TL;DR
When cutbacks leave you doing three people’s jobs, double up on small tasks, such as sorting mail during phone calls or purging files over lunch. Stand up on the phone to keep calls short, use window envelopes, purge your files every year and take many short breaks to stretch and refresh.
Kathi,
My office just cut back on staff. Now I’m temporarily handling my normal workload along with two other missing team members. How can I work more efficiently? I’m tired of having dinner with the night janitor.
Ben, San Marcos
Ben,
Double up on certain tasks. Do small tasks simultaneously, such as sorting through mail while you are talking on the phone, or purging files while eating lunch.
Stand up while on the phone. Your conversations will automatically be shorter.
Use window envelopes where appropriate, saving time in writing or typing the name and address.
Purge your files annually. You will be better able to find files and decrease storage space.
And, my usual advice, take many short breaks throughout your day to stretch and refresh. You will inevitably accomplish more with less effort using this method.
Kathi is a professional organizer, image consultant and event planner based in San Diego California.
Please submit your questions to: [email protected]. San Diego Professional Organizer
Keep reading
- Want to Become More Productive and Create More Hours in Your Day?Why you should plan your day before you open your inbox.
- 12 Tips for Getting Control of Your Time and OfficePlan before email, keep one calendar and clear your desk every evening.
Frequently asked questions
How can I keep up after my office cuts staff?
+
Double up on small tasks: sort the mail while you are on the phone or purge files while you eat lunch. Use window envelopes where you can to save time writing or typing addresses.
How do I keep phone calls short?
+
Stand up while you are on the phone. Kathi says your conversations will automatically be shorter.
Do breaks really help when I am overloaded?
+
Yes. Take many short breaks through the day to stretch and refresh. Kathi says you will accomplish more with less effort this way. Purging your files once a year also helps, because files are easier to find and take up less space.
Dear Master of Muck,
Your reply to Ben made a lot of sense… for women. Women can pay attention to and do many things simultaneously because as Gatherers we were designed with diffuse awareness, or scan vision. For men, Hunters, multi-tasking is more challenging as they were designed with track vision; or single-focused attention.