Are you truly relaxed at work?

Its a proven fact that a persons productivity is maximum when he or she is fully relaxed at the workplace. Here are a few quick tips for creating a better workspace :

1 ) Make your workspace look attractive to you:
The first time you see your workspace every day, you must feel good about it. it should be attractive to you. Really, it should be your favourite place in the entire building, house or campus. Whats the very first emotional response you associate with on seeing your workspace? So you feel stressed? Overwhelmed? Bored? Apathetic? Focused? Peaceful? Is this an emotion you often feel while working? Now choose the emotion you want to feel, and alter the visual elements to see how they alter your feelings. Try new furniture, photos, posters, mirrors, flowers,knick knacks, toys, statues, rugs, artwork, crystals, etc. if you have the necessary control, you can also tweak the lighting in your workspace to create the right type of mood.
2 ) Clear out the clutter:
One look at a cluttered workspace and you get a feeling that person working there is stressed, overwhelmed and disorganized. Its assumed that if you cannot organize your physical environment, you’re probably incompetent to a certain degree and can not be trusted. And if layoffs happen, you can imagine who the most obvious targets are.
3 ) Add plants:
plants are a wonderful way to add life to a lifeless workspace. Use only living, oxygen-generating plants, not lifeless fake ones.Water them as needed to keep them healthy.Over time you find that your plants begin to resonate with you and become reflection of you.Bring yourself back to nature by adding some plants to your workspace and you’ll find yourself enjoying the environment much more.
4 ) Make it smell good:
Certain scents have measurable effect on productivity. In fact, lemon and lavender produce the most positive results. You can get a diffuser and fill it with essential oil, add some potpourri. Be careful when considering chemical air fresheners though, as there are reports they can produce health risks.
5 ) Play relaxing music:
Experiment different types of music to see what effects they have on your stress levels and productivity. Use headphones if you need to keep from disturbing others.
6 ) Get a decent chair:
Most likely you’ll use your chair more than anything else in your office, so consider investing in a good one. Today there is an assortment of oddities you can sit on, including knee chairs, balls and more. Head to an office supply store and find something that suits you. If company wont get you a decent chair, consider buying one for yourself.
7 ) Add a portable fan:
Even with air conditioning, you might have periods when you just want to feel a bit cooler,or maybe more circulation of air. use a small fan to keep your comfort level right where you want it to be.
8 ) Personalise your space:
does your workspace look same like others, or are there elements that are uniquely you? Remember that your workspace is your living space for most of the day. A good way to do this is by adding items that hold emotional significance to you. Photographs are an easy way to personalise your workspace.Hope you find these tips useful, and soon find youreslf happier and better!

Cut Copy and Paste

 

Most students misuse the Net. For them it is a one-stop solution to complete their assignments.

As technology advances, it brings with it its share of perils. Assignments or projects for internal assessment of students are an integral part of any course, and especially so with post graduate courses. Most colleges give a huge number of assignments to get the students acclamatised to the pressures which they may face at jobs, but much to the dismay of the students.

“The problem is that very little time is given to complete and submit the assignments, often leading to chaos,” says Sukriti Mehta, an MBA student. So often, for most students, the solution for this problem is the Net. For all they have to do is type in the keywords of the subject given to them to get loads of information. Students then ‘edit’ the information to present it as their assignment.

But not all students do it, but it becomes a habit for the few who do. And it would not be an exaggeration if we say they are masters at it. “I have done it successfully right from my BBA days. I have never been caught,” says Sudhir Kumar, a post graduation student. But can’t such blatant copying make other students also to do the same? “That’s the catch. I rephrase what I get from the Net, paragraph it differently, add a few inputs on my own. Forget students, even teachers can’t catch that,” claims Sudhir.

When students are given assignments they are expected to go to reference room and library, read books and come with suitable points and then present their projects. But then, most students want the easy way out. However, what they fail to realise is that it is not easy to fool an alert teacher. “You have to only go through the assignments very carefully to catch whether a student has copy pasted the matter from the Net or not. Once, I had a weird experience. The contents of an assignment of six students were identical. Can you believe it?” asks Amrit Dayal, a management faculty.

Dayal makes an emphatic point when he says, “If students are doing this, more than anybody else, they are cheating themselves only.” But for students like Sudhir, Net is the way out. “It’s simple yaar. From the day I learnt about it from my friend, life has been so much easier,” he quips.

Well, Internet is a resource for vast information, and the temptation to copy from it is too great to overcome easily. But then students should realise and use the Net to gain knowledge and not to plagiarise. They should also realise that there are greater issues involved when you are copying matter from the Net. Copyright for example. So the next time you think you can search and complete your assignment. Give a thought. Is it worth it?

 

Inputs from Times Of India (TGIS 10th feb)