Success – Page 47

Multitasking? Give Me a Break!

The greatest hazard in the multitasking world today is the risk of not getting to the the actual tasks you have set for yourself.

Computers Invite Us to Multitask.

I have always had multiple tools on my desktop. At one time my desktop was covered with a legal pad, a canister of pens, reference books, a phone book, trade journals, blank file cards, boxes of completed file cards, a hand-written spreadsheet, Roll-a-Dex, a company form for tracking activity, an in-box/out-box, and a phone.

Today, my desktop has a keyboard/mouse, computer screen where I have replaced the physical tools with a word processor, a database, a browser, a mail client, and I still have a phone. The options of tasks has not been increased. The browser though does provide the temptation for switch from one task to another and from works task to Internet play.

Obviously, dangerous multitasking is something like driving a car, or better yet, using a chainsaw while you are trying to do something else. Impossible multitasking is doing two things in two places at the same time. For example, juggling six balls is one thing. Juggling three balls in two places is quite another. Multitasking can be much like juggling three balls in two places. A person will certainly drop a lot of balls when trying to do two or three or four complex jobs on a computer at the same time. In the workplace you, just as you may wreck your car by trying to comb your hair, change the settings on your air conditioning, and driving at the same time, you may wreck your business and medical findings suggest that you may wreck your health.

Even before the transition to a computer, I found that prioritizing and staying on task was the important for me. It was easy to step down the hall for a chat, pull a trade journal out of the in-box, open a reference book just out of curiosity to look up financial information on a company, call someone for social chat, and other things that took me off task.

To stay focused, I have always found it helpful to make a list of the things I need to get done each day and do those things. The days for me are less effective when I sit down with an idea of what I need to do and start working as things come to mind. I find myself more easily succumbing to distractions when I do not check items off the list as I go through my day.

So multitasking is not a matter of how many balls I am juggling, but staying on task. If the task is juggling, I focus on juggling. When I have finished my juggling task, I can start my next task. When I find that I am flying from one task to another, what I really need is a break. I clear my mind and return to my list of things to do. Multitasking? Give me a break!

6 Steps to Making a Great Job Interview Impression

Great Job Interview Impression

Fine tuning your ability to make a great job interview impression will make you more competitive against other applicants.

Dress the part.

If you are going to meet people for the first, dress appropriately. If you are going to a swimming party, take a bathing suit. If you are going to a job interview, wear a business suit.

Be Odorless.

Aftershave or perfume may smell great to you, but also may annoy other people. If you are wearing aftershave or perfume on your hands and leave those smells on the hands of the people you meet, you will offend some people. I have having breakfast at a national sales meeting for Polaroid Corporation, and two women at the table were talking about the lack of professionalism of one of the men at the meeting. They said that his wearing aftershave into the meeting rooms was unpleasantly distracting and unprofessional. Everything that I have read about aftershave and perfume for business meetings says that you might as well have body odor as applying a distracting perfume or aftershave. Neither one will make people want to meet you again.

Be Prepared.

Always have an agenda for your meetings. Ask yourself, “What things do I hope to do in this meeting?” Write them down.

Focus on Listening.

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Epictetus

Listen to what other people have to say and respond in ways that help them feel you have connected with them and their message. If you have things that you want to say, you may find that those things are better said at another time that will allow you to make a point and not distract from the impression you want to make.

Sit up straight straight, open your arms, and smile.

Actors are professionals at communicating a message through body language and facial impressions. With simple gestures, sometimes with no dialogue, an actor is able to project an image of a character who is powerful, weak, sad, happy, confident, uncertain, and so on across the range of character traits and emotions.

Make Eye Contact

Most people look at another person’s eyes. I have read that for some people looking at a person’s nose is easier. If you have difficulty making eye contact, just pick a point on a person’s face and softly focus at that spot. I have found that if I am paying attention to what a person says, I will forget that I am looking at a person’s eyes. Rather I tend to have a broader focus of the person’s entire face.

Give Compliments that are In Line with Your Meeting

When you make relevant, positive comments about the interviewer’s career or education, the company’s performance or the workplace appearance, you show interest in the person and in the company.

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