We’re all about making the most of our time at the office and so is Zen Habits! The always-calming blog has a slammin’ list of 16 ways to keep a razor-sharp focus at work. Some highlights:
2. Take more breaks. More breaks = More productivity. It may sound wrong, but it’s true. Breaks allow us to re-group our thoughts and focus for the task at hand. They also keep us fresh so that we don’t end up burning out after only a few hours work.
So maybe curling into a fetal position under my desk for an afternoon snooze isn’t so weird after all. Sweet.
10. Turn off extra inputs. These are IM and email for me, but we all have our Achilles heel. Completely turn off any distracting piece of technology that you own. Every one of these inputs tries to steal bits of your focus. And they won’t rest until they do.
Let’s expand this - know what your timesucks are. For me, it’s silly blogs and puppies. More common ones include YouTube, Facebook and SuperArcade. If you’re going to lollygag online, at least alleviate your guilt and switch to the Free Rice Game.
We’re particularly big fans of suggestion #16.
16. Clean yourself up. It’s why my track coach in high school made us dress up for big races: you perform the way you feel. And if you feel polished, groomed and ready, you’ll be more likely to be productive. For me this is just taking a shower, brushing my teeth and putting on casual clothing. I used to work all day without taking a shower in my PJ’s, but I never got much stuff done. Let’s be honest here… if you’re dressed really casually, odds are you’ll be working really casually. Just taking the time to clean up a bit before you buckle down for the day is never a bad idea.
Because the only thing worse than being unproductive is being unproductive and smelly.
Read the whole list here.
-Mary Pilon
Illustration Credit
Cubicle dwellers rejoice!
If you’re in your twenties and find that your life is more “The Office†than “The Hills,†then consider applying for the 2008 Delaying the Real World Fellowship, the best middle finger to The Establishment that we’ve heard about in a while.
The Fellowship, which is related to the book of the same name by Colleen Kinder, grants $5,000 to a twentysomething with an adventurous plan that does not involve pushing papers, mundane phone calls or being a zombie in front of a computer screen. Past winners have biked around the world, shaken the coffee market and spread the gospel of health education.
Here’s what they’re not interested in funding:
- Language immersion programs
- Religious missions or volunteer projects with faith-based group affiliations
- Vacations
- Honeymoons
- Grad School
- Searches for long-lost relatives
- Volunteer projects, internships, adventure trips, etc. organized through an established institution
- Poker
But hot-air balloon journeys, introspective trips to the world’s largest ball of twine and tours of celebrity graves all seem to be fair game. Sweet.
To be eligible, you have to be a U.S. citizen, and there’s no educational requirement. The application can be found here and the deadline is April 23rd.
Take that law school.
-Mary Pilon
Illustration credit
Today’s post comes from Bruce Tulgan, an author, consultant and expert on careers, management and inter-generational relations in the workplace. He’s also a genuine, certified FiLife Guru. Like other FiLife Gurus, Bruce will be contributing articles to the site, answering questions on career and other topics and helping in innumerable other ways. But we’ll let him introduce himself further.
After law school and the bar exam, I went to work at a Wall Street law firm in the fall of 1992. I was struck by the fact that, with few exceptions, the more senior lawyers in the firm didn’t have a clue how to manage people my age, those known as Generation Xers (those born 1965-1977).
Don’t get me wrong, they are among the finest lawyers anywhere, and I have great personal affection for many of them. They just didn’t know how to bring out the best in the twenty-somethings who worked for them.
Severely misunderstood by those in charge, I and my peers at the law firm suffered in unhealthy management relationships. Of course, these relationships were the most common topic of discussion over lunch.
We laughed about one senior lawyer who was in the habit of summoning young associates to his office with a three word phone call: (more…)
Ever worked for free? Or for a crappy stipend that barely covered your transportation?
Unpaid internships have become a rite of passage for eager undergrads who yearn to get hands-on experience. At their best, they offer an inside look at enticing industries. At their worst, they’re filing, answering phones or copying for bosszillas. Often, the most prestigious gigs are unpaid, working for monstrous companies with booming annual revenues that could totally afford to pay minimum wage.
You’re qualified. You work. You don’t get paid. What gives? (more…)
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