Aimee
[closed] How can someone avoid the problem of information overload when working in the office?
Hello,
My name is Aimee and I am a business administration college major with a slight interest in management. My major is management. Therefore, I have learned some academic knowledge about conducting business and working well with other people even when you disagree with them. Something that I have learned is that planning and organizing cuts down time to do things overall. The more that someone keeps up with their tasks and sets up a naturally rhytm, the more that things become easier to do. I my personal life I have found that when I clean weekly it takes less time to do and leaves a greater chance for clean air than if I were to leave cleaning off till the last minute. In addition, I have heard that a major problem nowadays for people is that they are bombarded with many different sources of communication such as emails, tweets, alerts, sounds from televisions, and music that overwhelm and lead to inefficiency, I am a strong believer of having the minimal amount of windows open in a computer so that alerts can be minimized at the wrong times. How do you keep up ypur organization by minimizing distractions? #business-administration #office-management #time-management #organization
1 answer
Kristy Headley
Kristy’s Answer
Much like your cleaning process at home, organizing and segmenting helps - a lot. Use technology to your advantage.
If you're using an email inbox often for work:
Perhaps filter out emails that are sent directly to you, so that you read those first. Make sure you take care of any todos you have. Chances are good those might not all live in your inbox.
Perhaps filter larger emails to your organization to read once a day or a couple of times a week. It's important to stay in touch with what is going on organizationally at your company, but it is probably not as time-sensitive as your day-to-day work.
Filter out fun mailing lists to read separately from your regular work email.
If your job involves using something like twitter, or keeping informed of news in certain topic areas, set up alerts, or automate messages that get sent to you when something happens. If it's a topic where there's a lot of action, bundle the information so that it comes in as one email, or all at one time of day if you can.
Keep in mind that you are the manager of your own time, and how you use it. Other people might inquire or coach, or get on your case - but you are the only one who can really encourage true discipline in this area. And the very best discipline comes from true interest in what you're doing.
Over time, as I have changed jobs, interests, and responsibilities, it has been beneficial to me to hit "Unsubscribe" from things that are no longer applicable to my life. Recognize when this time has come, and follow through with cutting ties when it's time. This applies to personal email as well as work. On the other hand - stay on those subscriptions (and keep up personal connections) that you find personally valuable to you - even if they are purely for enjoyment. Your life will feel more full and enriched because of them.