments and meetings can also be draining, leaving no time to reset or regroup before a new topic and a new set of people and dynamics.”

This time of year, you may be double-booked during your personal life, too, so poor habits that have crept in at work may have also seeped through the cracks in your personal life. Whether you said yes to that additional work and responsibilities when you’re already at capacity or said yes to an invitation when you really wanted to stay home instead, life can be exhausting.

“Working in reactive mode rather than in planned, intentional blocks, and letting the ‘urgent’ dictate our day, can generate ambient stress and pressure that wears down both managers and employees,” said Mak.

These habits, according to Mak, can increase stress and getting stuck in ‘performance mode.’

“When we do not take care of our core needs, these behaviors eventually catch up with us, showing up as health conditions, fractures in our personal lives, and other consequences. Excessive habits around overextension and inauthenticity take us away from our true selves, causing us to lose touch with our own preferences, aversions and unique inner guidance,” said Mak.

They can dull also creativity sparks and reduce our abilities to think strategically while emotionally numbing us. The good news? With focus and intention, especially in creating healthy boundaries, our behaviors can shift.

“To restore focus and engagement, it helps to limit temptations by turning off notifications, closing windows that are not being used, and eating meals away from the desk. Schedule five to 10 minutes as open between meetings to use the bathroom, drink water, take a brief walk or get fresh air,” said Mak.

“It is also important to determine how to decline additional work when we do not have the capacity, while being truthful. For example, we might say, ‘I could take that on, but something else would have to be deprioritized for a while,’ or ‘I’d love to help out, but my week is at capacity at the moment with other important work,’ or ‘I’ve noticed when I go over what I can typically carry, the quality of my work suffers; is there someone else who can help and commit more complete attention?’ Even asking clarifying questions before accepting work can help.”

Tribune News Service