What does a healthy Supply Chain Manager’s end-of-the-workday routine look like?

Working in the Sourcing and Supply Chain world is exciting, dynamic, and ever-so-educational. Finding, transforming, and moving products around the world and getting them efficiently into the hands of clients and consumers can be an enrapturing task. Yet, in the so-called VUCA world we are living (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), it can also be stressful and lead to anxiety and burnout if you don’t have the right mindset.

More often than not, when it comes to facing and enjoying an oncoming day, you hear about morning routines. They are, of course, helpful and necessary. But in my experience, an end-of-the-workday practice is just as crucial. It helps you enjoy your personal time, to have a restful night, and to ultimately be your best mentally and physically for the next day. And it’s cumulatively beneficial: it will be beneficial for years to come.

Here are some of the evening routine tips I have learned from colleagues and friends over two decades working in Sourcing and Supply Chain Manufacturing.

1) Make tomorrow’s to-do list today: I know that “making a list and checking it twice” does not sound like groundbreaking advice, but I promise you, it works. Block your calendar some ten or fifteen minutes before leaving your office every day, take a blank piece of paper, write tomorrow’s date on it, and list what you want to focus on tomorrow. Then, leave it in your workstation, ready to be seen the following day.

2) Intentionally disconnect: As you leave your workplace, say something like: “I have done today’s work, and today is done; tomorrow will be another day to do tomorrow’s work.” Stating your intention is the first step to effectively disconnect from whatever problems or tasks are still pending to be done. As you are physically leaving your workplace, your mind should leave the office too.

3) Dissolve negative emotions: During my years working in Southeast Asia, I became interested in learning about Buddhism and its influence on contemporary culture. While on this pursuit, someone once told me: “In some religions, we may hear “you shall not kill,” in Buddhism, we say “you shall kill only anger.” This seemingly simple perspective had a profound impact on me. Far from being just a religious comparison or spiritual advice, I include it here because, sometimes, it is not just our work-related worries preventing us from being at peace outside office hours, but the negative emotions we collect and hold on to during the workday. This can be especially true of the anger and frustration we harbour towards others and, worst of all, at ourselves, typically because of our own mistakes and embarrassment. If, like me, you don’t like the word “kill,” that’s all right; you can say release or banish or dissolve. The important thing is to ask yourself, at the end of the workday, what emotions am I taking home? Are they worth holding on to, or should you deliberately send them away from your body and mind? Letting anger and frustration flow away at a moment’s notice is not a simple task, and it may take years of practice to master. But if you believe that those emotions are harmful to you and your loved ones, you will eventually succeed.

4) Become aware of your thoughts: When you find yourself worrying about work on your personal time, become aware of those thoughts, and ask yourself, “what is the point of worrying about work when I am not in the office and I can’t do anything about it?” However worried, our minds are wired to understand logic, and this reasoning may help us focus on enjoying the present time and those around us instead of worrying about whatever is waiting in tomorrow’s workday.

5) Occupy your mind: As the saying goes: “An idle mind is the devil’s playground.” So have a hobby, play games with your family, write a letter to a friend you haven’t seen in some time, organize your spice cupboard, browse images of the country you would like to visit, or pick up that book you haven’t had time to finish. Whatever your choice, the idea is to provoke your mind into wandering to new places and inspiring ideas that can create a healthy balance between the mental space occupied by your work and all the other rich layers and possibilities of your being.

6) Get moving! I grew up in a time and place where sports and exercise were thought of as pretty much the same thing and were not considered essential–they were something you did if you felt inclined, like music or painting. I wasn’t particularly interested in sports, so I never created any exercise habits as an adult. Later in life, though, I came to understand and experience the powerful impact of moving our bodies to promote not only good physical health but a positive mental state. So I will share with you some advice a doctor gave me. Once, when I said that it was not possible for me to go out for a walk for various reasons, the doctor asked me: “do you have a dining table at your home?” “Yes,” I replied. “Then walk around it,” he said. And he continued: “If you wake up in the middle of the night and you can’t sleep, walk around it; if it is snowing outside, walk around it, even if just for five or ten minutes; your body and mind will thank you, so walk around it.” From that point on I never had a valid reason not to walk every day. Neither do you, in fact. Exercising releases the pressure built in our bodies during a stressful day and, among other things, promotes better sleeping. What better way to get ready for the next workday?

7) Trust your abilities: Often we worry about what’s coming without realizing the lessons past difficulties have taught us. We are stronger than we think. Whatever the work-related urgency at hand, when you leave your office for the day or when anxiety kicks in during your personal time, remind yourself about the power of your abilities: your knowledge and creativity, your problem-solving skills, your persuasion, and everything else that has carried you through the trials you have already overcome. Say to yourself with conviction, everything will be okay!

Some of these habits may seem “easier said than done.” To judge from my own experience, however, I would say that they do indeed work. It’s possible to feel good even if your work circumstances are stressful or not ideal. Nor am I saying that you have to implement these all at once. But you get the general idea. Plan tomorrow’s work; disconnect; send negative emotions away; become aware of your thoughts; provoke and inspire your mind; exercise and trust your abilities. We have been given one body and one mind to live our lives, so let’s take care of them. In doing so, we can show up every day as our best selves, not only for our work, but for our loved ones and – most importantly of all! – ourselves.

By: The Ana Lovera Inc and Sourcing Values Editorial Team. Copyright 2022.

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Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay