MyAnalytics is built into Microsoft Office 365 to provide some insight into your work habits to help you work smarter. Having fully established Ryve IT in November 2019, I felt like the new year slowdown period was a good time to sit down and think about the goals that I had for the new year. Sound familiar?
Having listened to a fantastic podcast episode by Jay Shetty – The 4-Tier Framework To Effective Goal Setting & Why You’ve Failed In The Past – I went with the idea of changing habits rather than setting new years resolutions to make a raft of changes in 2020. The habits were rather simple, and only a few to stick with:
- Wake up at 5AM (on work days!)
- Have more “Quiet Days” from MyAnalytics than not
- Learn something new each day
Pretty simple right? The idea is that by changing some of these habits, the goals that we wish to achieve will naturally progress by doing the things that we believe are stepping stones to reaching those milestones. Typically we set ourselves lofty goals for the new year. Losing weight, and getting fitter, reading 11ty billion books, growing our small business, etc. The trouble is, these are a flash in the pan at the start of the new year and there isn’t anything you typically can do to start working towards them.
Wake up at 5AM
This has worked wonders because I’m waking up early (which I do not like!), and if you don’t achieve something you feel its a waste. So that sets me off in the morning to try and achieve something before the rest of the house wakes. Three times per week, I try to get along to a 6AM Muay Thai class to work on that fitness thing. Other days, I’ll get a head start on the work day if I feel I’m behind, or watch some training courses online. No set things, just go with the flow of the morning which makes it feel less of a chore, and more likely to go again the next day!
Have more “Quiet Days”
Microsoft have been sending me emails for a few months now on my work habits. I typically have a hard time switching off from work, its always been that way. Receiving emails once a month with a summary of my “Wellbeing” that includes Quiet Days has gamified the process of not working during the quiet time.
Quiet days are based on the meeting, email, chat and calls activity outside your working hours as set in Outlook.
Again, setting a habit has resulting in changes – but they weren’t necessarily set with a specific goal in mind. Its meant more time to focus on family time at home without carrying my phone around all the time, and also increasing the time spent listening to podcasts and doing online training. Positive changes all round!
Learn something new each day
By now, this is easy. Having carved out time with waking up at 5AM and not being a slave to meetings, email and chat. This habit is also quite practical when thinking about the bigger, long term (for 2020) goals that I probably would have set. Learning new things has an ability to change your perspective on things, so this framework of habits changed allows for fluid goals based on what I have been learning.
Make sure you get your Podcasts lined up on Spotify and MyAnalytics enabled in Office 365 ASAP!
