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My Pocket Psych: The Psychology of the Workplace


Mar 27, 2019

Welcome to episode 36, where our focus on productivity continues - this time, looking another of our core principles: play. This represents everything we do to recover and disengage from work and represents a useful complement to the ‘Pillars of Productivity’ we’ve covered in recent episodes. We also have a great interview with Dr. Ciara Kelly, exploring the role of our hobbies and passions outside of work.

Play includes getting good quality sleep, engaging in meaningful non-work activities and whatever else we need to do to recharge our batteries and return to work enthused and refreshed.

We covered the importance of sleep back in episode 18 of the podcast. But in this context Play means so much more. Remember when we discussed the importance of priorities how you’ll use your limited time, attention and energy in the various roles in life you have? Play is about ensuring you have something in the tank left for your non-work pursuits and responsibilities.

As ever, there are no simple rules here, except to experiment and explore what works for you. So when it comes to play: think about how you manage your non-work life and its roles; consider how you both recover from work but also effectively dis-engage from work activities; think also about the application of your values so that you can make the time for what's really important to you. This comes back to understanding Purpose and Priorities.


Resources mentioned in this episode:


Productivity news


The 'Personal Development at Work' meetup on Thurs 28th in London is all about procrastination and you can register for a free place here: https://www.meetup.com/Personal-Development-at-Work/events/259863149/

Wellbeing news

Matthew Walker's 'Why we sleep’: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Sleep-Science-Dreams-ebook/dp/B06Y649387/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=why+we+sleep&qid=1553689671&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Effectiveness news

Coach on campus: https://www.worklifepsych.com/coachoncampus/

Interview with Dr. Ciara Kelly

Ciara’s university profile: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/management/staff/ciara_kelly/index