How To Keep Your Job (Or Career … Whatever)!

Know a guy at work who lost his job? That’s a shame! You get to keep yours? Now, that’s a real shame (LOL)!

As today’s businesses try to increase their profits by going with fewer workers, they’re asking for more and more out of those sorry saps that are still employed. While this Accounting Department’s “great idea” may make a company a little more profitable, the greater demands placed on these remaining workers will leave many of them feeling too overwhelmed to keep a nice “work/life” balance, which they might have cherished before those a-holes dropped the hammers!

At these big-wig boardroom meetings, they usually go over the many “advantages” of effective time management, and agree (just like any other groupthink get-together) that it helps gain time, motivates and initiates workers, eliminates cramming, and reduces anxiety. It’s no wonder then that there is an ever-increasing demand for time management training, both on and off the clock. However, the truth is that these idiots don’t know anything (they’re just agreeing with whatever the biggest boss says) but they do help you pay the bills so why not follow the tips below to at least look like you know what you’re doing (BTW: isn’t your next review coming up soon?):

Have a place for everything in your workspace! Open your mail in the same place everyday so you always know where it’s at. File everything (in those empty file cabinets you never use) and have an in-box and out-box system. Very important: store all office supplies together to prevent duplicate purchases (managers love tiny Office Max bills).

In regards to desk surface: go all Goldilocks on it! Too little papers makes people question whether your job is really needed or not; too much looks like you can’t catch up quick enough (same results). Remember the Momma Bear rule: determine your next action on a piece of paper and file accordingly. Tasks to be done soon (ex. phone calls to make) and current projects go into your “action” file, which should not be mixed with the “wait a little” file.

Take time to think and plan! Truth: if you fail to do this, you are, in effect, planning to fail. Organize in a way that makes sense to you (not to me, because I’m crazy). Need color and pictures in your life? Then use a lot of it on your calendar or PC’s wallpaper. Are you a “filer” (aghh, you people drive me mad)? Then do what you do! Forget what Mark in Accounting’s desk looks like (yea, those guys love crappy sitcoms!) and organize your stuff, in your own special way!

Urgent tasks have short-term consequences! On the flip-side of this: important tasks with long-term, goal-related implications. Don’t get these two twisted: always work towards reducing the urgent things you must do right away, so that you’ll have time later for your important priorities. This will help eliminate the drama caused by trivial tasks, which do not have any long-term consequences for you.

When you’re trying to avoid something … like really boring stuff, or maybe even something you’re not really good at (admit it: you can’t be great at everything) why not break it into much smaller pieces and do just one of the smaller tasks at a time? Or even better yet: why not set your watch’s timer and work on this task for 15 minutes tops. Either way, you’ll eventually reach that point where you’ll just want to finish it already. Then it’s done!

Along with being better able to develop and maintain a personal, flexible schedule, time management skills will also provide you with the opportunity to relieve a lot of stress in both your work and home life. This personal attention that you are now exercising will give you the flexibility to include the things that are most important to you (not to that nasty boss that is breathing down your neck every half hour or so).

In conclusion: learn these lessons, love these lessons and hopefully they will do wonders for you in your supervisor’s eyes! They may even help you get a raise or promotion in this downturned economy of ours. Good luck, dear reader, and Godspeed to you!