Like a professional basketball player performs a ritual before a big moment—say, bouncing the ball exactly six times before taking a free throw—such routines can boost your own productivity by minimizing the variables that distract you. Instead of winging it, make up your own rituals …
Glean ideas from One Hour Parties (
www.onehourparties.com), a service that delivers inventive, affordable parties, such as Cookie Decorating Party and Chinese New Year.
Emily Morgan works 60 to 70 hours a week and doesn’t even get a steady paycheck. You would think she’d loathe her boss, but you’d be wrong. Morgan is a virtual assistant (VA) and chooses how much work she takes on and how many hours she works. Ever wonder whether a VA career might be right for you?
Much more than a gatekeeper, a good executive assistant can double or triple a boss’s efficiency by staying one step ahead of him or her. The more an assistant can predict an executive’s needs, the less he or she will need to interrupt.
Here’s a new office morale booster: Organize a company snitch program. It runs on the same grapevine that conducts office gossip, only all the news is good. Snitchers tell one another about accomplishments, small victories or acts of heroism that go beyond the call of duty.
As health insurance costs skyrocket, even as benefits dwindle, so does the trend toward employers setting up wellness programs—71% of U.S. employers offered such programs in 2008. Is your office ready to be a part of the wellness movement? Here’s how to make the case to leadership and take some initial steps.
The current economic meltdown underscores this reality: We’re never too far from a crisis. Before a crisis causes things to blow up, train your office for first response.
Pace yourself perfectly when leaving a voice mail by using this trick: As you say your phone number, write it in the air with your finger. If you can’t write it as quickly as your tongue wants to say it, neither can the recipient …
The same tactics you use at work can help you get everything done at home. Some people, however, leave their work skills at work. What they should be doing, experts say, is setting goals, outsourcing tasks and reviewing performance, just like a workplace manager.
Say that within a three-page document, the first and third pages are vertical, and the middle page is horizontal. How do you arrange them for stapling? Do you turn the middle sheet to the left so the staple is in the upper right-hand corner of the middle sheet, or to the right so the staple is in the lower left-hand corner?
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