{"id":1205,"date":"2017-01-24T14:46:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T22:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.checkworks.com\/blog\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2019-06-18T09:58:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T17:58:57","slug":"5-business-myths-to-toss-in-the-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/5-business-myths-to-toss-in-the-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Business Myths to Toss in the New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Coworkers<\/a><\/p>\n

By MJ Plaster<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new year, and everyone\u2019s new calendar holds a world of possibilities and promise. Unfortunately, your heavy baggage doesn\u2019t magically check itself at Old Man New Year\u2019s door; it follows you. So, instead of counting calories or pullups, or in addition to, if you\u2019ve already committed to those things, why not vow to toss the business myths that have weighed you down all these years?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. The World Will End if I Don\u2019t Answer Emails Right Now<\/strong>
\nFor most of us who constantly check and answer emails, this is a knee-jerk reaction rather than a strategy. However, it diverts our focus from the job at hand, and it takes time to refocus after dealing with incoming messages.<\/p>\n

A better strategy is to set specific times for answering emails. What if something is urgent? We still have telephones. Train your co-workers, colleagues and clients to phone you if they need an immediate response.<\/p>\n

I have been as guilty as the next person is, but I was recently cured. One day last month, I received more than 500 work emails, and I tried to answer them as they came in. Most of them were a waste of time and could have been consolidated into less than 50\u2014a manageable number. The very next week, a client complained that she received 200+ emails in one day. Clearly, the madness had to stop.<\/p>\n

My client now checks her inbox several times per day rather than deal with constant interruptions. I have started filtering all emails except those pertaining to work, so I don\u2019t even see most of them until I take a break. I have also devised a more efficient way to get answers to questions. I put them in the document, and those questions that don\u2019t receive an answer show up in the final proof highlighted for everyone to see. That gets immediate attention, and I don\u2019t have to send countless emails asking for the same information.<\/p>\n

2. Everyone Who Is Anyone is Fashionably Late<\/strong>
\nAsk any airline passenger how well this myth works. You don\u2019t want to be on the explaining end of that situation. If you\u2019re a repeat offender, there might be more at play than meets the eye. Reverse the situation and ask yourself how you feel when you\u2019re on a tight schedule and someone keeps you waiting for an appointment.<\/p>\n

Psychology Today reports that repetitive lateness can be a symptom of underlying issues, such as a passive-aggressive nature or downright disrespect for others. Sometimes, it\u2019s used to demonstrate power over \u201cunderlings.\u201d Whatever your reason, it\u2019s time to commit to your appointments because you\u2019re not winning any respect from others with habitual tardiness.<\/p>\n

3. I\u2019m a Terrific Multitasker<\/strong>
\nNo, you\u2019re not. Multitasking is a myth than began with the advent of the personal computer. Even in terms of the PC, multitasking is a myth. There is no such thing. Resources switch back and forth, they do not divide themselves among tasks\u2014whether it\u2019s the computer or a person attempting to handle more than one job.<\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a> conducted by the University of Sussex shows that our attempts at multitasking are changing the way our brains are wired, and not for the better. Some physical activities such as juggling can help to increase gray matter, while multitasking reduces it.<\/p>\n

Multitasking is too cute by half. According to Psychology Today, it not only takes more time to accomplish your work but also leads to errors. In a day\u2019s time, multitasking can lead to a 40 percent reduction in efficiency.<\/p>\n

4. Social Media Is Critical to Building My Business Reputation<\/strong>
\n\u201cI must comment on every news development,\u201d is symptomatic of this myth. Have you looked at Twitter lately? It has become a vile playground for the broke and infamous. It\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess what can get you bounced\u2014if not from the platform, then from your job. Perfectly polite people tend to \u201clet it all hang out on the internet,\u201d whether it\u2019s Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.<\/p>\n

One of the first admonitions I received in the early 1990s was, \u201cIf you don\u2019t want it on the 6 o\u2019clock news, don\u2019t say it on the internet.\u201d Whatever happened to that sort of common sense? Until we bring decorum back to public discourse, I have better ways to spend my time\u2014in productive work.<\/p>\n

Social media has its place, but the lure of the siren can become addictive and counterproductive. Use your time on social media wisely and choose your words and your platform carefully. Look into LinkedIn\u2014the adult in the room.<\/p>\n

5. Clutter is the Sign of a Busy Person<\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s no Oscar Madison award for cluttered workspaces. No one\u2019s promoting tipping the scale to the Felix Unger side, but you can find a happy medium. The TV sitcom The Odd Couple provoked a loud \u201ceww\u201d at both of these characters\u2014at Madison for his gross sloppiness of working in his bed strewn with stacks of old papers and weeks-old food wrappers and Unger for his OCD-inspired fastidiousness. There\u2019s a happy medium, but before we check in on that, let\u2019s look at the science.<\/p>\n

Science says\u2026<\/strong><\/em>
\nAccording to research published in Psychological Science, people working in clean environments tend to do as they\u2019re expected. For some people, a cluttered desk can lead to a cluttered mind. However, the science shows that for some creative people, clutter can lead to greater creativity. It reports, \u201c\u2026 a signal that being in a disorderly environment stimulates a release from conventionality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pitfalls of a messy workspace, even when you swear it increases your creativity, are that you risk looking slovenly and inefficient as well as aggravating your co-workers. So, attempt to clear your desk at the end of each workday.<\/p>\n

These are only a few of the myths that prove counterproductive in the workplace. Can you add to the conversation? Meet us on Facebook, and tell us what you\u2019ve decided to let go of in 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MJ Plaster It\u2019s a new year, and everyone\u2019s new calendar holds a world of possibilities and promise. Unfortunately, your heavy baggage doesn\u2019t magically check itself at Old Man New Year\u2019s door; it follows you. So, instead of counting calories or pullups, or in addition to, if you\u2019ve already committed to those things, why not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,31],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1585,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions\/1585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}