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Top 5 Tips For Managing Office Stress

March 8, 2012 by Edwin

I can’t get rid of your boss or your not-so-friendly colleagues. These “external” factors are certainly causes of stress for some people and are somewhat out of your control.

But many causes of your workplace stress are from “internal” factors – factors that you have full control over. Pay closer attention to these and you could turn your workday from one that drains your energy, to one that gives you energy.

Top 5 Tips for Managing Office Stress

1) Find Your Groove: Some of us are morning people and some of us really just can’t get productive until mid-morning. Figure out the time of the day when you’re in your groove and use that time wisely. For example, get to the office before your colleagues so that you have uninterupted time at your desk. Keep working during the regular lunchtime and step out for a bite in the early afternoon when the lunch crowd has disappeared. During your late afternoon food coma, listen to your body and don’t fight it – use this time for mundane tasks such as filling out expense reimbursement forms or clearing your inbox.

2) Socialize: Make your day more enjoyable by getting to know your colleagues, especially those that work in a different division or different floor of your office. Socialize at lunch and have those proverbial “water cooler conversations.” Aside from learning more about what’s going on in the company, you’ll meet people that you share a common experience with and perhaps with whom you even enjoy spending time outside of the office.

3) Add Fun: Fuzzy slippers, basketball hoops, infographic wall posters, plants on your desk, office DJ’s,…you name it. Take a page out of the old-school Yahoo! book…or ask your Google friends for some workplace fun tips. Making your workplace – or even just your workspace – more fun will add levity to your day and keep you in good spirits during those long hours.

4) Breathe: We all run way to fast, work to hard, and stress out too much. We have tension in our bodies and that happens because we have tension in our minds and our thoughts. Clearing your mind and relaxing your body during the workday can help you thrive, as opposed to just survive a long day at the office. Several times during your day take 1-minute to do some deep breathing exercises. Sit upright in your chair, close your eyes, breathe 3 times deeply and focus on relaxing your high tension areas.

5) Choose Energizing Work: A good friend and mentor of mine recommended to me to find work that “energizes” me…and I have followed his advice with great success for many years. When you are doing things that you enjoy and activities that give you energy, then you will be more productive, more positive and more satisfied. Take a close look at your job and try to replace those energy-draining tasks with energy-generating tasks. If necessary, take a closer look at your job itself.

Top 5 Tips for Running Your First Marathon

November 27, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

Running a marathon has been on my bucket list for years. But with a 6km run on my apartment treadmill as the longest distance I’ve ever run, a 42km race on an unknown road course with thousands of other runners seemed like such a daunting task. Inspired by my father who ‘ran’ his first marathon at age 60 and supported by my friend and running coach (Julie Price, CEO of Shinobi Labs), I decided that now is as good a time as any to run my first marathon.

I’m happy to say that I just completed my first official half marathon and my training continues for my first full marathon. Having said that, I thought it would be a good time to stop and share my Top 5 Tips for other non-runners out there with a similar goal of completing a marathon.

Top 5 Tips for First-Time Marathoners

1) Have a Consistent Running Schedule: Consistency is the key to building a solid ‘running’ foundation so that your body slowly gets used to long distance running. Stick to a consistent training schedule which starts off very slowly with short distances and gradually adds distance in each subsequent week. I started training 10 weeks prior to the half marathon having nearly zero running time in the previous 12 months. The 1st week consisted of four 3km runs. Within only a few weeks, I broke my own distance record every Sunday, eventually reaching 20km ‘training’ runs by week 8.

2) Act Like a Boat, not a Car: Boats start off very slowly and change speed very slowly. When training, you should think about jogging, not running. After you pass your first or second kilometer, then slowly increase your speed. Unlike any other sporting competitions that I’ve trained for, marathon training is conducted at a much slower place than actual competition day in order to prevent injury and to prepare your body for a very long race day.

3) Find Your Inspiration: Whether it’s running on a nature trail, listening to music or audio books, or just being alone with your thoughts, find whatever inspires you to run. For me, I enjoy listening to audiobooks because I get lost in the voice of the author and my mind wanders to the point that I forget that I’m even running. On race day, fun and upbeat music is my inspiration of choice. Overall, the key is to have fun!

4) Get Support: Proper marathon training is a long process and the encouraging words from friends, family and colleagues can be the boost that you need to keep you inspired. After every one of my training runs, I exchanged notes online with my running coach and she helped keep me on track. She answered every question I had, provided suggestions to help me improve, and gave me encouraging words to keep me motivated.

5) Run Your Own Race: Don’t worry about how fast someone next to you is running and try not to pay close attention to your average pace. My preference is to run alone and with a heartrate monitor. This enables me to run consistently within my target heart rate range and to very clearly track my progress each week. On race day I started off slowly while hundreds of runners raced past me, but by the 10th kilometer I reached a very comfortable stride and began passing many of these same runners who ran out of fuel all too soon.

Reduce Stress by Removing Clutter

November 20, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

For me, being organized reduces my stress levels. It minimizes the distractions on my desk or in my home and I find myself far more productive. In today’s world of advanced technologies and focus on being eco-friendly, I have adopted a very minimalist approach to life through digitization. Here are several of my key recommendations to remove clutter from your home and office and therefore reduce a little bit of stress from your life.

Removing Clutter

1) Scan + OCR: Get rid of paper by using a double-sided color scanner and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. As soon as you take notes at a meeting or receive a document or notice that you want to keep for later reference, immediately scan it and store it on your computer. The OCR software makes all of your files searchable and will even help you save time organizing files into file folders. You can also use services such as Evernote (which has OCR functionality) for easy organization of website articles, receipts, blog posts, etc.

2) Cloud Services: Instead of just storing files on a single computer, use a service that enables easy synchronization between multiple computers or digital storage on the Internet (Cloud Storage). These services can even synchronize files with your mobile device for viewing anytime, anywhere. Check out these popular services: DropBox, Google Docs, Amazon Web Services, Apple iCloud.

3) Virtual Assistant: Removing clutter does not just apply to physical things, but to your time as well. If you have an office assistant that helps you with work-related tasks, then why not have an assistant that helps with personal admin tasks? This assistant doesn’t even need to be in your own city – they can be ‘virtual.’ Your virtual assistant can help make dinner reservations, search for the best locations for family holidays, or even find that hard-to-find gift for your daughter. Look for your virtual assistant at one of these online marketplaces for freelance professionals: Elance or Gharmakai.

For even more suggestions how to simplify your cluttered life, check out the book The Simple Guide To A Minimalist Life which we also highlight in the Recommendations section of our website.