Six Sigma Blogs

Scattered pencils, stack of papers, documents to be signed, folders, and memos are just some of the things that you will find on your office desk. Starting your routine work at the office every morning can sometimes be difficult, especially if you have lots of deadlines and stacks of paper works that needs sorting. Even in the office you need to manage your time.

Office time management might be a little bit different from how you manage your time at home. Although, it has the same concept, it is still different in some ways and how you apply it.

Office time management is how you can finish your work in time and have it submitted to your immediate supervisor. Many employees always struggle to find more time to finish their tasks before deadlines. It is a proven fact that even if you are following a schedule it is still possible that you can not do it on time. Tips on Office Time Management

-Keep your Desk Clean

Make this a routine, every time you come in the morning, clean your desk of unnecessary clutter. Throw away all those old memo or notes that you do not need.

-Organize Your Desk

After cleaning, sort out everything. File important documents in folders, alphabetize your contacts (use a roll-o-deck to keep it in order), put those staplers and paper clips in your drawers (keep them in small canisters), and put pencils and pens in their respective holders. By organizing your table you can have more work done in a snap.

-Prioritize

It is very important to have a list of what you need to do for the whole week. This will be your guide on what you need to finish to keep you ahead of time. Stop procrastinating, do the hard work first. This will give you more time later on for other things.

-Learn to say No

We have chums in the office. Some would approach us for some help but if you do not have enough time it is very important that you should say no. Doing somebody else work will not help you finish your job. -Make your Work Area Stress-free

Working in a stress-free environment can yield a more productive day in the office for you. Lighting aromatic candles or putting flowers on your desk can help you relax while working. If you are calm and composed, you can finish more before the day is over.

Office time management can be a great help for you to finish everything ahead of time. If you are ahead of schedule you will have more time to enjoy your life outside of work.

If you wish to read more employee time management, be sure to check out our site today. It has tons of helpful tips and information on managing your time.

Do you ever feel your work life balance is off? The key to living well is finding this balance. You may find one part of your life is going great, but another area is awful. You may even feel like you have it all, but feel confused by the fact you still do not feel happy.

You probably feel like you are juggling a dozen balls, with your job, kids, spouse, health, etc. It feels as if at any moment you will start to drop some of these balls. While our society emphasizes success in some areas, it neglects many others. Your identity can become the work you do. What good is it to be financially successful if you still feel unhappy. You may find yourself turning to medication, therapy, and rehab to simply survive in this world.

The most obvious need for improvement for most people is the work life balance. Your career makes up a huge portion of your life. Sometimes you may find you allow it to really take over. It can begin to prevent you from giving other parts of your life proper attention. In reality, as important as you may feel your work is, it really provides two things:

–Money to fund the life you really want (live well, be with your family, vacation, etc.),

–It can provide a sense of purpose, especially if you are doing something you feel makes an impact.

Work must stay in perspective. You cannot allow it to take over your entire life, unless you are a nun. It is easy to get into the mindset of constantly working, with the promise to really start living once you reach a certain goal. Unfortunately, you will always find another goal to reach.

The time to start living is now, in this very moment. Being present in the moment requires a high level of self awareness. Our culture is not good at this on a whole. You eat, drink, shop, work, etc. all to really avoid anything remotely close to introspection. You don’t want to look in there–it is really dark and scary.

You will have to have some awareness of your inner needs in order to develop life balance. Use your internal compass to tell you when to bond with your spouse, kids, or yourself. It is easy in our society to be disconnected. It is critical, but often uncomfortable, to connect with others. This connection is a fundamental part of happiness.

The connection with yourself may be the most important of all. You are probably very disconnected to yourself even if most of the time you are alone. It is common for you to want to do one thing, but have your brain telling you that you ’should’ do something more productive. If you don’t do what you ’should’ do, you will find yourself miserable with guilt.

When you take away all of the ’shoulds’, you begin to see how effective your internal compass really is. You have to stop ’shoulding’ all over yourself if you hope to ever really find work life balance.

Ever feel like something is off? Finding life balance is the key to living well. Many people feel that they are really triumphing in one area of life, while another is falling apart. Others feel like they have it all, but still do not feel truly happy.

You may feel like the balls are all up in the air, between your spouse, kids, job, health, etc. If you are not careful, some balls are going to drop. Our society focuses heavily on success in some areas, while neglecting the importance of others. It is common for your career to become your identity. Regardless of how financially successful this culture is, it doesn’t seem to be a very happy one in general. It is commonplace to see people turning to medication, therapy, and even rehabs to deal with life.

Work life balance tends to be the most obvious area in need of improvement. The work you do requires a huge chunk of your time and energy. It can feel like it really takes over your whole life. You cannot allow it to keep you from attending to other critical areas of your life. Work really only provides two things:

–Money to fund the life you really want (live well, be with your family, vacation, etc.),

–You may get a sense of purpose from your work, particularly if it is a passion for you.

You have to keep work in its proper place. It is not your whole life, unless you are married to the church. You can easily fall into the habit of focusing on work and putting life on hold until you have reached some career goal. The problem with this is there is always another goal to achieve.

You have to start living immediately, as you read this. You will need a great deal of self awareness in order to fully live in the present. This is not easy in our society. You will find yourself eating, drinking, shopping, and working to keep yourself distracted from what is going on inside of you. It can be scary to even think of taking a look in there.

But being aware of your inner needs is critical to developing life balance. You must begin to use your internal compass to tell you when to play barbies with your child, take a nap, or pay attention to your spouse. It is easy for you to stay disconnected–isolation and independence are pillars of our society. Connecting requires a certain amount of vulnerability and openness. But bonding with others is a fundamental key to happiness.

It is important that you also truly connect to yourself. Even if you are alone most of the time, you are probably pretty disconnected to your inner world. When your inner compass is telling you it needs rest, your brain overrides it because you “should” go to the gym. Even if you end up relaxing, you are filled with guilt and cannot really enjoy yourself.

You would be surprised at how trustworthy your instincts really are when all of the ’shoulds’ are stripped away. For true work life balance you must start listening to your inner voice and vow to stop ’shoulding’ all over yourself.

You mastered this powerful word many years ago. In fact, every two year old makes a career out of saying this: NO!

You would think with our busy jammed pack days, wed easily go back to reviving the skill of saying no. Saying No gives you control and eliminates other people enacting their agenda on you. It creates an invisible boundary around you so you can stay on track.

Using a system of positive and negative rewards, the two year old learns saying yes is far better than saying no. No often created unpleasant experience and children learn agreeing and people pleasing will make their life much easier.

Manipulative people are masters at this. They realize you are more comfortable with saying yes and capitalize on it.

No does not mean you don’t like the person or equals rejection. No is a credible and laudable response. When you say NO it simply means the current request doesn’t work for you right now.

When you say, “Yes,” when you want to say, “No” you will feel resentful throughout whatever you agreed to do. This causes stress that can show in many ways, lost energy, discomfort, headaches, shoulder tension and restless sleep. You could avoid these symptoms saying “No” in the first place. Life creates enough stress. Why add more?

5 Easy Ways to Say No

1. Let The Word No Start Your Sentences

You’ll find it easier to follow through and refuse the task, if you utter the word no in the beginning of your sentence,

No I’m sorry, my plate is full right now and I wouldn’t do a good job for you.

No, I’m not available (no need for details)

2. Think It Over

Maybe the request is something you want or need to do but you need time to make sure it will fit your schedule. Perhaps you’re not strong enough to say no right now. Ask for time to think it over. That way you can have time to mentally prepare yourself to say No. Remember, the decision is totally yours.

3. Just Saying No

Go ahead and say it. NO.” You are not obligated to give any further explanation. Add “No, thank you,” if it fits the situation.

We are so conditioned to give out information without thinking. You do not need to give the cashier or clerk your phone number or email address at checkout point. You can say NO

When a telemarketer disturbs your dinner, say no. Or better yet, let the phone ring unanswered.

Twenty years ago in the war on Drugs, you say Just Say No To Drugs all over the place, schools, billboard, commercials, subways, everyplace. Start your own No campaign. Using bright colored paper, you can print your own signs and put them up where you will see and read them.

4. Play the Blame Game

We love to blame other people for our problems so why not blame saying “No” on somebody else…

No, my doctor said I need to cut back on my workload. (use this to preserve your personal time).

No, my accountant said if I did that one more time (great for unreasonable customer demands)

Warning: don’t use actual names, unless you really are quoting somebody. Your blame person must remain anonymous

5. Act like a Parrot

This technique works well when a manipulator puts you on a guilt trip or tries to wear down your resolve.

Example: A Request to go for a cup of coffee

“No, I can’t have coffee with you”

“We won’t be gone long”

“No, I can’t have coffee with you”

You deserve it. Look how many hours you worked already

“No, I can’t have coffee with you”

My Treat

“No, I can’t have coffee with you”

Learning to say “No” naturally takes practice. Start with saying “No” to something everyday.