November 17, 2011

Ninja Tactics in the Workplace

This post is for everyone who considers the “minimize” button the quintessential key in the 21st century work environment, for the person who considers gmail chat one of their essential job functions, and finally, this post is for the person who can stretch a 10-minute task into an 8-hour project.

Which means, of course, this post is only for me …

Ninja Tactic #1:  Since you’re still here (thanks for humoring me), I’ll give you the the oldest (I mean, my oldest) trick in the book:  minimizing a window.

  • Windows Key + D

This littl’ puppy brings you right to the desktop, which is naturally filled will all types of Word docs and PowerPoints you’re currently “working on.”  Now, where was that file I was looking for …

Ninja Tactic #2: This is a more advanced feature relating to Ninja Tactic#1 (super secret):  how to minimize a single window:

  • Windows Key + Down Arrow (gotta push twice!)

Now, if you do it juuuuuust right, you can minimize the current window you’re viewing without ever giving that tall-tale nod to the upper right of your screen.
Smooth.

Ninja Tactic #3: The online timer.

This Ninja Tactic takes time.  dedication.  commitment.  You see, everyone here knows that I split my hour into 50-minutes working, 10-minutes “on break,” because it has been shown to be the most productive utilization of your time (It’s true: click here, here, and here).

But what happens when there’s no work?  (which I know doesn’t happen to anyone else).

You simply put your timer on a 10-minute increment, proudly display it in front of all your other windows and …. read a book!

Did your 10 minutes run out? 

Reset it! 

Rinse and repeat until you get something else to do.  If someone surprises you at your desk while reading a book, well, they’ll have to excuse you because YOU’RE ON BREAK! Been’ using these Ninja Tactics for years.

This post inspire any Ninja Tactics of your own?
 
Leave a Comment! 
 
Let everyone else me know some other strategies I can use in the workplace!
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3 comments:

  1. wendyNovember 17, 2011 at 3:52 PM

    ha ha....those are good tricks.
    When I worked (at a courthouse for a Judge), while in court, it was life saving to have some of those tactics for me as well.

    thanks for stopping by my blog. It is always fun to see new people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SultanNovember 17, 2011 at 7:43 PM

    Inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  3. j. littlejohnNovember 18, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    during march madness you can watch the games online and the browser has a built-in "work mode" button that suddenly switches everything to look all-business like

    ReplyDelete