Quiet day in the office

Shock, horror – it happens. Some days there isn’t much to do. In a world where ‘chaos’ is the new ‘normal’ and ‘busy’ means juggling 20 urgent things simultaneously, you can feel very down when there is a quiet day or a quieter week. If it happens all the time, then there is an issue, but quiet days are wonderful opportunities.

Before rejoicing at the opportunity to have a 2 hour lunch, consider the blessing in disguise.

First things first Everyone has those to-do tasks that we procrastinate on and hope they disappear. Find whatever your ‘optimal peak attention time’ is and smash through one task. The biggest challenge is starting it, but once it is done, an enormous weight seems to have lifted. Filing - the bane of our existence, except for those rare occasions where what we filed needs to be retrieved later. Whether it is emails or actual paper copies, take the time to get them sorted. Unless you are an organisational freak, there is always filing to do.

The trouble with volunteering It’s a catch-22 situation, declaring that you have capacity. You could either get lumped with the filing for everyone else, given a task that is bigger than the quiet period, take on projects that no-one else wants to do for a reason or worst, seen as someone not important enough to be given a serious piece of work. That said; taking the initiative to see what odd-jobs there are around the office without broadcasting your capacity is something to consider. It gives you some opportunity to select the work you do, essentially obtain brownie points for helping our your colleagues.

Of course, if you are being paid by an employer, then you have the responsibility to speak up if the quiet day turns out to be a quieter period. But when speaking up, simultaneously offering solutions makes you look worthwhile and needed…. not excess.

The real stuff I have a separate article on how to kiss ass, or effectively, impress your boss. The quiet times are when you have the opportunity to do tasks that are short term, high profile. Coordinate a team bonding activity, hunt around for relevant and interesting articles (making a short summary to help your time-poor colleagues), update a feature on the intranet.

Learning and development opportunities are often all around – a webinar, reading materials etc. Think about all those peak busy periods when you missed those L&D opportunities due to deadlines. Now is the time to build your knowledge.

If all else fails Work on your personal and professional development. This can be improving your resume, working on your standard words for job applications and doing research on time management/leadership / financial skills.

You may be interested in: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2014/01/09/14-things-to-do-on-a-slow-day-at-work/