Slow Day at Work?

Most of us don’t often get slow days at work, but they do come along once in a while, and when they do, it’s the best time to be extra productive and get ahead. The problem with constantly dealing with busy work is that we’re deprived of the chance to plan and organize. Instead, we’re caught in this endless cycle of chasing our own tail.

The next time you have a bit of downtime at work, try doing the following to stay productive!

1. Get Organized

You know those gazillion emails you have sitting in your inbox? It’s time to sort them out. Organize them into proper folders, delete the junk mail, and archive those relating to completed projects. While you’re at it, make time to do a spot of housekeeping on your computer files too. Not only will it be easier for you to retrieve information in the future, it will also clear up space on your hard disk and boost your computer speed. It’s shocking how quickly the junk piles up!

2. Clean Out Your Desk

If you’re anything like the majority of the working population, you will likely have an assortment of papers, magazines and brochures littered on your desk. Most of them will probably have been lying there for months (if not years). Well, this is your chance to give your desk a good cleaning. It will almost feel like a new workplace once you’re done!

3. Work on the Coming Week’s To-do List

Planning your workload in advance is the best way to keep track of your tasks and stay on top of things. Take advantage of your slow day to work on your to-do list for the coming week. Having an overview of your tasks for the week also helps prepare you mentally and keep things moving smoothly.

4. Update Your Accomplishments Log

If you don’t have one yet, it’s time to create a log to record and track your accomplishments to date. Not only is this useful for your performance reviews (8 Great Tips to Ace Your Performance Review), but it’s also a useful reference when it comes to updating your resume in the future. We often struggle to remember exactly what we’ve accomplished over the years; taking inventory of it at periodic intervals is a great reminder of just how far we’ve come from when we first started our careers.

5. Learn New Skills

The learning process never ends, and learning something new is always beneficial for our personal growth as well as for the company. It’s never been easier too, with the wide spectrum of online learning platforms (https://www.jobstreeteducation.com.my) and free tutorials at our disposal these days.

6. Review Your Career Growth

Taking stock of your career progression is important, especially if you have no intention of staying where you are for the next ten years. Evaluate what you’ve learnt and achieved since you started your current job and reflect on whether you’re progressing in the right direction. If you’ve stagnated along the way, this will be a good time to ask yourself why and start charting new goals to get back on track.