How to Make Your Work Day Go By Faster

Even if you have a job you absolutely love, chances are there are days that just seem to drag. You look at the clock only to realize an hour has passed and you feel hopeless. You start to calculate how many hours of your life you will spend behind a computer screen and as you come to a final number, you realize you just wasted 10 minutes of your life. But hey- that’s 10 minutes of your work day that wasn’t spent working, right?

My current job is your standard 9-5:30 job. Which I’m thankful for. But even 8 or 9 hours is a long time to be staring at a computer, so I find that there are certain things I can go each day to make the workday go by faster.

Have an awesome lunch. Whether you get a full hour or have to shove your sandwich in your mouth in 15 minutes, take advantage of your lunch break. If you have the time and money, treat yourself every now and then to take-out around the corner. Pack some homemade chocolate chip cookies to brighten up your mood. For me, lunch is the half-way mark of my day, so I look forward to getting a break to eat. Days when I bring yummy leftovers or have fresh fruit always seem better to me. And when I can, I try to get lunch with my co-workers at our building’s cafeteria.

Break up your day into shifts. For some reason, it helps the day go by faster when I look at it in terms of fractions. After one hour, I’m 1/8 of the way done. This obviously sounds lame, but when you hit 1:00 PM, you can say you’re halfway done! This gives me motivation to finish the day off strong.

Reward yourself with distractions. As silly as it sounds, the best way to not be distracted on social media while you should be working is to reward yourself with bursts of fun. If you have a long day of editing, you may want to set a goal for yourself- after every article you edit, you get a 5-minute Twitter break to see what’s going on in the world (yes- the celebrity world counts, too!) It motivates you to get your work done in a timely manner and helps break up your day.

What do you do to make the day go by faster?