You’ve prepared yourself for busy days, but what about slow days? When your organization hits it’s slow season, you may be left scrambling to find productive means of spending time that doesn’t involve internet surfing. One of the things you can do is take this time to focus on your professional career. Start your search locally and look for conferences and seminars that are particular to your field. If you feel you need to refine your office skills, like in Excel or Word, then look for local classes that can help you become the master of your office tools. Slow days are the perfect opportunity to polish up your skills and add new ones. Read up on articles about leadership, marketing, and networking that will help your career in the long run if you’re seeking a new job for the future.
Another thing you can do is prepare and organize. Open up your calendar and start looking at what meetings and events you have ahead. Start doing research and start preparing for them. This will save you a lot of time in the future. If your calendar is a mess, then now is the time to organize. Speaking of organizing, once you’re done with your calendar, see what else on your desk needs filing and organizing. Take this slow day as a day to organize your papers and de-clutter your desk.
A slow day at the office is the right time to take phone calls. Catch up and check on clients. Even though you may be ready to call them, make sure you have a good reason and it’s a good time. Making a phone call at the wrong time may disturb the client. If you happen to get someone who loves to chat, you’ll not only build trust and a strong relationship, but you’ll make your slow day fly by! Ask them how things are going for them, have them share their thoughts and listen to their feedback. This will help improve your organization and ensure that your clients stay happy.
Is everyone else in the office having a slow day? Chances are many are not. Check on your coworkers and offer your help. This will give you the chance to learn what goes on in other departments and familiarizing yourself will make you a more valuable employee. You may also learn a new thing or two and that’s never bad. Your coworkers will appreciate your help and your boss will recognize you as a good contributor to the organization and an active team member. Hopefully, your coworkers will return the favor. If you run out of things to do, don’t sit at your cubicle bored; actively seek out a new project. During a slow day nothing is ever too insignificant to do. Think about all those projects talked about at meetings that are always set aside because they’re not top priority. Now is the time to take those projects and put them into action. Your initiative to start on a project on a slow day will be appreciated.
SOURCE: Forbes
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