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Why Time Management Makes for a Better Employee Time management is a major issue in the workplace. When time is not utilized efficiently, it leads to sloppy work, missed deadlines, and way too much stress. Employers are constantly seeking ways to teach their employees to manage their time better for a simple reason – a team that manages its time well is a team that is productive and successful. Everyone has done it. You’ve know that there is a big deadline approaching for weeks on end, and you kept telling yourself that have plenty of time. Then, suddenly, it is the day before the project is due, and you haven’t even begun it. You know you will have to pull an all-nighter, and even then you will be lucky to get everything done in time. Your heart is racing, your head is pounding, and you’re cursing your procrastination yet again, thinking about how much time you wasted surfing the next when you could have been doing a little work on the project every day, so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming. The end result of a project like this is predictable. You may get it in on time, or at least close to the deadline, but your work is likely to be sloppy. The rush job you did will be evident to everyone, and if your project involved making a pitch to a potential customer, your time management failure may end up costing your company big money (and costing you a job). As if you were not stressed enough already! If you contrast that performance with one in which you had effectively managed your time, the difference is clear. If you have worked on the project over the entire time span you had to finish it, a little bit at a time, then you would have had time to make sure your work was up to par. You wouldn’t have been scrambling for last minute information to include, and you could have made sure your work was free from little errors like typos or pages that printed incorrectly. Most importantly, you wouldn’t feel like you needed a week long vacation when the project was over, because your stress level never would have hit the roof. So, how do you become a happier and more effective employee by managing your time better? The first thing you can do to become an effective time manage is simple – write yourself a to-do list everyday. Not only does a to-do list help you think through exactly what you need to accomplish so you don’t forget anything in the rush, but it also helps you feel accountable for everything that needs to get done. If you write “spend 30 minutes on the big project” on your to-do list, it is a lot harder to come up with excuses why you can put it off for another day. Your conscience will make you want to get through everything on that list. If it seems like you never have enough time in the day, keep a journal of all of your activities. If you spend 20 minutes chatting by the coffee pot, write it down. After a week, look back over your activities. You may be surprised how much time you actually spend doing nothing. Now that you know, you can reinvest that time more wisely. The last thing is the hardest thing – getting over procrastination. This one is sheer willpower. When those voices in your head start arguing over whether to work on something now or put it off until later, listen to the work now voice. Give yourself manageable goals, like working on something for 15 minutes or 30 minutes, to get started. Once you experience the freedom from stress that time management brings, that procrastination voice will be a thing of the past.

How to Avoid Spam and Junk Email and Still Enjoy Freebies Free stuff is great, but when you are facing an inbox that is literally choking on spam, than you may find yourself wondering just how free your freebies really are. Spam and junk email are the unwanted consequences of cashing in on great free deals online, and it is enough to keep some people away from freebie offers entirely. Here’s the good news, however – you might not able to stop the spammers in their tracks completely, but there are a lot of things you can do to keep the annoyance caused by junk email to a minimum. Get on the defensive and reclaim the control you have over your inbox. Rule number one for cashing in on freebies is to set up a separate email account that you use only for your free stuff hunting. There are tons of web based email programs that you can join for free, and you can use these new email accounts as your point of contact for the companies from who you get freebie offers. After all, giving your email address to a company is simply part of getting freebies – that is why the company is giving away freebies in the first place. They want to collect your email address so they can email you about their products and hopefully convince you to shell out some cash for them in the future. By protecting your main email address, you can easily control the amount of spam you have to wade through when you just want to read your personal or business emails. You know that a company wants your email address in a exchange for a freebie, and you know why they want it, but what you might not know is that not all companies are created equal when it comes to it how the treat your email address. To know this, you have to check out a company’s privacy policy. Some companies will allow you to opt out of all future emails, including the ones from them, meaning in theory that your email address should never end up on any junk email solicitation list after your get your freebie. Other companies don’t let you opt out of their emails, but they let you choose whether or not they can give your address to partner companies who have products to offer that you “might be interested in.” With these companies, at least you can keep the amount of solicitations to a minimum. Still other companies follow a “no holds barred” kind of plan, in which they are allowed to share your email address with anyone they choose. These last kinds of companies are the kinds that end up loading you up with the spam, because they often sell the lists of email addresses they collect to companies that send out spam messages. Proceed with caution when a company has a policy like this one. If you can’t find a privacy policy at all on the website from which you are getting your freebie, then it might be best to move on to a different free offer. Another spam reducing trick that a lot of people miss out on is ignoring spam completely. Don’t open your spam messages, and whatever you do, don’t ask to be removed from a mailing list. That might seem like the logical way to stop the spam, but all you do when you do that is confirm to the spammers that their email is going to a real, live person. Last but not least, if even your dedicated freebie email address is gasping under the pressure of the spam, abandon it and start a new one. If you collect freebies on a regular basis, the word will eventually get out and the junk emailers will find you. Start a new address and get a clean slate.

Four Ways to Be a Great Employee Many people in the workforce and go to a job every day face similar problems. These problems include problems such as being a good employee, getting that raise at the end of evaluation period, keeping the job and many more. There are many things that you can do to ensure that you do not get fired or you get the raise that you deserve. Perhaps you just want to learn how to become a model employee. This article will discuss four ways to be a great employee. To be a great employee, your boss first of all wants to see results and good work. If you love your job, giving results, turning projects in on time, mastering difficult assignments is most likely a breeze. But if you are working to make a living and this job is not your dream job, you still need to deliver good work. Often times to be able to deliver your work on time and meet deadlines, it is important to be very organized and efficient. Many employees lack the efficiency needed to do their job right. If your job is a desk job, it might help if you just go ahead and clean up your desk, organize information and get a clear idea of which materials are stored where. A messy desk will leave you searching for the information needed to fulfill your assignment. This takes valuable time out of your schedule, time lost you cannot afford to loose. Another very important way to be a great employee is to be on time and not leave early. Employers like to see their employees arrive at time or just a little bit early, so they know that their employees are ready to start a good days of work when they finally put away their coat and get their coffee. Many of people come in and easily take 15 minutes before really are getting started with work. Employers see this time as a down time of yours and showing your employer that you do care about your work by showing up on time and if needed staying longer, is very much appreciated. If you are almost finished with your assignment, but it is time to go, do not get up, put your jacket on and wait the few minutes left for clocking out. Finish your work then finish your customer call or whatever necessary and then you can leave work. Sleep. Yes, sleep means going to bed early enough to get the necessary rest for your body. A well-rested mind and body makes a great difference. If you are lacking sleep or you are tired at work, you are more likely to make mistakes and forget things. Work is not the place to relax and sleep, but so many of the employees come tired. In some jobs mistakes can be fatal or ruin products worth hundreds and thousands dollars to the company. Another good reason to be rested well is that work will flow easier. You are a nicer person and your happy attitude at work will be recognized by others and is sometimes infectious and can help motivate others. Number four on the list to being a great employee is dressing appropriately. Whether your office has a dress code or not, if you work in an office, wear office appropriate clothing out of respect to your boss, colleagues and customers. Many offices have established dress codes because their employees come with the ripped jeans or dirty shorts while customers could potentially show up at any minute. Nothing makes a worse first impression on a customer than the cloths you wear.