Why Google, Twitter, And LinkedIn Employees Are Kicking These Seven Work Habits

2/10/2017
Rich Bellis

By this time in January, some of that initial excitement around New Year’s resolutions may be starting to fade. Here we are, just a week away from the whateverness of February. Work has officially kicked back into high gear. That yoga class you took on January 6th ("2017! The year of yoga!") was great, and maybe the one you dragged yourself to a week later was fine, but last week you just kind of skipped it (you had good reasons, you swear).

Listen, it’s okay. Even the most productive people have a hard time sticking with their resolutions. Making big, lasting habit changes is hard. So for inspiration (and solidarity), we asked insiders at some of the top tech companies to share which bad habits they’re trying to cut out of their workdays. After all, sometimes getting yourself to stop doing something is a little easier than learning to do something totally new. And knocking out those small, achievable goals first can help you achieve the tougher ones later.

1. TAKING PHONES INTO MEETINGS

"I'm used to constantly checking my phone during the day," says Sara Haider, a senior manager in Periscope’s engineering division, "so I'm aiming to switch it to ‘do not disturb’ mode during meetings so I can stay focused and keep my mind and thoughts on the subject at hand."

That’s a challenge when the subject at hand is one of the world’s most recognized mobile apps. "When you work on platforms like Twitter and Periscope," Haider concedes, "there can be a lot of notifications because something is always happening in the world."

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