What Do You Do When You Get Bored?
July 28, 2010 by Petra Smirnoff
Filed under Psychology
If you’re anything like me you have a long list of things you’d like to do and you’re always busy working on things you enjoy. But then what happens when you’re stuck doing something you don’t want to do? People who get very passionately excited also tend to get very frustratingly bored if being held back from what they want to do.
So how do you deal with the fact that there are so many fun things to do but you just have to get this boring task done. You can’t just ditch it because your boss, your coworkers, your family, your friends, your lecturers or a committee you volunteered to help are relying on you. You can’t find anyone else to do it and its just got to be done now!
Here are a number of ideas that you can use to get past your next bout of boredom. I personally hate being bored so I use one or a combination of these things all the time.
1) Set yourself a task-based goal with a personal project as the reward. Put all your energy into your boring task immediately and do not stop until the task is finished. As soon as you are finished the boring task indulge in your personal project to your heart’s content.
2) Reduce the number of boring tasks you have to do in the first place by delegating them to someone else. You might not be able to get rid of everything that is boring, but if you give delegating a go you might be surprised at what you can let go. When it comes to personal tasks like ironing and cleaning you will need to pay someone, but at work you might even find some willing takers, and your good delegation skills could end up getting you a promotion!
3) Ask a friend to help or just keep you company. Recently I was moving house and a friend offered to come visit while I was packing. Well that was the best idea ever! I think I packed more things during the couple of hours on the two nights that she visited than I did on my own for the whole rest of the week.
4) Split your task up into milestones so that you can measure your percentage complete. If you know that you have to make twenty sales calls, or write a three thousand word essay, you have numbers that you can measure against. If feels good to make four calls and know that you’re 20% done, or hit word count after writing a couple more paragraphs.
5) Here’s an idea from Barbara Sher in Refuse to Choose. She suggests you can turn your task into part of an imaginary drama or storyline and amuse yourself silly with it! Pretend your task is part of a lead-up to an exciting adventure or mystery!
6) Listen to, or even sing along to music. Fast, loud pop is great for tedious physical tasks, whereas classical might be better if you have to concentrate. I don’t like music at all for focused tasks that I enjoy, but it is a welcome relief when I’m bored.
7) Do two or more different boring tasks at the same time. The alternating of the two boring tasks might add enough variety to make you feel more interested than if you did only one task at a time.
Alternate the boring task with an interesting one. This was the only way I could get myself to clean my room as a kid. I would set myself the goal of picking up and putting away 10 items, and in return I would allow myself to read just one page of whatever book I was into at the time. Even these days I sometimes alternate doing my paid work with reading the news.
9) Time yourself with a stopwatch to see how long you take to get the job done. Then next time the same job comes around, make it a game – work hard to beat your personal best speed. Soon you’ll be getting it done in a flash.
10) Use a timer to section off short sprints as though you were interval training. Set the timer for 5, 10 or 15 minutes and work as fast as you can during that time. Plan your day so that you can space out enough short sprints to get the task done. I used this method when I took a job as a work-from-home telephone market researcher during my university studies. I had about two hours per day of calls to do, but I could handle only 20 minutes at a time. I spaced the phonecalls at intervals during my day around my uni homework and that kept me on track.
11) Instead of wasting your time doing the same task repeatedly, see if you can find a way to set up an automated system for getting the task done. This is particularly the case with anything done on the computer. For example, when I started my career in IT I took a job as a software tester, but then I realised that I hated testing because I found the step-by-step regression tests to be particularly tedious. To make the task better, I learned how to use an automated testing software package and wrote some scripts that would do the specific mouse clicks for me. I topped it off by writing an instruction manual to teach the other members on my team how to do it too.
At Petra Smirnoff .com I have more information about living with Scanner/ Renaissance Soul Personality (multiple interests). I also share tips about Personal development.
Mutual Fund Investment Advice | Investing Articles
July 5, 2010 by admin
Filed under Mutual Funds
First off, why should you invest in mutual funds ? Mutual funds are helpful for those who have limited time and resources, and would prefer to leave the.
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Mutual Fund Investment Advice | Investing Articles
Investing money (mutual funds, government bonds etc)?
I’m in India, just got a good job, and a newbie to investment . Could you help me with the best websites/blogs that could help in determining which Mutual Funds.
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Investing money (mutual funds, government bonds etc)?
Capital Investment Company – Investing With Short Term Horizons …
When determining how to invest, you may use a capital investment company. A company that deals with capital investments utilizes the acquired fixed assets that have a substantial life usage before it has to be discarded or replaced.
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Capital Investment Company – Investing With Short Term Horizons …
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The 20% tax credit Preservation Tax Incentives reward private investment in rehabilitating historic properties such as offices, rental housing, and retail stores. Abandoned or under-used schools, warehouses, factories, churches, …
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Investing in Stocks For Fun and Profit » about stock market
Who says you can’t have fun investing in stock? While it is true that your objective is successful trading, enjoying what you are doing is important as well. One thing that will help you to enjoy your trading is employing the assistance …
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The Benefits Of Using Employee Schedule Software
April 8, 2010 by Adriana Noton
Filed under Business
For workplaces that make use of numerous varying schedules, it can be useful to have something to keep everything organized. A great way to do this is to use employee schedule software. The software comes in different styles and makes scheduling much easier than before. If this seems like an idea that may be helpful, consider some of the following points about the software.
This option can be of great help not only to employers, but also to employees as well. The employers can use the software to organize various schedules at work and notify the workforce. Shifts can be arranged and edited conveniently and quickly. If you have multiple employees that are working shifts, this can also be noted in the scheduling software as well. Allowing employees access to the software afterward makes sure that everyone is up to date on any changes in the schedule.
For employees this can be great for gaining extra shifts or switching shifts with someone. Many employees would rather handle shift matters via a log in from a site or the software itself instead of having to call their work to try to change their schedule or find out what a current schedule is. The use of the software also ends the problem of losing any schedules that have previously been printed out or dealing with missed voice mails updating shifts.
If you are concerned about keeping track of days or hours that have been worked, the software can be used to note this information as well. This can be useful if you need this information for any documentation for your business. Employees can enjoy this feature because it makes it easier for those who have to fill out their own time sheets or other paperwork associated with hourly information.
Typical price can vary depending on the style of the software that is chosen. In most cases the employer will pay for the use of the software for the company. However, if the employees also need to use it as required by their job, then they may have to pay a portion of the price as well. It depends on the policies of the company involved overall.
In consideration of the many options that are available with employee schedule software, it is important to examine their different strengths and weaknesses. This can be used to help you decide which titles will be best for your job or business. When you have narrowed it down to a few different types, you can begin to consider comparing prices for good value.
Clearly, the use of such software is beneficial to everyone involved, whether they are an employer or an employee. Since it allows everyone to view the schedule clearly or alter it, there is no question about when shifts end or begin. This means no confusion about schedule changes and less missed days in the schedule for workers at their jobs.
The above are just some general reasons that employee schedule software can be of great use to anyone in the workforce. There are numerous styles available with multiple uses, so it is important to consider the options thoroughly. If you believe that it could be a beneficial option at your job, consider doing some research to find the software that is best for your company.
Make the scheduling of your human resources efficient and a breeze by using online employee scheduling that enables you to communicate work schedules to all of your employees. Our employee schedule maker will streamline human resources for your company.
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Filed under Debt Consolidation
Government debt consolidation , here are some facts that can help you with it. There seems to be a lot of talk about government bailouts.
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