New Year's Resolutions for the Office

In 6 days, it will officially be 2013. You survived the non-existent Mayan Apocalypse, you survived your in-laws and the holiday hoopla. And now you're tasked with going into 2013 better than 2012. So why not set up some office resolutions for yourself?

Not much different than your regular resolutions, this will hopefully help with a well-balanced lifestyle. Think about it, Monday - Friday, your daily schedule is probably broken down like this (and this is if you don't have children): 7 hrs, sleeping; 1 hour, grooming/getting ready; 9 hours, working, 2.5 hours, eating/food prepping, 1.5 hours, working out; 3 hours, random activity (more work, watching TV, meetup, etc). 9 hours in an office....let's set some goals to make this better!

1. Clean Out That Inbox!
You've been cc'd on emails you didn't need to be on 3 months ago that you still have not deleted. And why? Because the email you really needed to keep was right after that one and you have completely forgotten it's existence. Spend 15 minutes a day the first week (or two) of January de-cluttering your inbox. Why? First off, it's taking up space on your company server. Second, it really is unnecessary information you don't need. Save the important emails in personal folders to help maintain a categorized system, but try and start fresh this new year.

2. Clean Out Your Desk Space!
Some people are pilers. Some are collectors. Others just don't like to throw anything anyway! Now is the time to go through your stashes and file folders to see what you can purge. Afraid you may throw something important away? Why not scan it and save it on a disk or thumb drive? Or a folder on your desktop?

3. Eat out less!
Every now and then, I forget my lunch and have to grab a salad from downstairs. I usually splurge and get a soda and some potato chips. Average cost? $8.90 before tip. If I had to do that every day? That's nearly $50 a week/ $200 a month. And that's just lunch. Not only is bringing in your own food cheaper, it's a great way to watch what you're eating...literally. Many times take out places are using oils and fats your not aware of. Or maybe you didn't realize the amount of sodium in those fast food french fries. Make it a full year goal to track when you're eating out, what you're eating out, and how much you spend to help reduce for the following year.

4. Get up more!
There have been numerous studies on the negative affects of sitting for hours on end in front of the computer. I've written a few blogs on exercising or getting up at work - but now is the time to make a conscience effort to improve this ratio. Set up a reoccurring meeting on your calendar in which it goes off every hour or two. Get more water, do some stretching, take a quick social visit to the front desk to get your mail...the more excuses the better. If you don't have the luxury of a sit-to-stand station, this is a great way to remind yourself to get up and moving.

Additional items like drinking more water, working towards a promotion, getting an office fitness class or team together, actually taking lunch away from your desk are also great ideas! Do you have any I'm missing? Let us know in the comments!

~ Kendal

The Hybrid Secret Santa/White Elephant Office Party Game

First off, I apologize for being off for a few weeks. As the main writer for our blog, I take full responsibility for not having back up entries - that'll be on the New Year's Resolutions list!

Many offices have had, or will be having, their company holiday party. Due to all the craziness of our recent merger, we pushed ours back to this Friday. Normally, our companies have either had a secret santa or a white elephant game - but with lack luster support of one and the addition of 35 for the other, neither was really working out. But who doesn't like getting surprise gifts?!? So, with that in mind, I offer up this crazy mash-up of secret santa and white elephant. I'll make sure to update with how my fellow co-workers feel about this game - there's an interesting twist thrown in for good measure.

I know it looks long - it's just broken down. It should only be a 10 - 15 minute game max, depending on the size of your office.

1. Everyone needs to bring in a wrapped gift. For our office, we have a $10 cap and presents can be hand made, baked, regifted, or up to $10. No tags! Creativity on packaging is highly encouraged.

2. Have everyone bring in their gifts early. Once they do, write their name on a slip of paper and put it in an unmarked envelope (they don't need to know you're doing this). Have one for every participant.

3. Depending on the size of your office, you may need to separate gifts into different locations of the office. For example, we have 55 people playing this game. To avoid major head injuries, I'll be putting 7-10 gifts in the different conference areas of the office and then assigning people numbers based on those locations. However, if you have 10 people, you can probably just keep them in one location.

4. If you do need to split up gifts, randomly select the presents to be placed in the different areas. Know how many presents you put in each area, and then assign your coworkers a number. Example, if you have 4 areas in the office the presents are in, count people off 1 - 2 - 3 - 4, with the appropriate amount of presents in each spot.

5. Let them know they have 1 minute to get a present and get back to the waiting area (only from the area assigned). Have them come back and form a circle (as best as possible).

**** if they are not back in a minute, they get to serenade you with your favorite holiday song :-)

6. As they're coming back, hand each person one of the envelopes you have pre-sealed. Tell them they can't open it...it's a surprise.

7. They're all back! Tell them to look around - they have 2 minutes if they want to make any trades. If not, they can hang out where they are...just make sure they get back into a circle like form

8. Now that they may or may not have the pretty present they want. Great! They think they're about to open their gift...but they're not.

9. Pick a person in the circle to start with - tell them to open the envelope...the name on the card? They have to trade gifts with that person. To avoid confusion, go around the circle clockwise until everyone has opened up their envelopes and traded gifts.

10. Once the last envelope has been open and present grudgingly traded - everyone can open their gifts. Added bonus - have them hold gifts over head for a great photo op :-)

Enjoy!

Kendal