Random Thoughts

Streamlining the Lifestyle
Today, right from morning, Susheel is not able to concentrate on his work. The reason is simple. His colleague, Snehsheel, has been talking very loudly on his mobile since morning. This is not the first time he is doing so! It is almost an everyday practice for Snehsheel. Thanks to his friendly nature, Susheel tried to alert him so many times about his behavior during work time. To converse with friends for a long time while at work place is bad manners. But in spite of his warnings, Sneh continued his routine. Today, again Susheel took the responsibility on his shoulders and tried to make Snehsheel aware of the recession and the precautions which every employee should take to safeguard his/her employment.

In macroeconomics, a recession is a decline in a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or negative real economic growth for two or more successive quarters of a year. Strategies for moving an economy out of a recession vary depending on which economic school of thought the policymakers follow. Both government and businesses have responses to recessions. In the Philadelphia Business Journal, Strategic Business adviser, Carter Schelling has discussed the precautions which the businesses are likely to take to prepare themselves for the looming recession. First, he suggests that business owners gauge customers' ability to resist recession and redesign customer offerings accordingly. He goes on to suggest they use lean principles, replace unhappy workers with those more motivated, eager and highly competitive.

So, with recession all around, every employee should be cautious enough about his/her actions and deeds at his/her workplace. Small businesses today are under tremendous pressure to do more with less. One of the ways we can stretch our business money is to work smarter. Because no matter how efficiently we have been working, we can still think of some additional measures like streamlining our habits, especially at the workplace, so that we can help ourselves as well as our company to run more cost-effectively.

Do Not Get Preoccupied: We all do it from time to time. We waste most of our time checking our e-mails every few minutes. As a society, we've become so accustomed to communicate through e-mail, we are afraid we're going to miss something important if we look away for even a few minutes. But seriously, there are very few things that can't wait. Most time management experts suggest setting aside specific times for e-mail check, and then to ignore it for the rest of the time. Consider checking email three times each day: In the morning, around noon, and then an hour or so before leaving for the day.

Stay Focused: Many of us pride ourselves on our ability to multi-task, but most experts agree that it isn't always the productive way to work. If we go off in too many directions, we can get overwhelmed and risk underachieving. Unless we stay focused on the task at hand, we get sidetracked; lose the chain of thought, and waste valuable time trying to get ourselves back to the original speed. However, if we stay focused on what we are doing and resist all those other attention-grabbers, we can get our work done in, literally, half the time. So the task at hand should be given the entire attention.

Filter the Phone Calls: Next to email, phone calls are the most distracting time wasters. If we have a receptionist or an assistant to filter our calls, that is well and good. But if the situation is not so, we definitely get distracted from our task, if we allow the phone to rule our world. Obviously there are times when we must take calls especially if our livelihood depends on it. But if it doesn't, we can try designating specific times by simply not answering the calls unless it is an emergency.

Learn to Say "No": One of the easiest ways to get more time in our day and to work more efficiently is to see that we are not over-burdened with work. We know our limitations and what all we can do within the stipulated time. To work more efficiently we need to balance our life, and we can't have balance if we are working all the time.

Get Some Sleep!: For an efficient performance, one should have peace of mind and body. This can be attained only after a sound sleep in the preceding night. According to the Center for Disease Control, nearly 40% of us don't get enough sleep. Although, we all need different amounts of sleep, it's estimated that amount is between six to nine hours each night. If we work for a long period of time getting less than six hours of sleep, we could suffer symptoms like lack of concentration and memory, behavioral problems, tiredness and irritability. And no one works well under those circumstances.

Schedule the Work: Establishing and sticking to a routine is always a healthy habit. If we know consistently what we are supposed to do at a particular time and place, then we can easily attend to all our tasks and still have time to relax. This kind of planning makes us the most productive individuals.

Get Organized: If we keep our surrounding clean, we can always work better. Simple things like keeping our office filing cabinets and desks dust free, keeping our computer desktop clean and organizing the things around us in a systematic manner can do wonders to our efficiency. In addition to these, if our surroundings are clutter-free, we will be able to think on a more focused basis.

Do Not Twiddle the Thumbs: Whenever we are made to wait for somebody or if we find some leisure time, let us spend it fruitfully by reading some good magazines which enhances our knowledge. It is always better to keep a book, magazine, report, etc., with us for those moments when we find ourselves waiting. It's a great way to fill in what could otherwise be considered wasted time.

So friends, if we ponder on these ideas of streamlining our habits we will soon find that our days become less hectic, and our businesses more profitable.

Shital Jain
INC-Cuttack (2008)
(e-mail: sjain.333@gmail.com)