We always start the new year with the very best of intentions.

Eat less chocolate. Read more books. Live life to the fullest.

All of these are good things, but sometimes it’s the smaller changes that can make a big difference, especially at work. Here are our top 3 easy resolutions that could make a huge, positive difference in your productivity.

1) Exercise more during your workday

When people hear the word “exercise”, thoughts turn to heavy weights, running through mud and people far fitter than you shouting to do more push-ups. Exercise doesn’t have to be like this though, and making small changes to your daily routine can reap rich rewards later in life.

A study by Bristol University has shown that employees who can exercise at work are more productive, happy, efficient and calm. Ryan Holmes, CEO of social media management company Hootsuite, with 15 million users in over 175 countries, strongly believes work and fitness should be balanced.

We completely agree with him, and so everyone who works here at EH20 Business Centre has access to our on-site gym at no extra cost. We believe that spending even just one or two lunchtimes a week in the gym, rather than behind your desk, will make you fitter and more productive at work.

Sleep is more important than you think.

2) Get more sleep

For many in business, sleep is seen as a weakness. “I’ll sleep when I die” they say, before collapsing and drooling onto a stranger’s shoulder on the number 31 bus home.

A lack of sleep and how it negatively affects us is well known, and the NHS lists many reasons sleep is vital to ensure you remain productive throughout the day. Sleep has many benefits – it can slim you, ward off heart disease and boost mental wellbeing.

Overworking staff is a serious problem in the UK, and it’s getting worse. New year is a good time to re-evaluate your life goals, so if you are reading this through bleary eyes and on your seventh cup of coffee of the morning, perhaps this is your wake up call?

Meet less, do more

3) Only attend useful meetings

Meetings can be wonderful things, where people and ideas flow and merge together to create something better than any one person could create alone. Usually, however, they spiral into a dissection of what happened in Game of Thrones this week, or how annoying it is when Wayne uses the last of the milk and doesn’t replace it. Ineffective meetings are a waste of time, manpower and resources.

We’ve all been to meetings that could easily have been an email, so before attending or organising a meeting, consider if you can accomplish your task by email, phone, or popping your head around the office door. You could save everyone valuable time, and avoid hearing about how Mavis from accounts is rubbish at her job.

Of course, some meetings absolutely have to happen, and in those instances you’ll want to make sure that you are comfortable and with access to the latest technology. Our meeting rooms at EH20 Business Centre can cater for between 2 and 40 people, with a 200Mbps high-speed dedicated fibre line and a 65 inch UHD 4K Panasonic TV for video calls. If you’re going to hold a meeting, at least do it the right way, in style, and with us.

From all of us here at EH20 Business Centre, we wish you a very happy and prosperous 2018.