Can You Quit Coffee?

February 9th, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

quit-coffeeMany office workers are as dependent on the coffee pot as a baby is on its bottle. Because coffee drinking is so common, they seldom stop to ask themselves, ‘is this healthful?’ Office workers need energy, after all, and everyone is familiar with that 4:00 slump. A cup or two of coffee can really get you through a tough day. Sometimes it even feels like that cup of coffee can be your only friend in the world!

But lately, many office workers have been switching to green tea, and there are some very good reasons for that. Green tea has anti-oxidant properties that reduce the signs of aging. It also has plenty of caffeine. Depending on the variety of tea you choose, you may drink a tea with less, the same, or more caffeine as your typical cup of coffee, so be aware! Of course, the taste is different. There is no denying that. But it is not a bad taste for most, just different, and if drinkers gradually switch over to the tea, they will soon learn to prefer the light, clean, slightly bitter taste of green tea to that of coffee. However, although green tea is more healthful than coffee, the caffeine it provides is still a danger to your health.

The problem with a coffee addiction (or any caffeine addiction, including tea) is that the constant influx of caffeine overstimulates your adrenal glands. Sounds fun, right? Stimulating the adrenals? Of course, adrenalin is what makes us run fast, jump high, and generally feel like supermen and superwomen. Who wouldn’t want to stimulate those? Well, there is a reason, and I’ll keep it simple. Most folks who feel the need to stimulate the adrenals on a regular basis, like with a constantly perking coffee pot, do it because their blood sugar is not giving them the energy they ought to have naturally. The energy from eating regular meals should keep you going with plenty of vim and vigor throughout the day without the need for additional stimulation. So if you need that additional push from caffeine, what that means is that your diet is not sufficient!

Are you eating junk food for lunch? Are you having complete breakfasts? Are you too tired for anything but a frozen dinner at night? These bad eating habits are where your lack of energy begins, and the coffee addiction is only a band-aid over that wound. As you continue your bad eating habits, your health will gradually deteriorate until eventually the coffee won’t be enough to perk you up any more. Don’t let it get to that point! Remember that you should be providing plenty of energy to your body through eating good, healthful food. That means plenty of protein in your breakfast: an omelet, not a muffin! That means plenty of protein as well in your lunch: ensure that it includes a protein and a vegetable! A salad for lunch is not enough to provide the energy needed for a long day at the office, and supplementing your salad with extra coffee is a recipe for long-term health disaster!

Sit down to a relaxing hot dinner with a loved one, if possible. Make sure that there is plenty of protein, sufficient vegetables, and enough carbohydrates to provide your body with the nutritional glucose it needs to run efficiently. Remember- coffee may seem like a wonderful panacea today, but in the long run, you are making your body work too hard for a little thing like daily energy. If you have been using coffee (or tea) to substitute for the nutrition that should be found in simple, healthy foods, do yourself a favor and gradually ease off your caffeine addiction and trade it in for an addition to square meals!


How Accessible Should You Be?

February 6th, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

be-accessibleToday’s technology has made it possible for most of us to be accessible all of the time. It allows us to do business from home, from the beach, from our vehicles . . . from anywhere. This can allow you to get out of the office more, but the flip side is that it allows you to take the office with you wherever you go, and that may not be a good thing.

They say workers today have a higher level of stress than at any other time in history, including the plague-stricken middle-ages and the poverty-stricken Great Depression. If this is true, then constant communication is even more stressful than poverty and disease! We need to find ways to do our work efficiently without feeling like we never have privacy, without feeling like we have to say goodbye to the work/home boundary once and for all. Cell phones ensure that even when shopping at the grocery store, we aren’t permitted peace and quiet. Work could intrude at any time. Email ensures that even when we tell a secretary or phone service to “hold all calls,” people can still get through to us at any time of the day or night.

The immediacy of these forms of communication has spoiled professionals and made us all expect instant gratification in our communications with others. If a colleague is called away from his desk and unable to answer emails or if he has turned off his cell phone, many associates simply feel at their wit’s end. Waiting for communications to be returned (something that used to be a normal part of life) now seems like a grossly unfair imposition. Most of us find ourselves on both sides of the communication question. We want reliable access to other business associates, yet we miss our own private time. We no longer know what it is like to be inaccessible to anyone save our families and loved ones for a weekend, a week off, or even an evening!

There is, however, a solution to all of this excess communication. It’s a little thing called boundaries. Yes, boundaries are passé, yes they’re out of style. But learning how to maintain communication-oriented boundaries is the only thing that will save you from the stress of modern living. Setting up boundaries is relatively easy, but maintaining them can be difficult. What’s difficult is the mind-games people will play to try to overcome your boundaries, the lengths they’ll go to to deny you your privacy. You have to be strong in the face of strong opposition to your boundaries, but once you do manage to enforce them, others will learn to respect them too.

The first thing you must do is decide what your communication boundaries will be. For instance, I do my primary work of the day every morning between 8:00 and 1:00. After that, I answer emails and phone calls. You may have a different work schedule, so decide what block of hours you want to have utterly free of communications in order to work. Next, decide what block of hours you want to have utterly free of communications in order to relax. I know one man, a film producer, who can’t afford to take any part of his work day off away from communication devices, so he sets his hours at 9 am to 9 pm. That is easy to remember and ensures that after 9 pm he will never never NEVER answer the phone. Sure, it doesn’t sound like much time to relax, but for a film producer to refuse to take calls in the middle of the night these days is practically revolutionary.

Whatever hours you choose to hold, determine what they will be and announce them. Be sure to include as part of your signature on all your emails what your hours are. Note your hours on your website as well. Be sure to freely communicate your hours with others. With modern messaging services, people can leave you messages of course while you are away from the phone, but when they know what your hours are, they will then know not to expect a call back until 1:00, in my case, or whenever you set your availability.

Clients and coworkers won’t balk at your designation of certain hours exclusively for work when they know that you take that time to concentrate without interruptions.  Everyone likes to know that someone is concentrating on his/her work in order to do it right, so they will see it as a sign of true professionalism and wait patiently for that return call.


Asking For Time Off- The Modern Way

February 3rd, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

time-offSometimes the allotted yearly vacation time just isn’t enough. Employees often want time off for personal reasons ranging from taking that extra family vacation to caring for a loved one. But often workers are afraid to ask for it. This is not without reason, after all. Contracts usually state explicitly the time allotted for paid vacation and bosses are loathe to extend it for fear of budget constraints as well as the problem that other workers may sense favoritism to the employee receiving the extra vacation. However, bosses (as they say) are people too and if you know how to approach them with tact, they can be very amenable to providing that extra time off, either with or without pay.

Timing, of course, is everything. Anyone knows that asking for time off during a busy spell is not only unlikely to get you the time off, it is going to put you into disfavor with your supervisor. So plan ahead. Remember, whenever you ask your boss for something (be it a raise, time off, or any other benefit) most likely that boss has to ask for it from his superior. A good boss’s job is to advocate for his/her employees—to ensure they have everything they need in order to do a good job. But if you are going to ask your boss to stick his/her neck out for you, you should be able to show that boss that you are invaluable and worth the trouble. But how?

Several tried and true methods exist for making yourself an invaluable employee for whom bosses will take risks, and they all involve you making your boss look good. That’s right. Don’t think about making yourself look good and productive, think about what you can do to make your boss look good.After all, if he is going to take a risk for you, he must be convinced that although asking for extra time off may look bad right now, you have a way of generally making him/her look good to others, so it balances out. Here are a few techniques that have a strong success rate:

Compose an ETA calendar: ETA means “expected time of arrival” and if you compose a calendar where each and every project you are working on is broken down into milestones, with each milestone’s ETA listed on the relevant dates, anyone will be able to see that  you have considered every angle and factored the extra time off into your schedule.

Delegate: Find others in the office who are willing to pick up some slack for you while you are gone. Of course, you will have to do the same for them when the time comes, but the ability to spread work out over numerous volunteers shows your ability to manage, first of all, and secondly it shows the affinity that other office workers have for you. If all of these people are willing to help you out, shouldn’t your boss consider you an important asset? Shouldn’t he or she also be willing to play a part by getting you the needed time off?

Surprise them: Generally, it is considered better to plan ahead and give plenty of notice when extra time off is needed, but some situations call for a different approach. If your company is renowned for being stingy with vacation days and you feel it is highly likely that your request will be denied out of hand, then don’t give them a chance to deny it. Call in sick, call in a personal day, or call in stating that you have a sick relative that suddenly needs your urgent care, and take the time as emergency time. Very few companies will actually deny a week or even two that is taken as an emergency leave, while many will refuse to give that leave when it is asked for through the proper channels. It’s nothing more than the perversity of human thought. So take a good long look at your company and the atmosphere there and decide upon the best strategy to use for those extra days off you so desperately need.


Which is the Most “Green” Lifestyle?

January 31st, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

green-lifestyleIn today’s world, “green” is in—meaning that making ecologically sound choices is something at the top of all our minds. So when it comes to choosing a first home, many professionals are asking themselves, “which lifestyle is the most green?” Of course, if you have always dreamt of living in the country, the green revolution will probably have little effect on your aspiration. By the same token, if you have always dreamt of living in the heart of the city, you shouldn’t change your preferred lifestyle based on some builder’s notion of which lifestyle is more “green.” Never the less, it can be interesting to look at these different modes of living and really analyze the ecological sensitivity of that first home you buy.

When many think of “going green” or living in an ecologically sustainable manner, they think of that house in the country. After all, what could be more friendly to nature than surrounding oneself with nature, right? Wrong, many experts say. Living out in the country does indeed give you more access to the out of doors and the beauty of nature, but does it help the planet? Remember, the longer your commute to work, the more fossil fuels you will burn each day. If you live on a dirt road, you may need a large, four-wheel-drive vehicle, thus increasing your gasoline consumption. Wood burning stoves—though cozy and undeniably romantic—are common modes of heating in older country homes, but they pollute quite a bit. Also consider everyday concerns such as garbage disposal. Will you have access to a county dump? Will you have to haul your trash yourself? Because of their isolation, it is common for many in rural areas to burn their own trash, which is decidedly unhealthful for the environment. In addition to considering your own commute to work, also consider the drive-time necessary for the post office and other delivery vehicles to reach your home. These vehicles also burn fossil fuels as they roam around the countryside from one rural home to the next.

This is not an attempt to discourage any potential home-buyer from purchasing that dreamed-of home in the country, but simply a word to the wise. The rural lifestyle is distinct from the urban or suburban life simply because of its isolation and the fuel and vehicular demands upon it. It can be expensive to have a lot of land to keep up and care for as well.

Another option that many green-wise home buyers look at is that home in the city. Urban living, for many first-time home buyers, means a condominium. There are also wonderful brownstones and town homes available to city dwellers, but the condominium is the most affordably-priced city home for most first-time buyers. These dwellings do tend to be small. Storage space is limited and there is no personal outdoor space at all. Some condominiums offer shared recreation space—be it a setting in a park-like atmosphere or a roof garden. The lifestyle is communal in some respects, and that entails following strict rules as to outdoor décor that is permitted, noise levels, and behavior that may disturb others. Some young people balk at the rules and the fees associated with condominium dwelling . . . that is, until they move in! Condominiums often provide amenities such as swimming pools, hot tubs, exercise rooms, and community centers for the residents, and these additions can make all the difference. Condominium dwellers do save on transportation costs to and from their workplaces, and do have numerous entertainments right at their fingertips. They don’t have the costly and time-consuming upkeep on their properties that rural-dwellers incur.

There are definitely some advantages to city living when home buyers are looking to “go green,” but ultimately the choice is a personal one. You must ask yourself: how much work and expense do I want to put into my home, and how much time and expense do I want to spend on transportation?


Take These 2010 Marketing Tips—It’s All About Inbound!

January 28th, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

2010-marketing-tipsIf you have had it with the workaday world and just don’t feel like it challenges you enough, perhaps you will be tempted to start your own business in 2010. Sure, who wouldn’t want to work overtime for nothing? Who wouldn’t want to give up a steady paycheck for the risk of going bankrupt? But seriously, there are so many incredible benefits to owning your own business. At first, you may not feel a lot of freedom. You’ll be tied to your work day and night—finding new clients, setting up your office, and marketing. But in the long run, with a lot of skill and a little luck, you could see that business grow and become successful.

Marketing is one aspect of owning your own business that is always challenging and always changing with the times. You may feel like a real marketing expert one year, but what you tried before may not work the following year. The internet changes, the world marketplace changes, and laws change too. So here are some small business marketing tips just for 2010.

These days, companies are focusing more on inbound marketing. Outbound marketing—which emphasizes advertising and direct mailings—is less trusted by today’s customers. With inbound marketing, companies rely on word of mouth and on utilizing the contact information from potential customers that have already contacted them. This means setting up an excellent web site that enable potential customers who are searching for a business like yours to easily see all the benefits your company offers and why it may be better than the competetitors.

Pay per click marketing has been popular in the past, but now experts are saying that “organic” traffic (or internet traffic derived by being accessed through search engines rather than advertisements) is “smarter.” That means that folks who access your site via a search engine will stay longer and read more and have a much higher potential for actually contacting you and becoming customers or clients. Today’s experts are saying to spend your advertising dollars on optimizing your web site to gain more organic traffic, rather than on PPC.

Press releases are becoming more and more important in today’s marketplace, but they must be SEO optimized. Press releases must be specifically written for the web and targeted to the potential customers you seek.

Finally, today’s marketing gurus recommend what they call customer-centric sales and marketing. This means helping potential customers before asking anything of them. Customer-centric marketing provides numerous items or bits of information for free, thus enabling clients to try your product or service before buying. Today’s online buyers expect free things. It has become a part of internet marketing.This isn’t a bad thing, especially if what you are providing for free is information. It costs you nothing to give it, yet helps to build a potential client’s faith in you. Many of today’s web gurus offer free classes or seminars, where potential clients can become convinced of their expertise before hiring them.

These techniques are the wave of the future, so the sooner you learn to properly target your market, the better. Remember that last year’s methods may have worked fine last year, but every year brings new challenges, so small business owners need to stay on top of all the new developments, including marketing challenges.


Kindle Hits One Out of the Park

January 25th, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

kindleWell, its official. Kindle is Amazon’s “most gifted product ever.” Ever? Yes, I said ever! Amazon also notes that on any given day, buyers purchased more digital books than actual books. So what is it that finally got people to eschew their tattered paperbacks and handsome hardbacks for digital editions? The kindle got off to a slow start, but eventually it was “discovered” for lack of a better term, and it looks like 2009 was its heyday. (So far.)

Many customers surveyed cited the low cost of digital books. But it isn’t only the cost that is low, it is the space it takes up—namely: none. Most bibliophiles have walls of bookshelves in their homes, and they love their hardbound versions, no doubt. But everyone runs out of space some time. Some sooner, some later!

Many believe that “green housing” also may have something to do with the popularity of the kindle. That’s right—social phenomena are coming together to support Amazon in inexplicable ways. The logic goes: small “green” condominiums are replacing suburban homes for many first time home buyers. Especially with the first time home buyer credit from the government spurring them to buy, young potential book buyers are investing more and more in homes that simply can’t house the crates and crates of books that they might otherwise own. No room to store CD’s, so they turn to digital music. No room to store books, so they turn to digital books. Just about everything that takes up space these days has a digital version, which is a Godsend to those living in the new, smaller-but-more-efficient “green” homes.

Social networking is also an important social phenomenon these days and it has an effect on kindle as well. After all, everything has to be sharable. In this day and age, when everyone is so well entertained right inside their own homes, the importance of having online “friends” is paramount. You want to share music, share books, share your daily thoughts and feelings. Kindle adds to the fun, since you can share books on up to five Kindles with the same account. This way that book you always promised to loan to a friend, but never did . . . well now there is no excuse. You don’t have to worry that they won’t return it either!

So, out with the old and in with the new. After millions of bibliophiles swore they would never give up the pleasures of turning paper pages, millions went ahead and took the plunge into a brave new world of reading. Amazon (along with millions of trees whose lives will be spared) thanks them!


6 Steps to Do Less, but Achieve More

January 21st, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

do-less-achieve-moreHave you ever felt like you work too hard? No, it’s not a matter of working harder than you want to, this is a matter of working harder than the results warrant. Wouldn’t you like to streamline your work? Whether it’s financial, creative, business, sales, or even housework, there are six primary steps to reducing wasted work time.

Understand the operation. First of all, you must know what you are doing! You must know how to perform the task at hand well enough to improve upon it. Yes, I said improve upon it, not just do it well. That is what makes a truly efficient worker. Your day should not be a series of tasks where the learning is in progress, they should be a series of learned tasks that allow you to create efficiency. When you are constantly having to learn new tasks as part of your job, there is no way to build upon those skills.

Set the right objectives. Are your goals in line with improvement? You need to ensure that you have set both short term and long term goals that are focused on the betterment of your business or endeavor. With daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals, you can ensure your own success.

Check customer perception. You may see improvement, but unless your clients perceive it as well, your endeavor won’t be seen as profitable. If that is the case, you won’t attract investors. This step brings to mind the fact that success can only be sustained if it is perceived.

Increase capacity. This step means that once you have derived a method for improving productivity, you must then turn that into a way to improve capacity. Ask yourself, are you meeting demand? What extra actions can you take toward creating more product? Are your resources efficient?

Continuously improve. You must have a systematic approach to constant improvement. Don’t take it for granted that improvement will come with experience. Sometimes laziness comes with experience, and sometimes bad management comes with experience, so systematize your strategies for improvement and make them part of your everyday protocol.

Understand motivators. What is driving your employees or coworkers? Do you know how to motivate them effectively? Have you given them productive work with efficient methods? Improving efficiency always means improving management skills, and that doesn’t just mean wasting fewer pencils, it means keeping employees happy and motivated and thus reducing turnover.

For this last point, there are a few questions you can ask yourself that will help you understand what good management really is:

  • Do you always have visibility of your employees’ numbers including year to date, forecast, and required performance?
  • What are their activity levels: do they work hard and smart enough?
  • Do you review performance regularly?
  • Do they all have personal development plans?
  • Do you encourage a How can we do it better mindset?
  • Do your people enjoy working for you?

With all of these points in mind, you can’t help but create more efficiency in your workplace, whether the environment is corporate, small business, boutique, sales, creative, a home business, or a household itself.


Five Technology Tips for 2010

January 18th, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

technology-tipsIT workers had a big year in 2009, what with the economy going south, virtual schools seeing a boom, and internet marketing changing character completely. Staying on top of all that is new and emerging in technology can definitely be hard work these days, so we have compiled five freebies for 2010: tips you can use and abuse as you like. No charge!

My first tip? Watch out for HDMI cables. No, they’re not coming to get you. It’s just that if you bought one this year, chances are you paid too much! These little suckers can cost you $30 to $40 if you aren’t careful, and those charges add up when you need one to connect your HDTV to the receiver, one for your Blu-ray player, and so on. So troll online for cables like these. You can get brand new ones for a fraction of what you’ll find at your local electronics big-box store, so don’t get cheated!

The second tip is a money saver as well. Ever notice how when you buy something online and you check out, there is always that box for a coupon code? Take a minute to go to another window or tab and google for a coupon. You are very likely to find one, so it is worth the extra few minutes’ effort. You could end up with free shipping or other savings.

Third: take a tip from travelers and learn to negotiate. We so often see prices as set in stone—“take it or leave it.” But seldom is this the case. Today’s marketplace is competitive. If you tell a service provider that you are considering canceling, they may offer you a lower rate. Or you may simply be able to negotiate one. If the representative on the phone won’t do it, talk to a supervisor, because one thing is guaranteed: no one can afford to lose customers these days. No one!

The fourth tips is especially for IT professionals and it is to get side-by-side monitors. This way you can have Outlook and Firefox running simultaneously. This is incredibly beneficial for your work in many many respects. So many IT professionals have heard this advice, year after year, but refrained from spending the money. Spend it! It’ll save you a lot of time and hassles and, more importantly, make you look like a genius to all those folks out there who depend on your insight.

Finally: a lot of technology workers these days wear a Bluetooth headset. Sure, it may be a robotronic fashion statement, but it can be simply essential when it comes to multi-tasking. But be careful when buying one! You want to check out, first of all, sound quality both for incoming and outgoing audio and see if you can find one that blocks ambient noise like wind and ambient noise. You also want to check out your Bluetooth headset for comfort. So many folks have invested in these gadgets only to throw them down and refuse to use them after all. Comfort is essential with these things!

Well, that about wraps it up. No, these five little tips probably won’t make you a genius overnight or a millionaire by morning, but every little bit helps when it comes to making 2010 the best year it can be. Happy New Year!


The Latest Innovative Office Products

January 14th, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

innovative-office-productsThe 2009 national stationary show debuted some really interesting office products that could just make your business more productive and efficient. The Revolver bound notebook is one not to be missed. It is built with what the company terms a “floating spine” that actually enables the owner to flip the notebook in such a way that the cover changes color  from red to black and the paper changes from ruled to blank. See the photo for a better description of how this is achieved and their website for more information

Why would you want to flip a book inside out, you ask? You could use one side for writing and another for drawing, certainly, which seems to be the original idea, or your could write secret code one side and have the decoder hidden on the other side? Or, I was thinking, you could use one color cover for a work in progress, another color cover for a completed project. That way, in looking at the books on your shelf, you could instantly note which need your attention.

The next innovative product is called Dry Erase Real Wood from a company called Three by Three Seattle.

It’s simply a dry erase board. Nothing new, except for the fact that it is made out of bamboo and has the attractive qualities of wood. That’s right, you can write on it as you would with any dry erase board, then wipe off perfectly. It is also magnetic, like a typical dry erase board, and holds the magnets well. The Dry Erase Real Wood is also available as an entry butler, where the dry-erase properties allow for writing messages and the design incorporates hooks and compartments for mail and other by-the-door essentials. This company is the one that produces mighties, the tiny, stylish magnets that hold up big things, that you might have seen in a stationary or novelty store. They also make “woodnetic,” a magnetic strip bulletin board that actually is made from bamboo and has the beauty of wood.

The third product, and my favorite, is ideal for anyone who studies or needs to make notes in books. It’s a pen from Everyday Innovations called the BookMarker. Now, you’ve seen the book flags you can use to mark pages, and you’ve used a pen, a bookmark, and an elastic closure strap on a journal, but this product combines them all in one. It is the only thing you need for full interaction with your reading material, whether you are reading for pleasure, studying for a final exam, or composing a research report. Everyday Innovations also makes a few other clever gadgets, such as the picopad for wallet notes. This tiny notebook comes in a plastic case with a tiny pen inside. It fits right in your wallet and is perfect for taking any type of on-the-go notes, such as jotting down a new wine discovery in a restaurant, keeping a food journal for better health, or just a good old-fashioned shopping list. Their “booksling” is another invention ideal for note-takers. It offers an elastic book attachment that keeps a pen or highlighter, as well as a ribbon bookmark, handy at all times.


Do You Have Information Overload?

January 11th, 2010 by Katie Mehrer

information-overloadIn today’s business environment, we have fax machines, telephones, mobile telephones, car phones, FedEx, snail mail, and of course email. With all these methods for transferring information, there sure is a lot of knowledge changing hands. But is that always a good thing? A company called Basex has made itself a leading authority on a problem of modern times: information overload. It’s website offers a methodology for pinpointing opportunities to reduce the actual amount of information you receive for the sake of greater efficiency.

One of the points that basex makes is that a great deal of the information getting sent out these days is redundant. But how do these redundancies get created and perpetuated? Usually it is a matter of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, and you know what that means: management! Strong central management and wise delegation of tasks will prevent such information overload when it is a matter of a parent company sending facts and figures out to its subordinates or affiliates. Another problem that causes duplication is that of different departments organizing information in different ways. While the sales office may list its clients alphabetically on a database, the marketing office may view this same information in value order on a spreadsheet. Again, it comes down to management determining how information will be stored and sorted and ensuring that is consistent company-wide.

One of the most prevalent reasons any company begins to drown in information overload is simply the fact that workers at affiliated companies tend to believe that more is better. Never wanting to be blamed for failing to share crucial information, low-level employees pass on every scrap and shred of knowledge that comes across their desks, as if they were police detectives using microfibers to solve a mysterious crime. The recipients end up with inboxes full of nonessential information that must be sifted through in order to find the information that is actually important.

To deter employees from exacerbating the problem of information overload, managers must rein them in with strong information training. Administrative-level employees must know what information, if any, they should pass on from what they receive. At the same time, analysts and IT workers must be judicious as to how much unnecessary information they put into the system. Since most information starts in their departments, it is important to keep an eye on how much is getting printed out. Usually those printouts are redundant or may even go unread. So anything that is automatically being printed should go to a print-on-request status. This will allow company executives to actually know what items are being read and analyzed and what items are not completing the cycle through the business office.

By cutting out the overloaded information, managers will save their employees time and trouble and force more attention onto the actual pertinent information. They will steer workers toward accomplishing stated goals and away from slogging through digital debris. Information overload, in today’s day and age, can be a serious hazard to the smooth operation of any business, whether small or large, so if you are having productivity problems it may be wise to look at how much unnecessary messaging is being done in your office.