It’s easy to let the day fly by when you work in a laboratory. There are small, new tasks that grow into large projects. Things can become overwhelming, cluttered, and frustrating. But, similar to being in any other workplace, it’s vital that lab employees overcome these challenges and learn how to remain productive in lab settings.

Track Your Time

As with most jobs, people who work in labs have a collection of tasks that require varying lengths of time to complete. Employees who want to maintain their productivity should pay attention to how long it takes to finish each task. It might even help to write them down.

Once you have an estimate for the time you should expect each responsibility to take, you can organize your day to include your expectations of yourself. For instance, if you know it will take an hour to make observations, don’t schedule that task a half-hour before lunch.

Take the Setting Seriously

Taking the lab seriously doesn’t mean you should act dour or humorless. Rather, lab employees should simply respect their work environment the same way any employee ideally does. Don’t leave clutter around valuable equipment or eat food in places where crumbs might affect experiments. Respecting the lab is essential, especially for people who work in cleanroom environments.

People who take the setting seriously are better able to focus on the tasks at hand. The more your lab looks and feels like a place for quiet and deep focus, the easier it will be to adopt and maintain that mindset.

Organize Your Data

Without properly organized data and observations, scientific discoveries can’t be developed. The process may be slow and cumbersome, but nothing spoils an experiment like missing or lazily collected data. It’s a nightmare to dig through long-forgotten notes or, even worse, redo old work because of careless data collection mistakes. To keep the place efficient and productive, make sure to record and organize every observation as soon as it is taken.

Create Healthy Work Relationships

Labs tend to be environments full of people who value their intelligence. On the one hand, it is exhilarating to work among smart, capable people. On the other, these settings can quickly become competitive and even nasty.

Knowing how to remain productive in lab settings is just as much about understanding people as it is working with specimens. Make sure everyone feels comfortable enough to ask questions or request help. Nobody should feel confused or scared of their coworkers. A comfortable environment will open up communication, maintain focus, and make for an overall more productive lab.