5 Things to Do on Friday Afternoon at Work Before You Hit the Weekend

Everybody is “working for the weekend”, according to the 1981 Loverboy song, and while you might be anxious to leave work, get out early, and hot the weekend, your career and life might benefit from taking a few minutes to pause on a Friday afternoon to get a few things in order before you leave.

Scheduling just 30 minutes into your Friday routine to tackle the following five items will significantly impact your well-being, and help you be more prepared for the next week.

Evaluate the week. Take a few moments to check in on your priorities for the week. Did you accomplish your goals or is there some unfinished business that you’ll have to complete over the weekend, or get after first thing next week? You can do this in your head, but it can be helpful to write down a few notes to help you remember your assessment of the week. Think over your meetings and interactions with colleagues, supervisors, and customers. Is there anything you would change or is there a situation you would have liked to handle differently? You don’t need to spend a lot of time on this evaluation, and five minutes or so is plenty for now. 

Respond to Messages. You won’t want to go into the weekend knowing you owe someone a phone call, or an email reply and it can hang in your thoughts until you get back to them. Take care of it now, even if it means following up with a more detailed email or conversation later. You might also, if possible, work to attain in-box zero, meaning you have dealt with all your emails by responding to them or filing them away to read another day.

Organize your desk. Avoid coming in to work on Monday to a messy and disorganized desk by taking a few minutes to straighten up before you leave. Wipe away the stains from your coffee mug and toss out the crumbs from that protein bar you had after lunch.

Set some initial goals. Think about your priorities for the coming week and identify 3-5 preliminary goals or tasks to accomplish. Situations and priorities change but you’ll head into the week with a clearer focus by taking some time to prepare.

Review your calendar for the upcoming week. Before you leave take a quick glance at your calendar and note any meetings, training sessions, or big deadlines coming up. You don’t want to arrive at work on Monday morning to discover you’re 10 minutes late for the company-wide meeting.

By taking a few minutes on Friday afternoon to prepare for the following week you’l

l set yourself up for success and allow yourself to better enjoy the weekend.

5 Things to Do on Your First Day at a New Job

Congratulations, you got the job! Perhaps you’re filled with nervous excitement as you plan for your first day and imagine what it’ll be like in your new position. Perhaps your new employer has a formal new employee orientation or maybe you’ll just be thrown into it.

Regardless, there are some things you can do on your first day to set the tone for your new work experience and to ensure that you get off on the right foot.

In addition to planning what to wear on that first day, consider how you might fit the following into your first day plans.  

Get organized. There is no better time to figure out the best system of organization for your work style. By day two you might already find things to be a chaotic mess and struggle to catch up. Talk with your supervisor and co-workers about the methods they use to keep things organized and under control and begin to implement your own system immediately.

Eat lunch with others. Sure, you might need some time alone to catch your breath and refocus your energies but do that over a short break. Do not eat lunch by yourself. If no one invites you to join them, take the initiative and extend the invitation to your colleagues. You’ll feel more comfortable on the job the quicker you get to know the people you work closely with every day.

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the building. Take a few minutes to get the lay of the land. Some companies will take new employees on a tour of the workspace and even if you get this tour, take some time to wander around on your own. You’ll become more easily oriented when you look around at your own pace and stop to situate yourself. Even if you work in a small office you’ll want to know where the kitchenette and rest rooms are located. 

Meet the person in charge of technology. Regardless of our work, we usually end up needing to use some form of technology to get the job done. And our tech eventually breaks down or malfunctions. On your first day take some time to seek out the person you’ll need to contact in this situation. Understand the best way to contact him or her and how you submit a request for help.

Be friendly and curious. This should be obvious but might be difficult if you’re overcome with anxiety. Make an effort to smile, be friendly with those you meet, and be curious about the work. Everyone you come in contact with does something of value to your new company and your job will be more enjoyable if you understand what it is that they do and how it relates to your new position.

Enjoy that new job and congrats!

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Tips for Organizing Your Workspace

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below from Fast Company, best-selling author Marie Kondo provides some tips for tidying up a messy desk at work. Check out the video for more.

5 Work Habits to Support Your Personal Life

Our habits contribute significantly to our success in life and in our career. To be successful we need to develop the right habits that support who we want to be and the accomplishments we want to achieve.

Last week we discussed personal habits that can support you in your career. Today we look at those work habits you've developed and how they can be beneficial to your personal life.

Organization. The ability to remain organized amid complexity, chaos, and competing demands is a skill that is needed in the work place and, obviously, allows one to maintain order in your personal life when surprises inevitably come. Develop a system to remain organized at work and it can serve you well at home.

Effective listening. Demonstrating the ability to listen to others well is necessary for successful communication and builds healthy and successful relationships, both in your work situation and in your personal life. We all need to become good at listening and truly hearing others and the work place provides a great opportunity to develop this skill.

Avoiding procrastination. Developing the skill of addressing what is important without delay is critical to becoming a trusted part of your work team. It requires you to identify what is most important and addressing this task to meet the demands of your work schedule. There are always things we'd like to put off at home and learning to avoid procrastination at work can help us be more successful with these tasks in our personal life.

Never Say "It's not my job". You are a team player and are willing to take on any tasks necessary to get the job done, even if they don't fit your job description. The same is true in our personal lives: sometimes we need to take care of the garbage, paint the basement, fix the door, or do something else that we're not trained in or might tale us out of our comfort zone.

Avoid distraction. Staying focused on the task at hand, without getting distracted by coworkers or social media, is a key to success at work. This also helps our personal lives and prevents us from spending our weekend playing video games or staring at our phone when our friend or child is trying to talk to us.

How to Stay Focused and Organized When Working at Home

Many companies and businesses offer their employees an opportunity to work at home regularly. This can be a great benefit for employees looking for more flexibility.

However, as more employees take advantage of these opportunities, many find that working at home can pose some unexpected challenges.

Here are some tips for staying focused and organized while working from home:

Avoid social media. The temptation can be even greater to check out Facebook or Twitter while you're in the privacy of your own home. Do yourself a favor and don't even open your social media channels in your browser or look at the apps on your phone. You can give yourself some time to take a look during lunch but be sure to log off your social media accounts after your break.

Keep the TV off. You might want a little noise in the background to keep you company but avoid getting that background noise from your TV. The added stimulation of the image can be particularly distracting and cause you to become engage in a show, rather than staying focused on your work.

Use a timer to sustain your focus. Work in short bursts of 45-50 and then take a break. Setting a timer will help you stay on task for a dedicated period of time. This short time of focus will enable you to be single-minded and get a lot done. Take a short break and then repeat.

Give yourself a break. Take a brief break after each 45-50 minute work session. A good way to utilize this break is by taking a quick 5-7 minute walk, preferably outdoors. You'll find yourself refreshed and energized to take on that next task. But it would not be a good idea to take a break by laying down. You just might find yourself taking a long nap and missing the afternoon!

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Clean Up Your Career With The KonMari Method

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below from Forbes, Emily Drewry speaks with KonMari Method creator Marie Kondo about how to quickly organize your office space and clean up your career.

4 Ways to Improve Your Job Satisfaction

When you've been in a job or a career for a few years (or sometimes even a few months) you can come to a place where the position has grown stale and you start feeling a little dread and anxiety on Sunday evenings.

Perhaps you're no longer challenged in your work or you don't get along with your supervisor or a co-worker.

Here are four ways to improve your job satisfaction and help make those Sunday evenings before starting the work week a little more enjoyable.

1. Attitude adjustment. It's no secret that our attitudes and beliefs play an important role in our job satisfaction. We tell ourselves how unhappy we are with certain aspects of the job or with someone we have to work with. We complain to others. Instead, take some time each morning to consider three things you appreciate about the job. They don't have to be profound and can be as simple as the job provides you with an income, or you enjoy the short commute. Focusing on a few positives about your work can help you start the day better.

2. Try something new. Identify a project that needs to get done and volunteer for it, especially if the project plays to your strengths or involves learning some new skills. Taking on a new challenge and learning something new will go along way towards increasing your job satisfaction.

3. Meet someone new. Make a point to avoid eating alone. Invite a colleague or co-worker to join you for lunch or a coffee break and don't just talk about work. Making a new friend on the job can make work more interesting and give you a good reason to look forward to the day.

4. Get organized. If you are disorganized or fall behind in your work it can make it difficult to enjoy your job and can increase your stress levels and anxiety. Clean and organize your desk, your computer, and your work environment and you'll feel more prepared to take on the responsibilities your job requires.

Making these four minor changes to your work routine can greatly improve your job satisfaction and make you eager to get to work on those important projects and tasks every Monday morning.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Tips for a Successful Work Day

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below Forbes presents tips for a successful work day. These simple yet effective tips will make your day much more organized, productive, and enjoyable.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Double Your Productivity

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below Sean Cannell shares 5 tips to increase your productivity, including 1) stop interruptions, and 2) get organized.

Do you want to be more productive? Check out Cannell's additional tips below.

Using Technology to Stay Organized

Sometimes the technology that is supposed to make our lives easier both professionally and personally, while keeping us better organized and more productive, seems to do just the opposite. Take time to set up systems to work in your favor, including performing some regular maintenance. These actions are critical for using technology to successfully schedule meetings, control paper clutter, and organize e-mail.

Google Calendar is one of the best tools available for keeping all of your meetings straight. Set up your calendar to color code certain types of project activities. For example, company meetings can be blue, client appointments yellow and a key project's commitments green. Synch this information with all of your devices so it’s easier to make additions and changes at any time. Another great time-saving option is sharing select information, such as available meeting times, with colleagues and clients.

To control paper clutter, make digital copies of paperwork. A scanner such as NeatDesk takes an entire stack of paper and feeds it through without assistance. It’s useful for keeping paperwork, receipts, and business cards organized in one place, clutter-free.

Use electronic tools to keep your email organized; for example, flags can be used to identify important items and archiving is helpful for saving messages you may need to refer to later. And if you do archive, consider organizing archive folders by client or project.

These are just a few examples of how to capitalize on technology that has been designed to make our lives easier. For more organizing ideas, search for How To videos and tips available on the Internet.

Too Distracted to Read This? Think Again.

The workplace is full of distractions: phones ringing, constant email and text alerts, and loud and talkative co-workers. Distractions abound and our attention is constantly shifting, making it hard to focus on the work at hand. It’s not always possible to eliminate distractions; however, you can take steps to significantly minimize them. Read on to discover tips that might work for you.

Turn Off Alerts
If you work at your computer or with a smartphone, alerts for email, instant messages, and texts can frequently sidetrack you from work tasks. Consider temporarily turning off alerts, especially when working on a task that requires your full concentration, like problem solving or creative thinking.

Process Messages during Scheduled Times
Schedule blocks of time for reading and responding to work emails or instant messages. If your job involves time-sensitive information, you may need to schedule message reviews several times throughout the day, but the structure will keep you more efficient.

Set Daily Work Goals and Tasks
Plan the goals you need to accomplish each work day and outline the associated tasks. You may not complete all your goals and tasks each day, causing some to shift to the next day, but a plan will help you stay on task and eliminate distraction.

Stay Organized
A cluttered workspace can be distracting and result in disorganization. Keep a tidy workspace, limited primarily to those supplies and tools you need to do your job. Organize your file system, including your electronic files. You’ll notice you can focus more on your work and be more productive along the way.

Speak to Disruptive Coworker(s)
As difficult as it may be to confront a co-worker who is disruptive, it will pay off in the long run. Be professional and respectful in your approach and simply explain what is causing the regular distractions. For example, is the co-worker too loud or does he/she want to chat too often? Chances are they aren’t aware of their actions but would be willing to make an effort to change.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

1. Career Change--Tips for Successful Transition

"Leverage your strongest skills that transfer across any business or industry."

2. How to Land a Job when You are Overqualified

" ... when you continue to send out applications and resumes with no response to positions for which you are overqualified but under-experienced, how do you work around that issue to land employment?"

3. Interview Beyond Your Reach to Achieve Your Best

"You know in your heart that special job you want for your own to advance your career, but it is seemingly out of your league.  Stop. Think again."

4. Ways to Stay Organized on the Job Hunt

"The more organized you are, the easier you'll find the job search and managing the appropriate next steps."

5. How to Quit Your job with Grace

"Recently I made a job change that required me to reevaluate my career goals, step out of my comfort zone, and resign from my first professional position."