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Archive for March, 2008

How to Overcome Laziness at the Workplace? – Part 1

Even though the workplace is a small portion of our life, it could become a major stress creator and spread over all the parts of life unless we know how to deal with it.

 

We should never think of escaping from the work as this thinking process itself is a major source of stress.

 

We should always try to figure out ways that create fun at workplace so that we can always be working at our peak energy levels.

 

The more we contribute to our work the more will be our satisfaction levels but we must make sure that we get a lot of fun out of it.

 

I don’t want to overload you with bundles of information, that too in a single post as it becomes painful for you to read it and ultimately fails our purpose. So, after doing some work, I was successfully able to shrink it into a small set of techniques that would be helpful in overcoming laziness at the workplace. I am going to discuss only three techniques for each post.

 

1. Decorate the Workplace

Baloons1What are we mostly excited about through out the year?

 

It has to be Parties, get-togethers, Festivals, birthdays, anniversaries, vacations and so on and so forth.

 

And, Why?…

 

 

It’s because we know that we will have a lot of fun on these days. We start preparing a week in advance if not a month in advance for these occasions.

 

Can we imagine a festival or party with out any decorations? I don’t think we can.

 

Why do we need decorations for all these occasions? I hope we all know the answer.

 

Decorations create an environment that looks good. When it looks good, it feels good. This means, it creates a fun atmosphere in which everyone can enjoy.

 

Why not apply the same philosophy at the workplace? Why not decorate our workplace to create a fun environment?

 

In order to feel good at the workplace you have to keep it as similar to your favorite fun place. It needs to be in the way that makes you feel good. Whenever you get some free time, decorate your workplace with the stuff that you like most. This makes you feel as if you are in your favorite environment.

 

I like books. So, I decorate my workplace with my favorite books that are neatly arranged like a small library. Few people like garden, they keep a lot of plants in their office area. Few people decorate their surroundings with their family and friends photos. Few others keep paintings. I even have seen people having Lego blocks in their cube or office. I inquired them and I came to know that they either like toys or beautiful colors.

 

Think if there is anything that like most and try to decorate your work area with it. This will motivate you as well as help you overcoming laziness by creating your favorite environment.

 

As I said before, when you are at your favorite place, you’ll never be lazy anymore.

 

2. Appreciate the Work

 

” Appreciation can make a day, even change a life.

Your willingness to  put it into words is all that is necessary   “        

                                                                           - by Margaret Cousins

 

This is one of my favorite techniques that really changed way I look at myself while I am at the work. You can do it after work at the workplace or as soon as you go home after work.

 

Try to spend about just five minutes with one of your family member explaining what you have done in the office hours. I know it’s quite embarrassing to confess to anyone if you haven’t done any thing useful for the entire day. In this case, you have to start by confessing it to yourself. You wonder how you talk to yourself, right! Use a mirror. I will look in the mirror and explain myself step by step that all I have gone through the day at my workplace for about five minutes.

 

It’s amazing feeling to know how many great things we have done without even noticing many of them. This is the way how to show some appreciation to what we have done at work so that, we can do it more and more to motivate ourselves and also to eliminate most of our workplace stress.

 

Another method of doing this is writing them down. Most of the people call it “time log” or “work dairy”. I use the term “Work Appreciation Record”.

 

When I started this by talking to myself about my work day, I could see amazing changes started to happen. I started to open up more to myself and realized that, I have done some of the work that is very creative and need to do more like that. I also realized much of the work I have done is routine and manual. What ever it is, now I can clearly see the difference. Once we see the difference, we will be more conscious of what we are doing and always choose the best.

 

When you know that you are doing the best you will be more satisfied and rewarded as well.

 

3. Minimize Distractions

Most of the times we start a task we may not be able to finish it within the time allocated, as we have to go through so many distractions. It could be people who genuinely need your help or people who just want to have a chat or some sticky note hanging at your desk or some e-mail or some website which takes you on long internet tour.

 

Some times we might need to refer a document in the middle of the task. We start looking for that document and before finding the document, we will get attracted by another document that seems to be more important. We will forget our current task and start working on the newly found document. After this is done, or did I say wrong? During the time you are working on the second task you may come across another interesting document and start working on it and so on and so forth. When clock ticks 5pm you will realize that the primary task you really got to do is not yet done. You will write the first task on the sticky note and put it on your computer screen for your next day. Even though you haven’t purposefully done but you procrastinated.

 

Next day, I don’t think there will be much change. You will go through the same cycle.

 

I need not tell you how much this happens on the Internet. It is not much difficult to get lost in the oceans of information. Most of the times when I want to find something on the Internet, I initially I go to a website and see an attracting image or link and click on the link and when I realize I don’t even know where I started and what I am looking for. I know it’s not our fault. It is the website owner’s job to attract more traffic by using nice-looking images and appealing information and he succeeded in doing his job.

 

Not only humans, even our computers also get so many interruptions during their software program executions. They are frequently interrupted by other programs and devices such as keyboard/mouse clicks that need the attention of it. Fortunately, the computers have a smart mechanism to get back their main program after attending the interrupted programs and that is the reason why they are not hung most of the times like us.

 

I am not saying it is wrong to visit other websites as it is one of the best ways to learn new things but we got to know the way out of the Internet loop and get back to work.

 

A few tips below might help in avoiding distractions.

  • Go through all the documents and try to get rid of the all unneeded stuff. File the needed documents into separate file folders.

  • Internet could be a major cause of laziness in the workplace and make people lazy unless you deal with it properly. So, be cautious when you go on the internet as there is a great chance to be lost and you might never find your way back home. Task reminders with sound would be helpful up to some extent to get your attention back to your main task.

  • When you come across any attractive site on the internet, add the site to your favorites so that you can temporarily postpone it and get back to work. All of these cravings may go away as the time passes. If it is really important website you can always go back to it.

  • Identify who genuinely need help and who wants to just chat. Do not entertain casual talk in the office as this will never end once started. Convey politely that you need get back to work.

  • I recommend the book The 4-Hour Workweek – by Timothy Ferris. This book covers many techniques to avoid distractions at the workplace.

 

Continue Part 2 and Part3 here:

 

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3 comments - What do you think?  Posted by Admin - March 30, 2008 at 10:33 pm

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