The desk is an important feature of your work space. If you are fortunate enough to have say on what kind of desk you would wish for your office, or if you are planning to set-up a work space at home, here some pointers for getting the best desk for you:

First thing is you have to make sure that your desk is big enough to work on, yet small enough that it actually does not dominate the whole room. It is important to just have the right space to move around.

Another obvious factor to to consider is the height of the desk. When choosing, sit behind the desk and position your arms and elbows at the keyboard drawer. If you feel discomfort, move on to the next choice.

You may want to consider a desk with enough compartments, or a hutch where you can organize more of your things so they won’t clutter the top of workspace.

Although the internet can be a very useful tool in the workplace, especially for communication and for research. Here are some ways on how people can waste their time online while they are at work.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, MySpace, and the likes, plus message boards are the sites that most people frequently visit. People can update their status, follow other people’s pages, post comments and reply to them, upload pictures, and even play game applications.

Most people also check their personal e-mail accounts and use chat clients to talk to friends and loves ones. Some even use their work e-mails to send and receive messages.

People can also check other sites for information. They can also write blogs. Although the latter can be permissible, for a few minutes, the latter surely is not okay.

Some individuals also use work time to shop online and to manage their personal bank accounts.

Some managements can be strict and they would have their IT team block specific sites that they think employees would abuse. However, as an employee, one must be able to responsibly use the internet services of his or her company.

Do you want to learn how to read faster? It might take some practice and a lot of effort on your part, but learning to read faster (without sacrificing comprehension), can help you with being able to cover more ground at study and at work.

The first thing you need to work on is the reading part. Start reading more. Pick your reading material of choice and make sure that you increase the number of pages you read in a day. Make sure that as you read, you retain facts and have an understanding of the concept of the text.

Check how fast you read. You can do this by choosing a news article. Count how many words it has. Time yourself when you read it. As you read more, you can go back to this specific article, about once a week, and time yourself. See if you can beat your own time.

Once you’re accustomed to reading, you can start practice speed-reading techniques such as skimming- where a reader simply look for headings, topic sentences, the middle portion, and concluding sentences. This means only the important details are being read. When you practice doing this, make sure that you quiz yourself after to make sure that you did understand what you’ve just read.

Has your handwriting been a sore point in your otherwise perfectly impeccable skills set? No worries. Here are some suggestions on how to make your chicken scrawls more legible:

You’ll be needing some tools so get them ready:

• lined paper in a rule with which you are comfortable using
• pen or pencil that you can grip comfortably with your fingers

Improving one’s handwriting does not happen overnight so be prepared to do a lot of practice.

Set a few minutes everyday wherein you can sit down at a table and practice writing a few lines. Five to ten minutes every night after dinner is long enough.

Start with individual letters. One or two letters a day is fine. Concentrate on the strokes. Don’t bother with speed at first. Do this until you’re done with the whole alphabet.

Continue with words and/or phrases. Pay close attention to how your writing flows from one word to the next. Mind your spacing between words too.

Next, choose a test sentence. You can develop a new one every week. Write it at the top of your practice page. Write this sentence over and over, gradually trying to increase speed without breaking your stride.

Do this until you are satisfied with the results.

Multi-tasking is the act of doing multiple tasks at the same time. Some are naturally skilled at this while some are better off doing one thing at a time. However, during these times when everything seems to move at 100 miles per hour, it is always an advantage to acquire this skill. For those who are newbies at multi-tasking, you can practice doing the following first:

While cooking. You can save time cooking by doing several things at the same time. If you are making pasta, you can start by boiling the water. While waiting, you can chop the other ingredients you will need. Or if you are making stew (which can take at least an hour to cook beautifully), you can
do the laundry or clean the bathroom.

While watching television. You can do several househould chores while watching television in the evening. You can vacuum the carpet, clear your bed, or even fold your clothes.

Sometimes we spend time on our butt while talking on the telephone. This might take a bit of practice, but you can use your computer at work while using the phone. You can purchase a headset to keep your hands free to do other tasks.

If you commute to work or to school, you can always use the time in a bus or train to catch up on some reading. If you drive, you can listen to audio books, may it be fiction, or something useful as a language-learning CD.

Tired? Stressed out trying to finish small tasks that seem to pile up day after day? Why not work smart instead of working hard? Here are some simple tips to help you make your work life a bit easier.

Use your strengths. Do not waste time working on things that you are not particularly good at. Be more productive by using the skills and strengths that you already possess. However…

Learn. If you find yourself lacking in some skills, then delegate a bit of your extra time to polish rusty skills. You can study on your own or you can formally enroll in a class.

Prioritize. We can never get enough of lists. Just list down the tasks that you need to do in a particular day. Rank them according to their priority – or which should be done first. If you’re not exactly a paper and pen person, you can always use what works for you – may it be technology, or if you have a good memory, then you can always store it in your mental planner.

Organize. The minutes  you spend looking for your stapler, or making unplanned phone calls can add up to an hour spent on more important things. Use a diary or a planner to keep you reminded of special dates or appointments. Keep your workspace clean and clutter-fee. Make sure you know where everything is. Write labels on drawers and cabinets if these could help.

Stop. Learn when to stop working. Pushing yourself too hard will only result to mistakes and more stress. People are more productive when they are not burning candles at both ends. Call it a day and get a good night’s rest. You’ll find that you have more energy to work the next day.

Do you spend at least an hour commuting from home to work? Make your time more productive whether you’re taking public transport or if you’re driving. Here are some tips that will show you exactly how:

Listen. You can do this if you are driving or if you are using public transport, as long as you have a CD player, or an MP3 player with you, no problem. Commuting is the perfect opportunity to listen to relaxing music so your mind and body are calm ad refreshed. Perfect way to start a busy day.

You can also try listening to a language learning CD. Or you can opt to listen to an audio book instead, if you have no time to read an actual paperback lately due to your busy schedule.

Or you can do the actual reading, if you’re using public transport. Bring a book you’ve been dying to read for a long time. You probably could only go through a few pages. But you’ll be able to finish the book eventually if you do it everyday.

If you have a laptop or a smart phone, you can also read your e-mail while you’re on the train or bus or cab. You can also converse on your cell phone. Remember to use hands-free if you’re driving. This will help you get rid of some work tasks even before you get to work.

Focusing on a task can be difficult especially if you have a lot of things going on in your mind. But if you are determined to be able to get everything sorted out and done, here are some tips to help you do exactly that:

First things first, stop whatever it is that you are doing. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Find a place to sit where there is no distraction. Take a deep breathed and think about the tasks you want to accomplish. Make a list according to their priority. In the future, you can make a list before leaving work for the following day, or in the morning as the first thing you do when you come in to work.

Don’t forget to give yourself realistic deadlines. Consider your resources and the difficulty of the task. Set a deadline that you think is very workable. This way you can expect a better flow of work routine, giving you enough time to finish the task without stressing over it. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

Work on those tasks according to the order in your list. Focus on the task at hand and try not to think about anything else. You’ll find out that this will help you work faster. Better than doing everything all at once and finish nothing.

]]> http://www.lifespy.com/2009/focusing-on-a-task/feed/ 0 http://www.lifespy.com/2009/keeping-an-organized-cubicle/ http://www.lifespy.com/2009/keeping-an-organized-cubicle/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:56:45 +0000 Guest http://www.lifespy.com/?p=4742

Do you want to be more productive at work? Let’s start with organizing your personal work space – your cubicle!

Focus on your desk. If you can’t see your desk, then it means that it is full of clutter. Place your computer in the corner if you have a desk that splits in two connection sections that meet in a corner. This will free up the entire desk for other work. You can place your phone beside the computer if you have one.

Arrange files and documents so you have one side for incoming tasks and the other side for outgoing files and mail. This way, you won’t confuse which tasks are already done and which ones yo’ll have to do. You won’t have to spend time sorting through all the paperwork all the time.

Have a bulletin board propped or mounted on the wall behind your desk. You can pin a calendar and other important notes. You can also create a calendar for critical deadlines.

Buy dividers for your drawers so you can store supplies according to their size.

Organized doesn’t necessarily mean boring. Add a mug or a few knick-knacks such as small framed pictures of family and friends, just don’t overdo it.

For personal storage, reserve one drawer or a space in your drawer or cabinet for your personal effects.

]]> http://www.lifespy.com/2009/keeping-an-organized-cubicle/feed/ 0 http://www.lifespy.com/2009/learning-about-yourself/ http://www.lifespy.com/2009/learning-about-yourself/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:25:57 +0000 Guest http://www.lifespy.com/?p=4737

You would think that the person who would know you the best is yourself, but many people are clueless about themselves. A lack of self confidence and fear of the unknown coupled by several personal issues and complex can hinder an individual from learning more about himself or herself.

Why is this important? Because once you know your strengths, weaknesses, values, and principles you’ll find it easy to react and adapt to different situations. You’ll be able to come up with decisions that would be the best for you. So how do you do this?

List down your skills, talents, and what you think are stuff that you can be good at but have no chance to test and prove them. List also the things that you want to improve on.

Create goals which can help you further develop existing skills and learn new ones. Start with small ones and as you have more confidence on yourself and abilities, create bigger goals.

Dream bigger things for yourself. You’ll soon find out that the more you strive for better things for yourself, the more your confidence grows. The more your confidence grows, the better understanding you’ll have of yourself, because this time there is no fear of failure that would hold you back from getting what you want. Because you know you can get it.

Take control of your own life. Be more independent. This way you’ll be able to find out what you can and cannot do. Everyday, you’ll experience progress and challenges. You’ll win some battles and you’ll lose some. But this is just part of the learning process. Trust in yourself.