 Audrey Thomas
Author, Speaker and
Productivity Expert
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Awards banquets. Association dinners. Luncheons at a conference. These are occasions where you'll find yourself seated at a pre-set table, often times with multiple pieces of silverware, plates and stemware. When someone across the table suggests you start the bread basket, you find yourself feeling a little anxious because you're unsure which small plate is yours. You wonder, "The one to the left or the one to the right?" Here's a simple exercise that works every time. Make the "okay" symbol with both of your hands. You'll notice that your left hand makes the letter B and your right hand forms the letter D. These stand for Bread and Drinks.
The Bread plate is always on your left and your Drinks will always be to the right of your dinner plate. You can now take a deep breath, knowing which plate to use for your bread and which goblets are yours for the sipping. And about passing that bread basket...always pass to your right. |
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Lean Office Transformations
Welcome to Lean Office Transformations - a newsletter designed to save you time and become more efficient. References to Lean Manufacturing and Lean Office refer to a productivity philosophy created by Toyota which is now adapted by companies worldwide.
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 For those who stare at a computer screen most of the day, you know the challenges of feeling tired, stiff and out of energy. While it's true a high-carbohydrate breakfast or lunch can make you sluggish, sitting for long periods of time also works against you when it comes to feeling energetic.
Because any kind of movement is good for getting the juices flowing, try one of the following:
- Take a walk around your department, or even outside to get a breath of fresh air.
- If you have stairs in your office, walk up a few flights and back down.
- Looking straight ahead, do a set of 10-12 shoulder shrugs, followed by a set of shoulder rolls in both directions. These can be done sitting or standing and will help in lessening shoulder tension.
- Sitting tall, place your hands behind your head, near your ears. Slowly stretch your elbows back. This will stretch your pectoral muscles as well as the area between your shoulder blades. Hold for a count of 10.
- Stretch your neck/shoulder muscles by doing simple stretches where you look straight ahead, sitting upright and slowly bring your right ear towards your right shoulder. Do the same with your left side. Next, slowly stretch the back of your neck by bringing your chin to your chest. Hold for a count of 10.
- Try some Chair Pilates. This link provides nearly 30 minutes of various stretches you can do at your desk.
- Stretch your wrists. They take quite a toll while at the keyboard and they deserve some twisting and stretching. In both directions.
- Fingers and hands - squeeze tight, then release and stretch wide.
By giving your body an occasional stretch, you'll be providing yourself a much needed break as well as renewed energy and focus. Which means you'll be less tired, less stressed and more productive at work.
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"Being somewhat of a control freak, I love organization and you really showed me the error of my ways in managing my Outlook. It was an incredibly useful seminar, the presentation made perfect sense and Audrey was awesome." - Diane H., Hilton Hotels
More and more people admit to not knowing how to fully utilize MS® Outlook. And because their jobs are busy (whose isn't?), they limp along, using it mainly to read email and keep track of contact information. Outlook is an incredible Time Management Tool, designed to integrate all of the various components of electronic information that is part of our world today. But unfortunately, most people are using it at less than 50% capacity.
If you want to provide a 2-hour block of training that will have far-reaching impact on your organization, call Audrey today for her Getting Organized with MS® Outlook training. It is not uncommon to hear within the first ten minutes of the training, "I didn't know I could do that!" or by the end of the training "These tips and techniques are going to save me so much time."
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Audrey Thomas offers her articles to reprint or repost - FREE - provided that her name and contact information (supplied at the end of each article) are included. So if you need content for things like newsletters, email announcements or sales reports, please take advantage of this valuable resource.
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