10 Ways to Be Productive During Down Time on the Job
Posted on July 15, 2010 by GuestPost
This is a guest post by Rachel Vidrine, author of Mind Meditations, a blog about psychology and human behavior. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
Do you ever find yourself bored at work? Most jobs have some down time between projects or assignments. How do you pass the slow spells? Do you log into Facebook? Play online games? Chat with your coworkers?
Though there’s nothing wrong with any of those, how about maximizing that down time by being fully productive and really accomplishing something? Here are some ideas:
Take an online class.
How about improving your skills or learning something new by enrolling in an online class? You can work at your own pace without ever stepping foot in a classroom. Depending on the subject matter, your employer might even pay for it. Need some ideas? How about a foreign language, a computer programming language, writing (creative, grant, résumé), or personal finance?
Update your résumé.
If you’re looking for a new job, or even if you aren’t, use your free time to make your résumé current. If it has been awhile since your last job change, you probably have a lot of information you could add to your résumé. You never know when you may see an ad for your ideal job.
Read some interesting/informative blogs.
Forget Facebook. You’re not learning much by reading about your friends’ status updates or how many points they scored in Mafia Wars. Read some useful blogs (like the one you’re reading now). There are blogs on every topic imaginable. You never know what you may learn.
Clean out your e-mail inbox.
Do you have 500 unread e-mails? How about outdated e-mails about projects or events that are long past? This is the perfect time to purge that inbox! If you’re feeling overwhelmed, here is an article that might help: 10 Steps to Become an E-mail Ninja
Plan your meals for the upcoming week.
Have you ever gone home at the end of the day, overwhelmed by the thought of preparing dinner? Make a menu for the upcoming week so you don’t have to deal with thinking about food preparation when you’re tired and hungry. Try one of the many recipe sites online to find some fresh ideas for quick, easy, and nutritious meals. One of my favorite of such sites is AllRecipes.com.
Make a shopping list.
While you’re planning your meals, why not make a shopping list? Keep it handy and add to it as items come to mind throughout the day or week.
Clean out your purse, wallet, bag or briefcase.
It’s easy to accumulate clutter over time in a bag or briefcase: outdated documents, candy wrappers, shopping lists, receipts, etc. How about using this time to unclutter? Throw out all nonessential items to keep your bag/case roomy and lightweight.
Pay your bills.
Is your power bill sitting on your kitchen counter at home waiting to be paid? Use a spare minute or two to go ahead and pay that bill while at work. This will free up valuable time at home that you can use for other chores.
Review and update your calendar/planner for the upcoming week or month.
Is there an important event coming up that you need to remember? Mark it on your calendar. Trying to remember what activities or events the next week holds? Check your planner. Reviewing your calendar often will keep you from missing an important event or deadline.
Examine (or reexamine) your goals.
While you’re looking at your calendar/planner, why not look ahead at your goals? If you don’t have a written list of goals, now might be the time to start one. Spend some time thinking about where you’re going in life. Are you on the right path? What do you want to accomplish this month, this week, or this year?
Do any other ideas come to mind? Please share in the comments!
Rachel Vidrine is a librarian, web designer, and blogger. In addition to her blog, she runs a site dedicated to English grammar and usage.
Photo by normalityrelief
Related posts:
- 5 Ways To Get Your To Do List in Shape
- Is It Possible To Be Productive Without Concrete Goals?
- 5 Ways to Simplify Keeping Track of Multiple Schedules
- What’s in My Weekly Review
- What Are You Being Productive For?
Comments (2)
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[...] As I announced last week, I recently wrote an article for another blog. You can read the post, published today and entitled “10 Ways to Be Productive During Down Time on the Job,” at SimpleProductivityBlog.com. [...]