Life Hacks For The Workplace
Unless you were born or married into money, you need to work to get by. Some of us are currently working jobs we absolutely love, and some of us are stuck in jobs we really don’t like. No matter if you love or hate your jobs, there are plenty of ways to make your workdays much easier. The following are five life hacks for the workplace you need to know.
1. Store office supplies creatively.
Chances are you have plenty of small office supplies cluttering your desk or your drawers. Items such as push pins, paper clips, staples, etc. can take up a great deal of space, especially if you have to buy multiple “holders” to keep them in. Instead of being disorganized with your small items, try to be creative. Use a spice rack to store all your small office supplies in one location. This will take up less space than a multitude of holders and you can then use your drawers for something more important.
2. Buy a desk fridge.
Leaving your food in a community fridge can be dangerous—there’s a good chance someone will steal it, or you may forget you put something in there. Instead of allowing this to occur, invest in a desk fridge. These mini coolers allow you to keep your lunch close to you. This way, you’ll always know what you have on hand and you won’t have to worry about someone else walking off with it.
3. Run late with a purpose.
There will come a day when you’re running late to the office. Hey, it happens. Unfortunately not many bosses will be happy to know you showed up late. When you know you’re going to be late to the office, stop and grab some coffee or breakfast for the office. This way, your lateness will appear as if it occurred because you were being thoughtful, not because you hit snooze five times.
4. Don’t get distracted.
How often do you find yourself wasting hours online instead of actually working? Sure, you may find it enjoyable one time, but if doing so means you’re no longer on schedule, it’s not going to make you or your boss happy. Eliminate the distractions at work with the right tools. First, put your cell phone out of your sight. Turn off the sound and stick it in your drawer. This way, you’ll be less likely to be distracted by texts or personal emails (or your games). Second, invest in Self Control, a program that blocks all websites except those you need. For example, you can block Facebook, Twitter, Google News and any other site you find yourself perusing when you should be working. You can designate how long the site should be blocked, and restarting your computer won’t change it. So if you ask Self Control to block you from Facebook for six hours, you’ll have to wait six hours.
5. Use a transcription service.
How many hours have you spent typing up notes from meetings? Probably a lot. This type of tedious work is wasteful. Instead, it’s a good idea for you to use a transcription company to do this work for you. Simply record these big meetings or presentations with an audio recorder or your smartphone and send them off to the professional transcription company of your choice. You will then receive a transcription of your audio file quickly, thus saving you a great deal of time and allowing you to get back to your other responsibilities.
Author Bio:
Meyling Lau is a freelance writer with a creative ability to combine personal experience and research into entertaining, educational articles on a wide range of topics.
