Google CEO Sundar Pichai has some advice for starting off your Monday morning: Write down three to five things you want to get done that week.

By organizing his thoughts—and settling on what he considers important over the next few days—he feels prepared before heading into the office. “I really value quiet time in the morning,” Pichai told WSJ. Magazine. “It's the only time where I get to step back and reflect.”

Prioritization, of course, can help technologists at any stage of their careers with work-life balance, since it allows you to focus on what’s important. Throughout the past two years of the pandemic, technologists have told multiple survey-takers that achieving work-life balance is a persistent issue; it’s often difficult to shift from “work mode” when you’re nearly always a few steps away from your home office. By prioritizing, you can leave some stuff behind—and transition from work that much faster. 

As companies migrate their workers back to the office, managers and executives will need to help their workforces readjust yet again. That means establishing a culture of frequent communication, along with “get togethers” and informal events that will boost a team’s solidarity and make everyone feel comfortable. Managers must assist their team members in monitoring workloads and ranking goals, which can help everyone keep to a schedule that works for them. 

With Google planning on re-opening its offices on April 4, Pichai is likewise emphasizing flexibility for employees. Most Googlers will operate on a hybrid schedule, coming into the office three days per week. “Taken together these changes will result in a workforce where around 60 percent of Googlers are coming together in the office a few days a week, another 20 percent are working in new office locations, and 20 percent are working from home,” Pichai wrote in an email posted to Google’s corporate blog in mid-2021, when the hybrid policies were first announced. Googlers also have the option to “work from a location other than their main office for up to 4 weeks per year (with manager approval).” 

Whatever your goals for 2022, and however you start off your Mondays, consider trying out Pichai’s technique—considering he’s the CEO of one of the world’s largest tech companies, it’s clearly worked for him.