Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 20, 2009

My weight gain happened as a result of being so busy in my new job that I started eating out because it was easier than having to make my own breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner at home and I stopped going to the gym because I just couldn't seem to find the time. It really does help, doesn't it? Healthy Or Junk?

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 10, 2008

In my weekly recap last Friday I pointed out a Lifehack.org article arguing that the current climate for hyper-productivity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Then yesterday I came across a similar post , claiming that the pursuit of productivity has ended up out of control.

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Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 21, 2008

There are some companies that, unfortunately, don’t allow for purchases such as stationary , fax machines , toner , etc. to be obtained from outside sources, other than the specified and approved vendors that have been set up. Since I work for a large corporation, this is my case as well. Whats next?

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Professional Assistant Blog

JANUARY 22, 2008

Do you find that you book a meeting date/time, but one or more people from the group let you know that they can’t make it during that date/time? They either block off time that they shouldn’t have or they block it off so that it either shows that they’re busy, but really out of the office or vice versa.

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Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 7, 2008

But of course, you don’t want to disturb others around you with the bell going off or some even have chickens clucking as the alarm. Set up the preferences for yourself for one hour and click start. When the hour has passed, a pop up window will show telling you that your time is up. Whats next?

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Professional Assistant Blog

AUGUST 18, 2008

I couldn’t believe it either. I personally couldn’t do this, but it’s quite interesting that people would actually think of this. I work in a back office environment, where 99% of our client interaction is via the phone, e-mail or outside of the office, so I can wear jeans and a t-shirt.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 4, 2008

Don’t forget to set up and turn on your “Out of Office Assistant&# on Microsoft Outlook. A simple bounce back message will be e-mailed to them letting them know that you can’t help them at the present time and for them to contact someone that you’ve delegated to help out in these types of situations.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 3, 2008

Hopefully, you weren’t also affected by the FPL power outages. It’s a reminder to all of us that depending on one system alone works fine, right up until the time that it doesn’t. I have two Gmail accounts, a Yahoo account and even a Hotmail account I haven’t visited in years.

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Professional Assistant Blog

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Do you even receive voice mails that are left by people trying to sell you something, but you didn’t even hear the phone ring? If they try to call you, they can be fined up to $15,000.00. This happens to everyone, all the time. I get tons of junk faxes and mail at work each and every day.

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Professional Assistant Blog

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

T here is a great site called OpenTable.com , which allows you to book reservations online with particular restaurants all over the world. So next time you want to make a reservation via phone, hang it up and try OpenTable.com instead! Do you feel that you could be doing this faster? Until next time, Take care - of your clutter!

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Professional Assistant Blog

SEPTEMBER 3, 2008

Then he mentioned that he didn’t want all of the details of each product listed. Now only the subtotal rows will show up, instead of all of the details in between. I sometimes go onto my blog to look up stuff that I've added, since I tend to forget things at times. I recently ran into this problem as well.

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 8, 2007

See what you can change about yourself, don’t try to change others. At times, the person that conveys this tone doesn’t realize they are coming across in a harmful manner. Take up a hobby, play some sports, spend time with your family. If someone is making a difference by helping you or your teammates, let them know.

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 20, 2007

This doesn’t mean that you have to go out for beers or go to a movie. I don’t mean take charge of the office – you might make some serious mistakes. Don’t whine and complain about every little task that is given to you. Don’t break your promises. Make sure to follow up on your commitments.

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Professional Assistant Blog

DECEMBER 17, 2007

They can use any other means of communication, even picking up the phone and talking to each other. Yet it only takes literally 2 seconds to get up from your desk, which is good for your body to get some stretches every so often, and walk over. This actually happens quite a bit at my workplace as well.

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Professional Assistant Blog

JANUARY 15, 2008

Up until recently, I too felt this way. You don’t have to do much to lend a helping hand, just go out there and join an association, volunteer or whatever would make you feel “balanced&#. You feel that your work life is in place and need to find some balance in other parts of your life? But that’s another story.

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Professional Assistant Blog

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

Home About Me Advertise Resizing Pictures in Microsoft Word By The Professional Assistant on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Filed Under: MS-Word Y our boss comes up to you and asks you to take a look at an e-mail that he/she just sent you. You open the e-mail and open the Microsoft Word attachment. How can you change the actual file size, though?

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Professional Assistant Blog

DECEMBER 5, 2007

We hold meetings every so often (since everyone’s busy and can’t really figure out when these meetings work for everyone), but we do try to meet at least once every quarter. We share ideas, skills and even ask guest speakers to provide up-to-date information and trends on what we need for our careers.

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Professional Assistant Blog

FEBRUARY 19, 2008

I worked as an Investment Advisor’s Assistant, completed my CSC (Canadian Securities Course), but soon after, I realized that this wasn’t really for me. One thing that always bothered me in my last job was when I had my door closed, people would still knock and ask me questions that weren’t urgent.

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 16, 2008

Home About Me Advertise Seminars for Professional Assistants By The Professional Assistant on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Filed Under: Networking , Productivity A re you looking to improve your skills and catch up with the latest office trends ? Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! This definitely helped my position.

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Professional Assistant Blog

AUGUST 14, 2008

Back up your passwords and copy them between computers. Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, August 14, 2008 Filed Under: Productivity , System Security F orgetting your Windows password happens to everyone from time to time. Yes, even I forget it at times. When does it ever end?

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 20, 2008

Today’s assistants are computer savvy, smart and up-and-coming, and consider themselves professionals in the workplace. Those who are skilled at regularly thinking on their feet as they come up with solutions and ideas both on the computer and on the job might be able to step into this role.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 6, 2008

First of all Ive worked for an organization as an admin asst for years and during this time I have seen many co-workers leave and have had to put up with a lot. Did you take it up each level all the way to the top? Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! You mentioned that youve spoken to your supervisor, HR, etc.

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 22, 2008

This has been a great way to clear up a lot of unnecessary e-mails at work. Some e-mails are useful, but I don’t always have time to deal with them right away. I have set up a folder for Google Alerts to keep me updated on what is new in my profession. I also subscribe to feeds to my home e-mail account.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 5, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! If successful, I will write a post to everyone letting them know its up and running. If I do end up coming up with a little extra time in the future, I will write a post on it. Otherwise, you would be working somewhere else. Try checking Yahoo Groups or Google Groups.

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Professional Assistant Blog

FEBRUARY 20, 2008

Here are Some Good-Sense E-mail Etiquette Tips E-mail Salutations: Although e-mail is less formal than writing a letter it is still polite to open with a greeting. If I didn’t know the person, and it was my first communication to him/her, I would use both names: John McDonald. This is a great tip from Jane Watson of J.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

AUGUST 10, 2010

Better for you ergonomically as well. To select text, press Shift and the arrow key left, right or up or down depending on how much text you want to select. Ctrl + a - Selects the whole document. They say when you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit, so try some of these and make it a new habit that will save you a lot of time.

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