Author Archives: kate

Aug21

Stretches

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Stretches

There is an epidemic that is slowly killing the working population. In 2013, a Minnesota based company called Ergotron conducted a survey about the effects of too much sitting. It comes as no surprise that the survey results show that we sit too much. We sit at work, while watching TV, during leisure time, and in social settings. In the US alone, Americans spend their time sitting for 13 hours a day!

Work is where we spend the most time sitting. On the average, office workers spend 7.5 hours sitting. Martha Grogan, a cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic suggests that “for people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as smoking.” I’ve written about the health problems that creep up when you sit for too long. You can read about it here.

If your work involves much sitting at a desk, it is important to take walking breaks and stretch breaks from time to time to cut down your sitting time. Here are a few tips to get you moving:

Stand up:
Stand up when you take a break, get some fresh air, go get a drink, go visit a co-worker in their office cubicle, take a brisk walk around the office. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Park further from the entrance to get in more steps. Use any excuse to get up from your chair and move about.

Standing Desk, anyone?:
I’ve heard about the benefits of a standing desk. A standing desk is a table or desk setup that allows you to stand comfortably while working. There are standing desk for sale but if you’re just trying it out and don’t want to commit, try making your own. Elevate your workstation by placing an object underneath your desktop or laptop that will enable you to work standing up. You can find a lot of tutorials on the internet on how to hack a DIY standing desk.

Stretches:
Here are some stretches that you can do at the office to incorporate more movement into your routine.
● Neck Stretch: Bring your left ear toward your left shoulder and hold. Roll your head toward the ground and bring your chin to your chest. Hold and finally, roll your head to the right and bring that ear to your right shoulder. Inhale and exhale in a slow and controlled manner.
● Torso Stretch: Clasp hands together and slowly raise them above your head toward the ceiling. Reach as high as you can while inhaling deeply and hold for 20-30 seconds. Bring your hands down slowly while exhaling.
● Shoulder Stretch: Stand tall or sit upright (not pictured). Bring your left arm across your chest, holding it below the elbow with your opposite. Keep the shoulders relaxed away from the ears. Breathe deeply and hold. Repeat on opposite side.
● Triceps Stretch: Stand tall or sit upright. Place your left elbow in your right hand. Reach your left arm overhead, placing palm on the center of your back and supporting the elbow in your right hand. Reach your fingertips down your spine

What are your favorite ways to incorporate more movement into your day? Let us know in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Reference:
https://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1263

Aug14

Stay Focused

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Stay Focused

Some employers have an open time policy. They set a window of log in hours, say from 7 am to 10 am and then it’s up to the employees to come as they please provided that they finish 8 working hours.

Having a flexible schedule is one benefit that most employees look for in a company. In fact, in order to attract top talent, schedule flexibility is one benefit that potential employees look for. A flexible schedule affords employees autonomy and ownership over their own time and schedule, offering the choice to avoid traffic and toxic commutes during peak hours. It also imparts a sense of trust and confidence from the employer to the employee that they value.

But having no defined work hours might prove to be more challenging than having a set work schedule for some. It forces daily adjustments. Sometimes, consistency is just what employees need in order to be more productive. Autonomy is a mixed blessing.

If you are struggling to stay focused on a flexible work schedule, here are a few tips to keep you productive and consistent at work.

Routine:
You may have a different start and stop time every day but keep your activities consistent. Start your day the same way no matter what time you start or come in for work. A good routine would be: some personal time as soon as you get up (meditating, reading, exercise, making and/or checking your to-do list etc.), shower and get dressed, breakfast, coffee, and then get to work. Having a routine makes sure you have enough time to get personal prep and essential work things done and be able to anticipate having to slot in unexpected or ad hoc errands and task into your day.

Hard stop:
Set a hard stop for yourself – a time when all things involving work must come to an end. Some people find this hard, especially those who take work home. They log out of their terminals from work but essentially continue on their laptops when they get home. If you do step one (have a routine and set a schedule), then you should be able to accomplish all the items on your task list by the end of the day. Unfinished tasks can wait till the next day. Freelancers and people who work from home should have an end-of-work-day routine. It is a signal that the workday is finished and personal time has begun. Office workers can just log off or clock out but at home, workers may miss this and continue working till the wee hours. So a good end-of-day routine is in order. Cleaning up your desk and powering down the PC is one way to signal the end of the workday.

Communication:
Keep your boss and co-workers updated. Starting work at different times for teams that are working on the same project could be hard to coordinate, so keep communication lines open. This would be helpful for answering team questions, showing results, emergency team meetings, etc. Also, let your teammates know when you’ll be going offline. You might have an important doctor’s appointment, bank errands, or somewhere you need to run off to. Let them know you’ll be out of office for a while and how long you’ll be gone so they know when they can expect an answer or a report from you. Keep your phone lines open while you’re out.

How do you stay focused on a flexible schedule? Let us know your tips in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Aug6

Hidden Costs of Working from Home

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Hidden Costs of Working from Home

The freedom and flexibility of being able to work from home is something that many people are discovering. Having complete control over your workspace and (most times) your working hours is one of the many benefits of working from home. But while it is a joy to be earning money from the comforts of your home, you might also want to think about hidden costs and how to work that into your budget.

Tech
This is probably the most expensive hidden cost of all. A traditional workplace would have desktop PCs at every workstation. Some managers may even get a work laptop and a mobile phone (and line) assigned to them.

However, when you work from home, you need to have your own machine. If you’re a freelancer or you work from home exclusively, a desktop PC that is solely used for work purposes is a must. If you telecommute or work from home a few times a week, a laptop will help you with telecommuting.

These powerful machines (laptop and PC) generally have a 5-year lifespan, so practice good computer hygiene and get a good antivirus software. Sure, a good antivirus is another hidden cost, but it will help you keep your tech running for as long as possible AND also keep your all-important work files safe.

As for mobile phones, you can get a cheap phone that can be used exclusively for taking and making work calls and sending out work messages. Or you can get a phone that has a dual sim function if you want to keep your personal and business contacts separate

Internet
High-speed internet is not cheap BUT it gives you peace of mind. Upgrading to a high-speed internet will ensure that you can join those client video calls without worrying that you will drop out of the call.

A plan without a download cap is also worth considering, especially if you have large files being exchanged.

Office supplies
You can probably scrounge up the basics from around the house: a small desk to place your work items on, a trash bin to throw your rubbish into, some paper and pens. So those need not be additional costs.

At a traditional workplace you have access to a copier with unlimited copy paper as well as the little things like paper clips, markers, highlighters, post its, folders, and file boxes. While you can just buy these things on an as-needed basis, these are also hidden costs.

Overhead
When you work at a traditional workplace, the company pays for electricity and space. However, if you work from home, you have to shoulder those costs.

Telecommuters may opt to pay for membership at co-working spaces. This is an option for collaborative events or for ad-hoc teams and startups.

Holidays and sick leaves
Freelancers usually work on a per project basis or a no-work, no-pay arrangement. Therefore paid vacation leaves and sick leaves are not factored into your net pay. Vacations are usually out of pocket and illnesses and hospital visits are as well. You need to factor these into your budget as they are among hidden costs.

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Jul23

Achieving Quietly

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Achieving Quietly

A famous and overused tip is to “follow your dreams” and a hundred other iterations of it. We’re all told to dream big and then do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. That tip is, more often than not, followed up by proclaiming your goal to the whole world. You know, to keep yourself accountable.

Don’t get me wrong. It is always a good idea to follow your dreams if only to see how far you can go and what you can endure. My beef is with telling anybody within earshot that you’re “gonna go get ‘em!” If that tip works for you, well and good. However, there are some science-backed reasons for trying to keep your goals on the down-low and not sharing them (just yet) to the whole wide world.

When we are inspired to achieve a goal, we get really excited about it and want to let other people know as soon as possible. The reasons for spilling the beans vary from: you want to be held accountable for reaching it to you want others to rally you on and share your enthusiasm.

Why announcements and pronouncements might be a bad idea:

Announcing a goal might garner you premature praises, thus making you less likely to follow through. Social media makes it easy (so very easy) nowadays to get validation. One click and you get instant recognition. One study concludes that a person might think that social recognition is enough reward and may result to that person feeling that they’ve already achieved their goal and reducing his/her efforts.

The kind of praise you receive also plays a big factor in whether you follow through with your goal. One study divides praise into 2 categories: person praise and process praise. The results concluded that it is absolutely better to give process praise – praise related to how you plan to achieve your goal (that’s a really good plan!), versus person praise – praise directed towards the individual (you are very talented!)

And then there’s the fact that, if you’re just starting out on this goal reaching endeavor, you might easily get demoralized by negative feedback. Say for example, your goal is to start a self-care website. So you decide to announce it in a small circle, starting with family and friends. But then, a close friend tells you “Don’t you at least have training in order to be credible?” That might be a big demoralizer for you – and might even be a reason for you to abandon your goals altogether.

Another variation of that is hearing about a lot of competition. If you’re a beginner, hearing about other people who have “been there, done that and will probably do a better job than you could ever do” could knock you off your stilts. Researchers explain this as kind of a win by not losing mentality. It is loss aversion – “When the perception of ability becomes a major concern, competition may motivate students to make a low effort – a strategy to win by not losing.”

Do you believe that plans should be kept under wraps or are you an advocate of friendly announcements? Let us know! Stay humble, hustle hard.

Jul16

Tired of Making Decisions?

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Tired of Making Decisions?

Ever wonder why you make bad food choices at the end of a tiresome day, why normally sound people snap at loved ones, or why it’s so hard to decide on where to have dinner with your group of friends?

Apparently, we have a finite store of mental energy for exerting self-control. People make bad food choices at the end of the day after trying to eat healthfully throughout breakfast and lunch. Parents snap at children after a long day of trying to get the household together. Office workers have a hard time deciding where to get dinner after long hours of making decisions at work. Willpower is a form of mental energy and it is not unlimited.

Decision fatigue is what happens when you’ve exhausted your mental energy on making decisions throughout the day. The more decisions you make, the easier it is to succumb to decision fatigue.

Yes, choosing a salad over a burger counts as a decision so does deciding what to wear in the morning, which shortcuts to take to avoid traffic, which room to hold a meeting in, and what kind of milk to get on your way home. The things you choose to ignore or pay attention to also count as decisions. Before the day ends, you have (on average) probably made about 35,000 decisions. So, how do you manage decision fatigue?

The easiest way is to establish routines.
Routines make our lives easier and help eliminate the need to make decisions. If you can do something automatically then that’s one less decision to make.

In the famous 2012 article in Vanity Fair, no less than US President Barack Obama has this to say: “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits, I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

The iconic Steve Jobs has the same principle – famously clad in a black turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers. So does Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, whose closet is reportedly filled with grey shirts. Singer and rock n’ roll legend Henry Rollins also has no time for fussing over what to wear as he sports a black shirt, dark pants uniform. So, there is merit in streamlining your wardrobe or having a work “uniform”.

Work in batches.
Assign certain days of the week dedicated to processes. For example, all creative work to be done on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Administrative work and/or meetings can be done on Mondays and Fridays.

Eat something.
There is truth to that Snickers chocolate bar commercial. We are all b*tchy monsters when we’re hungry – no one is exempt! Hunger is scientifically linked to making impulsive decisions, however, don’t just scarf down anything you get your hands on. Try a healthy granola bar or a fruit. The glucose can help stabilize your blood sugar levels and mitigate mental fatigue.

How do you combat decision fatigue? Share your stories with us! Stay humble, hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help