We’re half way through the year and I thought that it was a good time to share a few key pieces of advice I’ve accumulated through the year that will hopefully help you get through the second part of 2016 more successfully. Here are 12 of my business-related life hacks that I hope you’ll find room for in your own life:
- When running late for either work or a meeting, regardless of if you let someone know you are going to be tardy, do not show up with a cup of coffee you likely picked up along the way.
- To remember anyone’s name, just relate their first name to someone familiar to you. For example, if someone introduces themselves as Ryan at an event and you have a good friend that is always rowdy, also named Ryan, think of the person you met at the conference as the “non-rowdy Ryan.”
- When dropping a business card into a bowl for a drawing at an event, be sure to bend up two of the corners gently. It prevents the card from laying flat and creates a pocket of space and makes it easier for the person drawing a card to select yours.
- If you need to remove wrinkles from a dress shirt or two, run your dryer on high for 5-10 minutes and toss in a couple ice cubes. Wrinkle-free without an iron. In a hotel? Hang it on a hanger while you shower with the door closed and the steam will work the wrinkles out for you.
- To prevent ties from wrinkling while traveling, roll them up like a toilet paper roll, and place them in your shoes. This prevents them from being squished by other items in your suitcase or being creased by placing them in the ‘tie pocket’ most suitcases have.
- If you need to leave food in the office refrigerator, take a bite to deter potential fridge hunters. An important lesson I learned from co-working spaces 🙂
- Always enter an email recipient AFTER you draft an email to prevent an accidental send. We’ve all been there before :/
- Keep your cords organized by your desk with binder clips. (see image to the right).
- Block your time to avoid multi-tasking and stick to it. This could use an entire article, but by blocking tasks within specific windows of time will prevent you from being distracted or wasting time by switching back and forth between multiple tasks. Email and social media are two that can quickly and easily be restricted to specific hours of the day.
- When designing Powerpoints or other presentations, remember that black outlines on white text can be read against any color.
- When starting something new, search for “Things I wish I knew when starting X”
- If you listen to music while working, but need to focus, seek out a video game soundtrack. They are designed to keep gamers focused and minimize distraction.
BONUS:
- Invest in experiences and take a lot of pictures. You only live one life and the memories will live on through the pictures, while material items (and souvenirs) are often only temporary.
