Category: Time Management (Page 1 of 9)

Five Tips for an awesome Office Party

04/05/2022 / fracalde

In any moment of the year there are usually many “Office Parties” going on for the more various reasons, being it birthdays, farewells or holidays celebrations. Though they are called “parties,” employees often dread these events and only go because they feel obligated. Sure, the free booze and pizza is nice, but they would rather be at home watching Netflix than spending more time with their boss and colleagues during after-work hours.

However, if parties do turn out to be awesome, and employees enjoy them, they can increase worker satisfaction and morale, strengthen relationships between colleagues, and instil a sense of employee pride in your company.

This article provides some tips to ensure your upcoming workplace gathering is going to be amazing:

Keep timing in mind: The timing of your party is crucial. For example, why does it have to take place right when people are rushing to get their projects wrapped up before the end of the calendar year? If December is your busiest time of year, maybe do something the first week of January, so it is truly a celebration and everyone can enjoy it.
Figure out a theme: Take your workplace values and culture and use them to assign a fun theme to your party. Themes work better when there is an optional dress code attached and the whole party (food, drinks and decorations) embodies the theme and the overall idea.
Follow the trends: You need to follow the trends in parties occurring right now. Try to include also what makes your staff sincerely happy. Usually, interactive food stations with creative cocktails and alchemists at the bar are all the rage.
Encourage socializing: Try to create an atmosphere that lets people ease into conversations. Try to organize the food and drinks stations in order to help people socializing. Adding alcohol to a party can welcome more socializing and loosen up interactions among employees, but it’s important to maintain a harassment-free environment. The National Federation of Independent Business suggests reminding people that they should stick to your company’s code of conduct in all your messages leading up to the party.
Make it fun: Hiring performers that mingle among the crowd rather than perform in one place usually works better. Try also to organize games and activities in order to favour more the conversation and interaction among people.

Image Source: Pixabay – DariuszSankowski

7 tips to improve your memory

25/08/2021 / fracalde

Can’t find your car keys? Forget your grocery list? You’re not alone. Everyone forgets things occasionally. Still, memory loss is nothing to take lightly. Although there are no guarantees when it comes to preventing memory loss , certain activities might help.

This article provides seven simple ways to sharpen your memory:

1. Include physical activity in your daily routine: Physical activity increases blood flow to your whole body, including your brain. This might help keep your memory sharp.

2. Stay mentally active: Just as physical activity helps keep your body in shape, mentally stimulating activities help keep your brain in shape.

3. Socialize regularly: Social interaction helps ward off depression and stress, both of which can contribute to memory loss.

4. Get organized: You’re more likely to forget things if your home is cluttered and your notes are in disarray. Jot down tasks, appointments and other events in a special notebook, calendar or electronic planner. Keep to-do lists current and check off items you’ve completed. Limit distractions and don’t do too many things at once.

5. Sleep well: Sleep plays an important role in helping you consolidate your memories, so you can recall them down the road. Make getting enough sleep a priority.

6. Eat a healthy diet: A healthy diet might be as good for your brain as it is for your heart. Eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Choose low-fat protein sources, such as fish, beans and skinless poultry. What you drink counts, too.

7. Manage chronic conditions: The better you take care of yourself, the better your memory is likely to be.

Image source: Pixabay – Tumisu

7 Tips To Enjoy Your Day Off

26/05/2021 / fracalde

A day off from work should mean a day that is unlike all other days of the week. Unfortunately, with technology and persistent bad habits, we have lost the art of truly enjoying a day off as it just seems to be a continuation of our every day routine.

This article provides some tips to help appreciate our day off on a whole new level:

1. Disconnect from work
We are pretty much always connected to our work 24/7. Although it can be great for productivity, it doesn’t allow us to take a step back and refuel our energy and creativity. This is why, to really have a good day off, you need to not be affected by anything from your job.

2. Stay away from routine
On your day off, don’t do the same things that you do every day. Your day off needs to be a completely unique day, far different than anything remotely similar to your routine. If you do the same things you always do, you will only feel like it’s the same thing over and over, and you will not appreciate or embrace your day off in the same way.

3. Remain composed
On your day off, do not get angry, mad, stressed, or annoyed no matter what. Stay away from negativity and don’t let things get to you on that specific day.

4. Get some fresh air
Your day off is the perfect opportunity to get some fresh air outside and do some outdoors activities. Such things as simple as taking a 20-30 min walk in a park can make a huge difference, not only on how you feel that very day, but it will help your psyche as you go through your everyday grind. Being in nature is very good therapy to release all kinds of stress and anxiety.

5. Treat yourself
Do something nice for yourself, such as getting a massage, go shopping, eat at your favorite restaurant, and the likes. When you associate your day off with a reward, regardless of what it may be, you will not only look forward to your day off, but you will increase your appreciation of it.

6. Take your time
You shouldn’t be in a hurry on your day off. You should be calm, relaxed, and just appreciating every minute of it.

7. Spend it with people you care about
You should spend your day off doing activities with the people that mean a lot in your life. This will bring meaningful joy to what you are doing, and make it not only even more rewarding, but something that you can look forward to during the week.

Image source: Pixabay – Sophkins

Your future-self

19/05/2021 / fracalde

People like to weigh their next decisions in three contexts:

Learning from the past
what it will do to the present
how will it benefit the future

It is wise to take all of these contexts into account: persistently planning ahead makes life so much easier in the long run.

Here are 5 useful tips to increase the success of your future-self:

1. Invest in yourself — Financially and personally

2. Commit to something

3. Embrace the habit of effort

4. Make a 10 year plan

5. Gain perspective

Image source: Pixabay – Pexels

5 Tips for Better Decision Making

05/05/2021 / fracalde

Traditional economics does an excellent job explaining human decision-making in situations where people have all the facts and are thinking logically. Nevertheless, in our everyday lives, we often do not have complete information and decisions can have an emotional impact as well. Dealing with these uncertain and risky day-to-day decisions can often lead to bias, require emotional regulation, and may result in habit formation too.

This article provides 5 tips on how we can make better day-to-day decisions:

1) Rest or Sleep on It: When you have to make a big and important decision, it may be best to do it when you are rested, focused, and motivated.

2) Take Your Time: Thinking clearly and logically takes time too. When we are in a rush, we jump to a quick conclusion that may be full of biases and hunches, rather than carefully thinking through the facts and information.

3) Gather The Facts: Beyond having the time and energy to think clearly, our decisions are only as good as the information we have about our choices and options. We can ponder a choice for hours, but if the information we mull over is very limited, or of poor quality, then all that effort and thought will be much less effective. Therefore, the more reliable facts and information we can gather and consider about a decision, the more we can reduce our uncertainty and make better choices.

4) Stay Open to All Possibilities: Sometimes, our quick thinking biases how we consider facts, information, and options along the path of decision-making—not just at the final decision. Particularly, we often automatically accept things as “true” before we carefully deliberate about them. Also, our reasoning about an issue may be motivated by a “directional bias”, leading us to selectively review only the information and facts that support what we already want to believe. Given that, we can often jump to conclusions, or be biased to confirm something that we want to believe, rather than honestly looking at what all of the information and facts are really telling us. Therefore, when making important decisions, it is helpful to stay open to all of the facts and possibilities (especially to the ones you don’t want or like).

5) Create Rules: We all get tired, unmotivated, rushed, stressed, and emotional at times. Beyond that, gathering every fact and carefully thinking through every decision is impossible—especially as we move through our day-to-day lives. That is why, when they are thinking clearly, more effective decision-makers often set up simple rules and formulas to make better choices—even when they are rushed at a later date. Even in situations where we might get caught up in biased and emotional thinking, we can often set up rules or formulas ahead of time to see us through.

Image source: Pixabay – Qimono

10 skills hard to learn that will pay you off forever

20/04/2021 / diplosor

Fruitful skills at work can sometimes be hard to learn and practice, but they will pay off.

Here’s some tips to boost your work every day.

Time Management: planning is the first step and needs discipline. To do list and scheduling will help you to focus.
Empathy: do you feel what people feel? That’s the key to foster the team spirit in your office.
Better sleep helps, as many medical studies confirm.
Positive self talk: it doesn’t matter what others think of you, but what you think of yourself certainly does. Are you confident enough with yourself?
Be consistent. To mantain a top position you have to work harder.
Ask for help: when you ask people for advice, you validate their intelligence or expertise, which makes you more likely to win them over.
Shut up, if needed,
But also listen.
Mind your business: it will take time, but will surely help the atmospher at work.
And finally master your thoughts, directing them to what you want to do and accomplish.

Read the full article by Rachel Gillett in Insider

Image source: Pixabay (C00)

The mother of will

06/03/2021 / diplosor

Patience is the mother of will
G. I. Gurdjieff

Image source: Pixabay (CC0)

10 Tips to Survive Going Back to Work After a Holiday

26/08/2020 / fracalde

Going back to work after holidays can be very difficult. Most people get what is known as the post-holiday blues, while others suffer from anxiety at the thought of having to return to their work. It’s been scientifically proven that getting back into our routine can lead to sluggishness and demotivation.

To help you out, this article offers a list of 10 tips that can help you deal with the post-holiday blues:

1. Embrace the Blues: The first step to dealing with this rather grey mood is to embrace it. Understand that it’s okay to feel sad and accept that the first couple of days back in your daily routine will be difficult.

2. Prioritise Your Tasks: The key is to prioritise. Spend a good chunk of your morning figuring out what’s urgent and what’s not and get the most urgent tasks finished out of the way.

3. Dedicate the Previous Night to Your Inbox: To make it easier, spend a couple of hours the previous night catching up on emails.

4. Get to the Office Earlier than Usual: You will get some quiet time in the office. You will be able to make your coffee, tidy your desk and get everything in order.

5. Prepare for Work the Night Before: Decide what you want to wear and make sure that it’s clean and pressed. Find everything you need for work including, purse, bag, keys, passes, etc.

6. Set New Goals: It’s always important to go back into the workplace with new goals. Identify an area in your sector that you’d like to master and go back to work knowing that you have a challenge ahead of you.

7. Wear Clothes You Like: The important thing is that you give yourself a nice little boost of confidence which will help you feel more energetic and prepared to take on any challenges that lie ahead.

8. Make Plans for Lunch: Rather than eating a tasteless chicken salad in front of your computer, take an adventure outside the office.

9. Listen to Music: The key is to listen to music that keeps you from falling asleep at your desk but also helps you concentrate enough to be able to do your work.

10. Catch Up With Your Colleagues: Getting along with your colleagues can significantly improve your overall work experience, so it’s advisable that you do what you can do get along with them.

Image source: Pixabay

10 Tips for Enjoying the Holidays

05/08/2020 / fracalde

Holidays can cause us to feel happy, sad or ambivalent. The holidays can also cause stress.

No matter how you feel, the following tips from this article by Johns Hopkins University, can help you enjoy the holidays as much as possible:

Reflect on what is important to you during the holidays.
Make a plan as early as possible about what you will do during the holidays.
Communicate clearly how others can assist or support you.
Realize the holiday season is a marathon, not a sprint.
Maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Manage your spending.
Monitor alcohol and medications – individually and together.
Manage your expectations for family gatherings.
Think ahead about stories or observations from the past as a family that you’d like to share.
Reflect on what went well this holiday season and improvements you would like to make for next year.

Image source: Pixabay

How to be Mindful at Work

24/06/2020 / Beatrice

Mindfulness is not just a passing fad. It’s here to stay.

Why? Well because the way the world is going, we are being pushed to our limits every day, millions of inputs being thrown our way, projects to plan, time always lacking (or at least, that’s what we perceive). This is leading to a real epidemic of Burnout in the workplace, with negative consequences on company productivity and efficiency, but most importantly on our health.

So how can mindfulness help? Well, being mindful means being able to live in the present moment, bringing all our attention in the here and now. This means channeling all our energies into what we are doing instead of dispersing them into ruminating thoughts about the way we should have resolved that issue yesterday or what we have to do tomorrow.

Mindfulness helps us keep anxiety at bay, holding us within our state of calm, presence and clarity.

We can think better.

We can work better.

Check out some of these Mindfulness Practices collected by the New York Times and give them a try! You just might realize how wonderful it is to just be.

Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash