Can we have a 'Help me do my job' thread?

[CraftMaker]

The idea is that people post things such as, 'How do I do such and such in Excel?', 'What do people think of this template design?', 'Is this outfit OK for a work presentation?', etc. Basically anything that people need advice on for their job.

We had a thread like this on a Middle East Expat forum I was on and it ran for years! There are so many people on Mumsnet in a variety of professions and just people with an opinion.

Does anybody think this is a good idea?

This is a great thread! I’m about to start a new job and have lots of questions which I need to think about and will post later.

But for starters I will post my top finds/ tips:

The book How Women Rise is excellent and explains what happens keep women from progressing in the workplace.

Trello planning board or Kanban cards are great. There’s also a version in MS Teams.

Timeblocking rather than to do lists. Check out Gamze Time channel on YouTube as she explains all. This is a fab channel for time management and motivation.

Batching tasks. Figuring out when you are most productive (I use an app for this) and doing your hardest work then.

Inbox zero. Limit checking email to 3 times a day. Get your inbox to zero. There’s quite a bit to it. I do this religiously and it’s really easy. I get about 80-100 emails a day.

*what habits hold women back (not happens)

Just to add, I’m in a management role in professional services, quite high pressure and client facing.

Productivity ninja has some good advice on email management.

Imposter Syndrome is a hard nut to crack I try to remember that self confidence is like a muscle the more you use it the stronger it gets. Keep pushing your comfort zone a little at a time and remember to reflect and acknowledge your successes. Most people aren’t confident we are all to some element faking it till we make it Resilience is THE hardest thing I’ve had to tackle over the last 5yrs of constantly trying to get a perm leadership role after assignments. I’ve succeeded for now and really highlighted to my teen DD how important it is to keep learning and not giving up despite many knock backs at interview. Gruelling when I’ve seen men of lower ability just race up management ladders!

@Laughsaminute

This is a great thread! I’m about to start a new job and have lots of questions which I need to think about and will post later.

But for starters I will post my top finds/ tips:

The book How Women Rise is excellent and explains what happens keep women from progressing in the workplace.

Trello planning board or Kanban cards are great. There’s also a version in MS Teams.

Timeblocking rather than to do lists. Check out Gamze Time channel on YouTube as she explains all. This is a fab channel for time management and motivation.

Batching tasks. Figuring out when you are most productive (I use an app for this) and doing your hardest work then.

Inbox zero. Limit checking email to 3 times a day. Get your inbox to zero. There’s quite a bit to it. I do this religiously and it’s really easy. I get about 80-100 emails a day.

Wow, thank you - I could make more use of all of these (I do timeblocking and batching).

@SkiRun0077 yes I recognise all of what you’re saying.... it took me a long time to reach a leadership role. While men raced ahead. How Women Rise explains why this is the experience of so many female professionals and unpicks the 12 commonly seen in women and what to do to overcome them. Apparently women are better naturally at leadership (I’m talking at a population level, objectively evidenced) but do not tend to succeed as quickly or successfully into leadership roles due to these 12 habits. It really resonated with me and was a revelation! Not all the habits will apply to you, but I guarantee many will.

*12 habits. My predictive text does not like this word!!

@Ormally you’re welcome. Definitely delve into Gamze’s past videos, they’re are some really good tips. Just ignore all the product type videos as that’s done to monetise the channel. She’s a great presenter and I find her tips practical and motivating!

@Laughsaminute thanks, I’ve just watched a couple of Gamze’s videos. After watching, next week I will leave my phone on the other end of the kitchen table ALL day. I definitely procrastinate by checking on my phone when things get too tough.

I find it hard to plan in advance as a lot of my work is reactive so things that I aim in plenty of time to do keep getting missed, and then done last minute. Any tips?

@DivingBoardInGuernsey

How do I ... help a workforce that's emotionally overwhelmed by life? We don't have an especially stressful sector (not health, no sales roles either) but people are just exhausted from "life" and it's making them emotional and frazzled. As they spend a fair chunk of time at work, we want to play a decent part in supporting them.

Any ideas for:

• increasing the low-key opportunities for people to talk (remote working has meant communication has become transactional)?
• other stuff that might help?

We have an EAP and it's well publicised so that's a start.

We have a wellbeing hour every week. Just an hour to do something for your wellbeing. It's great and has been so needed since the pandemic especially.

[quote Alonelonelylonersbadidea]@MustDust I use the Trello app. It's free and is basically a kanban board. Everything goes on there.[/quote]
Was also coming to recommend trello. You could have a stack for each manager and a card for each task with due dates on.

I also check my phone when things get tough. It’s almost become like a reflex and I really need to change it. I only do this when WFH. Obviously I wouldn’t be picking up my phone to check it all the time when in the office. So I need to start going to the office more or kick this weird habit ASAP.

Hi everyone I asked only last week in work and answer was I was hired for Monday to Friday full time. Dh told his hours can't change. Dh batch cooks, food is just about the only thing that hasn't changed! Problem is all the drop offs and pick ups, dh having to collect at 3, 4 and then me at 6 while juggling work meetings online, then by the time we get home it's nearly the kids bed time and my body is wrecked and so is his. I know how hard it is for him to even get a second to tidy, and it took me years to get it all down to a fine art and that was as a sahm but I get home and my body is just in shock! The kids do help and are excellent but they're being dragged all over the place too and go to bed at 8.30 when we've generally only gotten home just before 7. Some nights me and dh just sit with a cup of tea and look at each other as if to go ' are we really doing all this shit again tomorrow?' My body is so sore but I love the job and he thinks it's great I've got such job satisfaction and says we'll get there. Today we spent the morning at getting the house in order so that's something but we'll see

And lovely thread and thank you

Great thread and some brilliant ideas thank you

What a fabulous thread with some great ideas.