How to leave the office at 5 p.m. (really)

This headline caught my attention: How to Leave the Office at 5 p.m. (Really) 

 My initial thought was one of curiosity – what tips does the author suggest? But then I thought this feels very dated. It’s not hard to leave the office – many of us don’t even regularly work in offices any more. Isn’t the real challenge today to maintain a balance of work and personal, regardless of where the work is done? 

By the way, the author’s tips are:

1. Realize you can leave before everything's done.
2. Split your shifts.
3. Do a 4 p.m. triage.

Is texting killing communications skills?

I’ve seen a fair amount of communication on this topic, usually focused on Gen Y. How does communicating in shorthand, as we do on Twitter or texting, affect our ability to form complete sentences. One communications professional listed four reasons text messages are killing our communication:

 

1. Texting reduces the need for in-depth conversations.

Have you texted people as a form of avoidance? A few abbreviated words keep people from meaningful dialogue and face-to-face communication. It also diminishes the importance of body language in our communication.

 

2. Texting dumbs down spelling and grammar.

"Txtspk" leads to deficiencies in basic language skills. Shortcuts with spelling, punctuation and emoticons don't help children and teenagers learn the necessary writing and communication skills they need for college and the workforce. Are these convenient shortcuts, acronyms and abbreviations giving way to generations of lazy and sloppy communicators? (Oh, gr8.)

 

3. Texting distracts us from being fully present.

Earlier this year, the industry association that represents wireless communications (CTIA) reported that more than 184 billion text messages are sent each month in the U.S.

These messages interrupt our brain function and attention. Texting pulls our focus away from the people and tasks we are experiencing in a moment, which deprives us of being completely present in our lives.

 

4. Texting invites ambiguity.

Joel Willans wrote on Nokia.com: "The format of 160 characters was determined in 1993 by a communications researcher, Friedham Hillebrand. While trying to standardize the technology that would allow cell phones to transmit and display messages, he discovered that the average sentence or question needed just 160 characters."

This leaves too many opportunities to mistakenly read between the lines.

This meeting is called to order

Years ago IBM communications professionals attended a mandatory class in effective meetings. Interestingly, it was not about running meetings, but how to be effective participants. I don’t know why that course is no longer offered, considering the amount of time we all spend in meetings.

One CEO offers his views on ineffective leaders, with the provocative headline: 7 reasons people hate being in meetings with you. He says too many meetings are poorly organized, poorly run and have no objective, which is why they have no value. His complaints:

1. You have no agenda.
2. You talk at them, not with them.
3. You barrage them with data.
4. You're overly familiar.
5. You look at your phone, not at them.
6. You talk over people.
7. You talk just to show you have value, even when you don't.

You say tomato

My father was a stickler for language, including pronunciation. Drop the ‘g’ in recognize, the ‘r’ in library [li-bear-y] or February [Febuary] and I’d hear about it.  To this day, mispronunciation of certain words is jarring, so I took notice when I saw this blog about one writer’s pet peeves. 1. Ex-CAPE. I flee when I hear this version. Same with "ax," as in "Let's ax for an extension." 2. Sim-U-lar. Either "sim-ah-ler" or "simler" are fine, according to the 10th edition of Webster's Dictionary. 3. Mis-CHEE-vee-ous. Never understood this one. Where does that extra syllable come from? 4. IN-ner-resting. Also In-ner-net. 5. NUKE-u-lar. Needs no comment. 6. Per-SCRIP-tion. Watch for "pre" and "per" mix-ups in general. 7=8. SAM-wich. Get salad instead. 8. ASS-trick. Can you figure out what this is supposed to be? (Hint: you get a star if you succeed.) 9. PRAH-straight (instead of prostate). Insert dirty joke here.

Sleep, perchance to dream

About 41 million people in the U.S. — nearly a third of all working adults — get six hours or fewer of sleep a night, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Typically, this leads to suggestions for earlier bedtimes and a longer night’s sleep. But this directive may be part of the problem, says the author of “Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep.”  He questions the assumption of the eight-hour block of sleep -- some of the tossing and turning we do may result from misconceptions about sleep and our bodily needs.
 
He points to studies suggestions that the body would like to naturally settle into a split sleep schedule. Subjects in one study found ways to use “middle-of-the-night awakenings” as a chance to do deep-thinking. A Harvard professor of psychiatry says  sleep — including short naps that include deep sleep — offers our brains the chance to decide what new information to keep and what to toss.

How we spend time at work

VoIP communications company Fonality asked workers how much time daily they spent on the following tasks:

Trying to contact customers or colleagues  74 minutes
Trying to find key information                    67
Duplicating communications                      39
Attempting to schedule meetings               33
Unwanted communications                        29

The myth of multitasking

Only 2 percent of people can multitask effectively, OnlineCollege.org has concluded. The rest of us lower our IQ by 10 points, lose two hours a day to interruptions, and suffer from distractions every 10 minutes.

Can you participate in a conference call, respond to instant messages and answer an email at the same time? I can’t.

OnlineCollege.org says we actually impair our productivity more than help it.
Technology offers an array of tools and apps that constantly distract us. On average, employees who use a computer for work are distracted once every 10.5 minutes. And, employees with desk jobs lose 2.1 hours a day to interruptions or distractions. Now factor in distractions from incoming calls or emails. That's the equivalent of missing one night's sleep.