Mar4

How NOT to get Cabin Fever as a Remote Worker or Office Worker

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How NOT to get Cabin Fever as a Remote Worker or Office Worker

Just recently I took on a project that had me working weekends, something I do not recommend doing if you’re serious about looking after your health. I was cooped up in my house, slaving away on my computer while the rest of the world was having a life. After four weekends of this, I got a serious case of, what kids nowadays call, fear of missing out (FOMO). The isolation that comes with being inside all the time is something very real for remote workers. I had a bad case of cabin fever.

What is cabin fever? “Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group ends up in an isolated or solitary location, or stuck indoors in confined quarters for an extended period of time.[1]” Suddenly, this big old house felt small and limiting. I needed to get out for a while and reintegrate myself into society.

So, I went on a vacation – away from the central business district, away from the city. I went where there was sun, sand, and sea. Even if it was just a short break, that magical combination will do wonders for your mental health.

But cabin fever isn’t just for remote workers or people who work from home. Office workers can feel cabin fever, too. With the bright lights and the built in partitions, sometimes, an office cubicle can also feel claustrophobic too. So whether you’re a remote worker or an office employee, here are two tips to stave of the feeling of being cooped up.

Maximise your mornings:

Have something to look forward to every morning. This will keep you from feeling like you’re stuck in a routine. Have something to “shake things up” if you may. Plan activities that you find interesting and/or rewarding. Some suggestions are:

  • A breakfast for champions – something with bacon is always a winner.
  • A fabulous outfit – now is the time to wear that tie you got for Christmas.
  • A new podcast to listen to on your commute – like productivity podcasts and personal development podcasts.
  • A quick run – if you’re the running type.
  • A kick*ss playlist – like songs from the breakfast club.
  • A run around the block or quick playtime with your pet/s – my favourite activity.

Switch it up:

This is what I didn’t do during the time I was working weekends. I know I should’ve packed my stuff and went to visit a coffee shop or a coworking space, but I didn’t. I would have welcomed a quick shopping session for a bit of retail therapy. So as much as possible, go outside and get some fresh air. Welcome a change of scenery, preferably with green things. If you’ve been stuck at the office, use your lunch break as an excuse to go outside and eat lunch at a park or alfresco cafe.

What are you tips for combating cabin fever? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_fever

Feb25

How to keep a positive attitude at work

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How to keep a positive attitude at work

We all know that it’s hard to keep your cool when you’re juggling several ongoing tasks and trying to manage yours and everyone else’s schedule. Somedays, your positivity can really take a beating, especially when your tired. That can make even the best of us really cranky and can even affect your health.

No doubt that at some point you’ve already heard or read some article that positivity boosts your immune system. Not only that, when you are positive, you are open to new ideas and tend to be more creative. So how do you keep a positive attitude at work when your workload is full to the brim? Here are some tips:

Be a bright ray of sunshine – how? Stop complaining. No one wants to be around a professional complainer. You know, that somebody who always has something that doesn’t live up to his/her expectations. There will always be something to complain about and there will always be things, people, situations that will upset you. Be flexible enough to ride it out and hold your tongue when you feel the urge to complain. People will remember you as a trooper – one who is unfazed by hard times and challenges.

Hang out with positive people – even if you aren’t one, their positivity will rub off on you. Find people who are unrelenting optimists at heart. Those that have kind words or a keen sense of humour. Find those who always have a solution and are helpful. Those who have kind words and don’t gossip. They will be your new tribe.

Be kind – treat other people as you would like to be treated. Show empathy. If others are having a rough day, it will show. Try to understand where they’re coming from ust as you would like to be understood when you’re having a slightly off day. It’s hard to do when everyone is busy or swamped with work. But try to have a kind word for everyone you interact with at work – we all need a handout when the going gets tough.

Find something to laugh about – I once laughed at a lemon for 2 straight minutes. Backstory: I was having a day where nothing seems to be working for me but then my brother got home with a bag of lemons he got from a market sale. For some reason I thought about Lemony Snicket’s “a series of unfortunate events” and we had a laugh at a bag of lemons. That changed my mood completely. So go ahead, take a break and watch some cat videos. Find something to laugh about. I promise you’ll feel better after.

Own your mood – nothing and nobody should have the power to dictate your mood or upset you. You have the power to decide if the busted copier is worth letting out a string of expletives or a chance to get a coffee break while you call support for repairs.

Do you have any tips for staying positive at work? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Feb19

This is for the EA/VA peeps

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This is for the EA/VA peeps

To all the Executive Assistants and Virtual Assistants out there, put your hands up in the air! We salute you. You keep the world organised. If it weren’t for you, countries will fall into chaos, kingdoms will fall, and all will descend into an unorganised pile of papers and unscheduled meetings.

This is for the EA/VA peeps. The ones who keep the company running and never get tired of manning the fort. The ones who are always on top of the situation and know which thing goes where and who gets to do which task. This is for the This is for the EA/VA who keeps us all on track and organised, ready to do our jobs. We already know you’re fabulous, and here are a few more competencies you can work on in order to continue to be the fabulous assistant that you are.

Communication
As an EA/VA you have to be able to learn to cut through all the noise and get to the heart of the matter. With all the things going on with your client, you have to be able to get the important points and get the gist across minus the fluff. Your client only need to know the gist, so get to the point. Clients have a whole range of different personalities and diverse backgrounds and each EA/VA should be able to adapt to the client’s communication style. Flexibility is essential in order to relay messages effectively and efficiently.

Attention to detail
Yes, there are a host of technologies, applications, and tools to help you scan, narrow down, compute, double check, correct, and go through just about any document, email correspondence, or presentation. But EA/VA’s have to make their clients look good, and it is imperative that all the small details are taken care of. For example, you can spell and grammar check documents but if you forget one part of the instructions – that could spell disaster for the project. You can have all the documents ready and looking fantastic but if you miss the deadline because you missed a schedule change in the meeting, then your client could look bad. Small details matter and will always be an area where EA/VAs can add value.

Flexibility
Clients, especially executives, have a packed to do list. EA/VAs have to be able to make decisions on which tasks are a priority and which ones can be delegated. Handling multiple priorities will be an EA/VAs job and it is up to them to be able to juggle those priorities.

Self motivated
To be able to excel in every industry EA/VAs should be self motivated. They should not be afraid to take the reins and be able to put themselves forward for projects, tasks, challenges, and anything that will get them seen and heard. EA/VAs are vital to every organisation, let them know that you are.

What are your EA/VA experiences? What competency are you looking for in a EA/VA? Share them with us in the comments Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Feb12

The Multitasking Myth

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The Multitasking Myth

How many resumes have you sent out listing “great multitasker” as one of your important work skills? A lot, I bet. While the ability to multitask is something to be proud of, it doesn’t really translate to being a productive trait. We’ve all come to accept that the ability to multitask is an ideal business virtue that solves all problems when it comes to work management. Now it seems that study after study deems multitasking is counterproductive.

Observe an office setting and you’ll immediately notice that may different activities and projects are being pursued at any given time. Many tasks get sidelined, tagged as unnecessary, go unfinished, labelled unimportant – all in the course of a project. No many how many people are on the team, or how many resources are poured into the project, there will always be tasks that we could have skipped over in order to get to the finish line.

The best industry leaders have the uncanny ability to focus on one point in the future even with chaos surrounding them. No matter how many moving targets there are, they keep their focus on the end goal. Most people would say it is a weakness to have such a limited point of view. But now, many people are beginning to see the proverbial bigger picture.

Nowadays, the operative word is “focus”. Time seems to slip by when you’re doing multiple tasks at a time. But really, the key is to identify those tasks that aren’t lean or streamlined, and then promptly abandon them. Because really, who would care if you let the lower priority tasks dwindle and die? No one really needs those hard copies, you can go with digital ones. Will painstakingly putting sticky tabs on the sign here spots really make that big a difference? The main idea is to not waste time doing tasks that are deemed low priority just for you to be able to say that you’re busy. Because that’s really what multitasking is, doing a high value job along with menial mindless tasks that you could just as easily do away with.

Here’s a trick that might work: President Dwight Eisenhower (a productivity powerhouse) once said “ what is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” He has designed a matrix that’s great for weeding out what task can be addressed urgently and what needs to be focused on. Take a piece of paper and draw a cross, dividing the paper into 4 quadrants. Take a look at your to do list and decide whether they are urgent, not urgent, important, not very important. Your urgent and important tasks will fall under the “do it now” quadrant. Your important but not urgent tasks will fall under the “decide when” quadrant. Other task will fall under the “delegate” quadrant (who else can do it?) and the “delete” quadrant (these tasks are the ones you can ditch altogether).

Have you used the Eisenhower Matrix before? Have you had any success with it? Share your experience with us in the comments Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Feb6

Choose to Live Productively

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Choose to Live Productively

January is over. That’s one out of twelve months being done and over with. Some of us may have taken extended vacations, and some (actually, most) of us have probably gone right back to work after the holidays. January is like one giant Monday when we dread coming back from the holiday break. Hopefully, by now, we’ve all eased into our regular schedules.

We may have slid back into some unproductive habits while we were looking for our rhythm at the start of the year. Not to worry, here are some tips to get your productivity going again and get your groove back.

Body
● Get enough sleep – being sleep deprived can lead to a host of problems like bad food choices, lack of focus, and low motivation. All of which you will need in order to be productive. How you start your day will set the mood for the rest of it. So, if you start off sleep deprived you won’t have the energy to accomplish tasks.
● Exercise to energize – I know it sounds counterintuitive to exercise when you’re feeling sluggish, but that’s the best time to do some kind of exercise activity. When you feel your energy dipping, try a brisk walk around the office. Or better yet, start your day with a quick run around the block.
● Take breaks – There are a lot of benefits to taking work breaks, but the best one is that taking breaks actually increases productivity and creativity.

Mind
● Steamline decisions – eliminate decision fatigue by addressing trivial decisions. For example, have a work uniform (meaning, you wear one similar style to work – not the same clothes) to eliminate the time wasted agonizing over what to wear to work. You can also meal prep and take lunch to work on certain days so that you don’t have to think about where to eat.
● Start with the end in sight – have a clear picture of what you think the outcome will be before starting a task or project. This makes it easier to stick to the plan and not get easily derailed by unnecessary tasks.
● Use technology to your advantage – learn keyboard shortcuts, create templates, utilize web apps like pomodoro or kanban boards to maximize your productivity. Tune out social media and distracting (or scary) news. Keep communication lines open but put them on mute so that you don’t jump up everytime a message comes in on your slack or skype group.

Soul
● Set priorities – there will be days when you won’t be able to do it all. Know which tasks are important and which ones can be put off for another day.
● Imagine your ideal day – it’s one where all your plans work out well, right? Keep that in mind, down the to small details and work on that accordingly.
● Celebrate your wins – very few of us have type A personalities where we get all of the things done, 100% of the time. Whenever you accomplish a task, celebrate your small victories. That sets you up for more motivation to complete the others.

What are your favorite productivity techniques? Share your hacks with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard!

Written by Jaie O. The Help