Desk Jockey Workout: 8 Ways to Stay in Shape at the Office | The Art of Manliness

July 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Desk Jockey Workout: 8 Ways to Stay in Shape at the Office | The Art of Manliness.

The Art of Manliness posted a great article about how desk jockey’s could create simple workouts or life changes to stay in shape at the office.  Their ideas include to:

  1. Make Getting to Your Office a Challenge
  2. Take the Stairs. While You’re At It, Run Up Them
  3. Get a Standing Desk
  4. Maintain Good Posture Throughout the Day
  5. Do 10 Push-Ups and 10 Squats Every Time You Take a Bathroom/Coffee Break
  6. Get Up and Walk Outside for 15 Minutes Every 45 Minutes
  7. Perform 15 Dips When Leaving for and Returning from Lunch
  8. Perform 30-Second Grok Squats Throughout the Day

But, how feasible are each of these?  If you have a long commute or small parking lot it will be hard to make your commute a challenge. Perhaps your office is a single floor, so no stairs.  Maybe your job has you seated so much that you forget to maintain good posture.  Perhaps you are a bit shy and don’t want to do too many exercises around your coworkers.  Maybe it takes 30 minutes to get down your sky scraper to walk outside.  Anyways, here are a few additional ideas and ways you can support your efforts to perform these office workouts.

1. My office has no stairs: Try some heel lifts at your desk.  It does not take much space or effort, but stand up and lift your heels.  Space them out and go slow enough to feel the burn in your calves.

2. My parking lot is small: Pretend you are on a phone call and take a few laps outside around your office building before going inside.  Carry a backpack or bag, even if you don’t need to just to add some weight to your workout.

3. My office is too small for push-ups: Try taking a stack of books and lifting them up like you are doing curls.

4. My office is too small for a standing desk: Check out the Ninja Standing Desk.  It is portable and can hang over your door or hang on hooks placed in drywall.

5. I am too ADD to remember to walk: Try EyeLeo on your Windows computer or Coffee Break on your Apple.  Or, know your office smokers and follow them every time you see them head for the door.

6. It rains too much to walk outside: Take laps around the office or get an elliptical trainer for your desk, like the Stamina 55-1610 InMotion E1000 Elliptical Trainer.

7. My job is computer intensive: So your job keeps you at your desk a lot?  If you need to call someone in the office, ditch the phone, get up and instead walk to their office.  You can use all the breaks you can get.

There are other things you can do too, like make it a point to walk to lunch of they are within walking distance, or join an office walking group.  I know around DC there are non-profit groups that organize walking contests between local businesses.  Anyways, check out the full article at the artofmanliness.com.

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Filed under Career, Health & Wellness, Life & Culture, Personal Development Tagged with , , , , ,

Why Do People Try Online Dating? Dilbert Knows!

June 21, 2012 Leave a comment

Why do people try online dating?  Here are six reasons pulled from the depths of the wit and wisdom of our dear friend and office scapegoat, DILBERT.

1. Some people want to filter out the losers. Much easier to do online than in person, where you can research the applicants ahead of time.

June 18, 2009

2. It makes it easier to hide who you really are, CRAZY!

March 19, 2008

3. It boosts your confidence and allows you to be imaginative about who you are talking to on the other side of the screen before meeting in person…and maybe you took a bet.

May 09, 2006

4. It’s technology, so another place for geeky, innovative, entrepreneurs can be creative and try and streamline industries into a single application.

December 23, 2004

5. It allows you to go at your own pace before you decide if it is worth it to meet offline.

November 09, 1996

6. Online dating is the new thing in technology, and it can make you look like a sex symbol for knowing how it works.

November 08, 1996

Reference: Scott Adams – http://search.dilbert.com/search?w=online+dating&x=24&y=11

Filed under Life & Culture, Technology, Web Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

8 Steps to Success In the Workplace

May 23, 2012 Leave a comment

These come from some notes I took from training in a past sales job right out of college.  It was direct marketing and I hated it, but the information I gained proved useful over the various jobs I would hold since.  Some of these are common sense, others require a bit of study to develop, and they are all open to your own interpretations.  They are as follows:

1. Have a great attitude:

Having a positive attitude and great enthusiasm will help you move products, make new clients, and build a bigger network.

2. Be on time:

Time is money, right?  If you are early, you are on time; if you are on time, you are late.  Arriving early allows you time to prepare and relax before a sales presentation, conducting a training session, or just to prepare for your work day.

3. Be prepared:

This means to be prepared mentally and physically.  Be proactive to plan your day and your future.  Make sure you are well rested and fed to have proper energy.

4. Work a full day (8 hours):

Work a full day, or as long as it takes to hit your goals or complete your work.  People notice hard work, just as they notice someone who cuts corners.  Just because your day is almost over, don’t cut short a sales pitch or from completing a project task when you know you could close the deal or finish the work.  A little extra effort can go a long way.

5. Work the territory:

Work your territory correctly by talking to everyone, seeking out any and all opportunities, and making sure you don’t leave any rock unturned.  If you are doing retail sales, understand the local demographics and what people like.  In direct marketing, learn about and connect with the local businesses.  If you work in an office, know your teammates and clients and what their expectations are.

6. Maintain a positive attitude:

Safeguard your attitude.  Remember that each NO you hear in sales brings you closer to a YES.  If you put in training requests at work and are told no, eventually, with persistence, you will get the approval.  If you go through several sales presentations, eventually you will get that yes.  You will go through many rough patches and become frustrated with customers, coworkers, and products.  An old saying goes, “Leave it all on the playing field.”  Never carry around a poor attitude, and definitely don’t wear it on your shoulder.

7. Know your role and purpose:

You should know why you are here and know what you are doing.  You should use the sales field or production environment, depending on your line of work, to your advantage to learn what it is you are doing (role) and why you are doing it (purpose).  Use it as your tool to learn the business, to define your goals, and to work towards those goals.

8. Take control:

Take control of situations, of customers, and of your future.  You alone can dictate your outcome.

Filed under Career, Personal Development Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

The Project Environment

May 18, 2012 Leave a comment

What all entails the Project Environment?

The project environment includes the physical space, and also the project culture.  Marchewka describes the environment as:

  • A place to call home: This includes having ample space and a home base for meeting as a team.
  • Technology:  This includes PCs, appropriate software, Internet access, e-mail, and phones.  You also want to assure that your team has the necessary collaboration tools for the team to communicate effectively.
  • Office supplies: Paper, pens, pencils, staplers, and other non-technology items.
  • Culture: Reflects the values and norms of the team.  One way to establish culture is through a team charter.  This should be created early in the project.  The charter will include expectations, roles, and steps for conflict resolution.

The main discussed goal of a project is to get the project completed within scope, cost and schedule; however, the ultimate goal is to make the customer happy.  To get there you must have an effective team that works well together.  The best way to work well together is to have a comfortable team environment.  It is the Project Managers responsibility to establish this environment.  Fostering a healthy team environment helps build team work.  Better team work helps to complete tasks, identify and mitigate risks, and provide motivation to follow the lead of the project manager.

 

References

Marchewka, J. (2009). Information Technology Project Management (3rd Ed). John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.

Retrieved from: http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/projenviron/intro.htm

Retrieved from: http://www.allbestarticles.com/business/customer-service/pmo-support-pmbok-and-the-importance-of-project-management-support.html

Retrieved from: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr018

Filed under Business, Definitions Tagged with , , , , ,

The Office Job Entertainment Guide

January 10, 2009 1 Comment

If you have ever worked an office job, you know that life can get boring and repetitive at times. You can be locked up for hours in your cubical leaving a butt imprint that lasts the life of that chair. Sometimes it gets hard to move around and keep your blood flowing, and sometimes it gets hard holding on to your sanity as you stare endlessly into whatever document or program you are working on. Hopefully you don’t have a job that blocks access to most every entertaining Website. Either way, hopefully I can provide you with plenty of ideas on how to make time pass by and help you enjoy your workday more. Suggestions are welcome.

Play Computer Games
Have playtime! Take some time to play some games. If you are lucky and your job did not take your games away, you can play some Minesweeper or Solitaire. Otherwise, Yahoo (http://games.yahoo.com/) has plenty of games like Spades, Pool, Scrabble among others.

Manual Games
Play simple games like Rock, Paper, Scissors or Tic-Tac-Toe. Maybe play some sudoku or crossword puzzles.

Gain Useless Knowledge
Play on any of the Wiki sites. Choose a random person or word and start searching for it on Wikipedia. Also try Wikiquote, Wikispecies, Wikibooks, or the Wikimedia Commons. There is so much information on the Wiki pages that you can learn about anything. Sometimes I listen for keywords or questions from coworkers, and I immediately look them up and act like I had knowledge on that subject.

Instant Messenger
Most of the time your favorite chat software is blocked at work. However, if you can access your Gmail or Yahoo Mail, you can load the chats right through your email window. Through Gmail you can even sign into your AIM. You can always pass time when you can talk to your friends, family, or coworkers on the other side of the office.

Bucket List
Take the time to write up a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” How many years could you have left to do everything you have ever wanted to do? Time is running out. Write out your list and then take the time to plan out how you will tackle the items on your list.

LinkedIn
Everyone is on Facebook and MySpace, and it’s a shame they can be blocked in your office. Try a different site. See how many of your friends and coworkers you can find on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/).

Fantasy Sports
Start betting pools with fantasy sports. Bet on games or how a team does for a season.

Random Acts
Stupid or not, perform some random acts that grab your coworkers attention. Be careful not to interrupt too many while they are working really hard, but everyone can use a little mind break from their work so why not let it be you to cause it? Some examples are sudden outbursts, talking to yourself, laughing for no reason, banging on your desk, or walking up and slapping someone on the back really hard.

The High Five
Bring back the high five! A favorite pastime of many. Create super, complex high fives that would even make gangs jealous. Either create one for your department or team, or for your best office friend that is only unique to you two.

Sports
Bring in a small Nerf ball to kick around and dribble through the office. Another idea is to set up some Putt-Putt around the office. As long as you aren’t terrible, practicing your putting can be a relaxing break from work.

Fresh Air
This can go two ways. Either take a smoke break as much as possible, or take a break and go for a walk around the building or local business community you work at. Nothing more refreshing than some fresh air when you are stuck inside all day.

YouTube
Bring up YouTube and search for random videos to watch. Find some of your favorite TV shows, stupid pet tricks, or even go to my favorite and that is FAILBlog.org’s personal YouTube channel of mankind’s failures.

Exercise
Find an empty room or just go to the break room and start ding sit-ups and push-ups. Or you can walk up some steps, or do squats and lunges without weights, do dips in your chair, or try some butt squeezes. That is your own butt, not your coworkers.

Start a Going Problem
Create a fictitious illness that requires frequent bathroom visits. Maybe you caught a butt flu or had some bad hot dogs, but this form of entertainment is desperation to find any excuse to get out of the office.

Create an Alter Ego
Don’t tell anyone about, but see if they can figure it out. Pretend you are a CIA agent or cop, and your coworkers are evil villains. Good ol’ cops and robbers. Or maybe pretend you are on a reality show and everyone is watching you.

Friends
Start talking with coworkers to decide which Friends character each of your team would be. Hopefully you have an even number of guys and girls. Otherwise, pick other shows and have a crack at it.

Drink
Pretend the water cooler is beer and see how many cups of water you can chug in a minute.

Music
Either listen to music or create your own. Start singing at the top of your lungs, or dance around the office. People may stop and stare, but generally you are sure to pull a good laugh. It works for me. You may even want to take up playing the desk drums.

Stupid Human Pet Tricks
Try balancing a spoon on your nose, shoot waste into the trashcan, see how many pages the shredder will shred without getting stuck, spin around as fast as you can in your office chair, learn to juggle.

Talk
Find an equally bored employee and debate ways to look like you are working while not really doing any work. Go back to the water cooler with your office buddies and start some Water Cooler Rumors. They don’t have to be true, but be careful you don’t target anyone who would be offended.

Start a Blog Post!
Hmmmm, maybe that is why I started one. If you are like me and always have a lot on your mind, start a blog and write about your thoughts for strangers to read online, including a blog on office job entertainment.

Filed under Career Tagged with , , , , , ,

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