Why you can't afford to avoid networking

For EAs working in the professional world, networking is a must. But to those that don't see the value, networking is a practice that'd be better off forgotten.

Here are three reasons why networking is in fact valuable, and something you need to do.

1. Networking introduces you to new perspectives

If there's one thing every person needs to be aware of in this social-media-heavy age, it's being trapped inside our own bubbles - of perspective, of opinion, of age, of whatever. When everything around you becomes the same and predictable, you can never be too sure whether you're missing another valid point of view.

A broad professional network helps you avoid this potential myopia. When you know people with diverse opinions, skills and backgrounds, you can ask them their view when required. But no network means you're always stuck with your own opinions, thoughts and ideas - limiting potential growth.

2. Your communication skills will improve

Networking forces you to communicate clearly with people you don't know. With your friends and colleagues, it can be easy to fall into poor habits of communication, because you know they'll understand you because they know you. But when that familiarity disappears, the way you phrase your words might be harder to understand. When you're constantly forced to meet new people, your communication skills stay sharp, because they have to be.

3. It allows you to trust the people you work with

Can you think of a time in your career when you've had to bring in outside help to get a job done, but that outside help turned out to be disastrous? When you have an extended professional network, the chances that you can work with someone you know and trust when external help is needed is greatly increased.

Two top time-management tips

Time management might just be the most valuable skill an EA needs to master. Their jobs are like an endless routine of plate spinning, attending to one thing whilst also keeping three others from failing.

Here are two time management tips to keep yourself on top of the clock.

1. Complete the task that will make everything easier first

Whenever you take a look at the long to-do list sitting on your desk, the temptation is to go for the easy tasks first. This is a mistake (unless the easy tasks fulfill the to-be-mentioned criteria). Instead, the first task you should complete is the one that will make everything else easier.

Here's an extremely simplified example. You're moving offices and all the furniture is jammed into one truck. Treat the removal of each piece of furniture from the truck into the office each as independent tasks. Where do you start? Obviously, with the piece that's closest to the open door and most easily removed. If you were to start by removing the stuff at the front of the truck, each time you would have to clamber over all the other furniture. Removing the stuff by the door makes each of the other tasks a little easier.

You can think of your to-do list in an analogous fashion - ask yourself which of the tasks is the furniture closest to the door and move that first.

2. Wherever possible, delegate

Even though it may sometimes feel like it, your job as an EA isn't to do everything your Executive asks you to get done - it's to make sure everything your Executive asks you to get done gets done.

What is the distinction? With the latter, you don't need need to be the person that does every single thing - you can delegate those tasks to others if you feel they'll be able to do it just as well as you. Save yourself for the things that only you can do.

Craig Ferguson's tips on emotional intelligence

High emotional intelligence (EQ) is fast becoming one of the most valued traits in the modern workplace. All EAs would be wise to learn everything they can about increasing their EQ where possible. That means taking lessons from some unlikely places - like a comedian's act.

Craig Ferguson is a Scottish-American TV host and comedian. In one of his shows he outlines three questions you should always ask yourself before saying something in a tricky situation:

1. Does this need to be said?
2. Does this need to be said by me?
3. Does this need to be said by me now?


The punchline, for those interested, was that it took Ferguson three marriages to learn the value of those three questions. But the questions have a greater value than just being the set up to a joke. It's a simple formula, but it has the potential to stop those lash-of-the-tongue moments that can make a situation infinitely worse.

There will undoubtedly be times in your career as an EA when tough conversations need to happen. This is where the value of the three questions makes you think a little deeper - yes, things need to be said, but now? and by me? Would the words be more effective coming from someone else's mouth? and at a time where the recipient will be more receptive? Sometimes the answer to all three of the questions will be yes, others it will not. The value comes in giving you that window of time to reflect that you one day might be glad you had.

3 ways to increase productivity

Low productivity can be a difficult beast to tame. If you've found yourself in an unproductive slump lately, give these strategies a try - sometimes all that's needed is shaking things up a bit.

1. Set hard and challenging deadlines

There's nothing like the pressure of a deadline to get the wheels turning in your brain. Even if they're arbitrary deadlines just for yourself, set some times by which you want a task to be finished. Often this attitude of thinking you have to be finished by a certain time can help, even if missing the deadline has no real consequences.

2. Put some money on the line

The pain of losing money can kickstart your productivity. Applications like SticKK allow you to set up a goal with monetary consequences for not meeting it. A payment can be set up to automatically go to a charity, or for a more negative motivator, to an organisation or political party you dislike.

You can use the app relying on your own willpower, or for a stronger drive, you can get a friend to verify that you've done what you said you'd do.

3. Stop multitasking or task switching

When you've been stuck on a problem for a while, it's incredibly tempting to jump to another easier task. But this is a recipe for disaster if the thing you keep moving away from is the most important on your agenda. Try a whole day of focusing on one task at a time and working that task to completion, no matter the roadblocks you face. You may well find that once the option for doing something else is gone, you knuckle down and that insurmountable problem proves easier than you had thought.

Is your smartphone sitting on your desk? It's affecting your thinking

The benefits of a smartphone to an EA is enormous - but does it have a dark side? Research suggests that your smartphone might be robbing you of brain power, just by its mere presence on your desk.

A study from the University of Texas at Austin took 800 people and tested how well they performed on cognitive tasks. The interesting part of the study was the independent variable - the location of the individual's smartphone. Participants were sat at a computer and asked to complete a task that required full concentration - a test measuring their cognitive capacity. Each was asked to either put their smartphone face down on the desk, in their pocket or bag, or in another room. All phones were switched to silent.

Surprisingly enough, the participants whose phones were in another room performed far better than those whose smartphones were face down on the table, and a little better than those whose phones were in their pockets or bags.

One of the authors of the study, Adrian Ward, said that there was a linear relationship between how noticable the smartphone was and worsening cognitive performance.

"Your conscious mind isn't thinking about your smartphone, but that process - the process of requiring yourself to not think about something - uses up some of your limited cognitive resources. It's a brain drain." he said.

So next time you need to concentrate, keep that phone in your bag!

How to become a morning person

Are you one of those people that doesn't understand how people are able to be so chipper and productive early in the morning? These tips, then, are just for you! Even if you can't quite become a full on morning person, improving your morning routine even a little bit is worth it.

1. Find a way to turn your brain off and get to sleep

One of the reasons people can find it so hard to get out of bed in the morning is the simple reason that they went to bed too late! If you're not get enough sleep, the act of getting out of bed in the morning is going to be a painful affair, no matter how excited you may be for the day.

2. Get rid of the screens

While watching a bit of TV can work wonders for winding down your brain to a level where it's ready for sleep, the problem is the amounts of blue light these displays emit. When exposed to too much blue light, your brain is tricked into thinking it's still daytime and therefore shouldn't be preparing for sleep.

3. Don't touch that snooze button

The thought that runs through your head when you hit the snooze button - "it's just five more minutes" - is a lie. We all know it, but it's comforting and can make us feel less guilty for not leaping out of bed straight away. But too often what happens is we then stay in bed too long, and our bodies think we are going back to sleep. But then 30 minutes, we're up and needing to start the day, The groggy feeling that results can be eliminated by just getting up as soon as that alarm pierces the morning silence.