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Careers
Why we should all be taking ‘reset days’ to increase our productivity at work
By Amy Beecham
Updated 10 months ago
4 min read
Overwhelmed by your to-do list? Taking a work reset day might be the key to increasing your productivity.
A busy commute, hundreds of unread emails, a long list of tasks I swore I’d ‘circle back to’ once after the Bank Holiday: while I generally consider myself an organised person, there are always things I simply can’t fit into an eight-hour workday.
After a period of time off, the temptation is to throw yourself back into your working routine whatever the cost; staying late to catch up or logging on over the weekend to keep things running smoothly. But not only is that terrible for work-life balance, it’s also just an unsustainable way of operating.
Luckily, something we practise here at Stylist, which I feel very grateful for, is the reset day. If we need it, every month we’re able to take one whole working day to tune out from meetings, Slack notifications and other office commitments to get ourselves back on track.
No distractions, no interruptions and no external requests: my colleagues know that I’m unreachable for the whole day and engaged in deep work mode.
Instead, it’s a day of being there but not really, where we can change our Microsoft Teams status to “only contact in an emergency” and plough through all the work we rarely get time to do alongside the main aspects of our job. Things like expenses, emails, pitches, interviews and content plans – all very important, but they often fall by the wayside.
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What are the benefits of reset days?
“Reset days allow us to step backwards from the day-to-day chaos and grind and allow us the time and space to think more strategically about what needs to be done, what challenges or blockers might stop this and what the plan of action is,” explains Emily Button-Lynham, a career and leadership coach and consultant.
The act of switching off from interruptions allows us to get into a state of deep flow (which is linked to increased productivity and creativity), which is where we do our most valuable work.
Depending on your industry, the great thing about these days is that they don’t need to be completely desk-bound: you can spend time in nature, work from a coffee shop or co-work somewhere to help you power through planning and spark some creativity. As for me, I like to spend my reset days with my head down and headphones in, stopping regularly for snack and exercise breaks. By dictating my own schedule (instead of adapting to the wider company day) I can decide whether to sprint on a task for hours or take the day in shorter, more manageable bursts. The work is, of course, still getting done, but in the way that suits me best.
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How to ask your boss for a reset day
Unplugging for a whole day might sound like a hard sell, especially if you’re in a senior position, but as Button-Lynham says, the key is to focus on the benefits it would have for both you and the team. “There are lots of studies on the benefits of focused work and avoiding multitasking and distractions, so why not suggest a test and learn mentality where you trial for a short period and assess if this improves things from a work and individual perspective?” she suggests.
On a reset day, you’re working but not contactable
If your request is successful, you can make the most of the time by blocking out your calendar and making sure to prepare ahead of the reset day itself. Think about how you’d like the day to feel, what you’d like the outcome to be and what a successful reset day looks like. “Create a to-do list that helps you make the most of your time,” Button-Lynham adds.
“If you struggle to stay focused when you’re at home, body doubling – where you have a video call with a colleague in the background – can help to improve your concentration and allow you to solve problems together in the moment,” she continues. “It’s also great from a social perspective.”
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In every part of life, be it home or work, it’s important to take time to recalibrate and reset, particularly after a busy period of time off. So, rather than throwing yourself back into the grind straight away, why not take a slower, more considered approach to getting on top of things? That’s what I’ll be doing, at least.
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