Five to Thrive

UMD’s Thriving Workplace Initiative is making the University of Maryland a great place to work by providing tools and support to foster engaged, inclusive and empowered faculty and staff across campus. 

Five to Thrive offers five strategies each month crowdsourced from research, experts and our own UMD community to help your workplace thrive. 

Albert Einstein once said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” Whether you’re managing a months-long project or surviving a months-long stay-at-home order, difficult times have a way of eroding momentum. Here are five tips to help you keep moving, whatever the challenge: 

• Make your bed. As easy as it sounds, making your bed is a small, worthy task that can be accomplished in minutes and sets a tone for the rest of the day.
• Put the past behind you. Unforeseen obstacles and the business of life can make some days obscenely unproductive. Forgive yourself and vow to start fresh—tomorrow is a new day. 
• Start with small tasks. The success in completing a handful of small tasks will build confidence to tackle larger ones. 
• Take breaks wisely. Social media and the day’s headlines can easily morph into fraught rabbit holes. Design breaks to clear your head and re-charge your spirit. Take a walk around the block. Phone a friend. Write down what you’re feeling: studies show that writing stimulates and unclutters the brain.  
• Get a jump on tomorrow. Get the dinner dishes done and take 10 minutes to straighten up the living room. Have co-habitants set out what they need for the morning. Write out a to-do list and front-load the coffee pot. You’ve got this.  

Five to Thrive will no longer be published in Maryland Today. Keep receiving inspiration each week with TWI Food for Thought Friday. Send an email to thrivingworkplace@umd.edu with the subject listserv to subscribe.