# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When working on a complex problem or when you feel that you have too much to do, it is easy to convince yourself that you do not have the time to take breaks.

However, research has found that taking a break can be very beneficial for you and your work. Micro-breaks, lunchtime breaks and longer breaks, have all been shown to have a positive relationship with wellbeing and productivity. By taking regular breaks you can boost your performance.

Although taking short breaks throughout the working day may not have as obvious an impact as taking a holiday, research has found significant benefits. Studies have found that breaks can reduce or prevent stress, help to maintain performance throughout the day and reduce the need for a long recovery at the end of the day [ 1]; [ 2]. A study by Korpela, Kinnunen, Geurts, de Bloom and Sianoja (2016) [ 3] found that taking lunchtime breaks and detaching from work, increases levels of energy at work and decreases exhaustion. Furthermore, one year later it was found to increase vigor and increase energy levels over time.

Relaxing and social breaks have been found to be particularly beneficial. A relaxing break can help to facilitate recovery, by returning your mental and psychical functional systems to their baseline [ 4]. Additionally, a relaxing break can help to reset your mood, thereby promoting positive wellbeing and reducing stress [ 5].

Social breaks, such as chatting with your peers, have also been found to be beneficial. Social interactions allow you to share your experiences and feel part of a group. This feeling of relatedness, during a social break shows a positive association with feeling recovered after the break [ 6].

Taking breaks has been shown to be important in recovering from stress [7], which can, in turn, improve your performance. Recovering from work stress can restore energy and mental resources and decrease the development of fatigue, sleep disorders and cardiovascular disease [ 2].

Kim, Park and Niu (2017) [ 8] research found it is important to take mini-breaks throughout the working day. Mini-breaks help to support your wellbeing and increase productivity. A mini-break is a few minutes away from your work; this may be chatting with someone who is in the room with you or getting a drink.

Tips for Ensuring you Take Breaks

When you get lost in your work or feel frustrated that something isn't going well, you can neglect breaks. Here are some tips to prompt you to regularly step away and rebuild your energy.

1. Agree break times with your peers and help each other to stick to the break time you've agreed.

2. Set an alarm on your phone to prompt you.

3. Plan to do something in your break that you enjoy - the anticipation of pleasure will motivate you to keep to the break.

4. Pay attention to any benefits you experience when you take a break - this will lodge in your mind and motivate you to take breaks in future.

5. Use post-it notes or drawings in your workspace to remind you that a PGR project is a long-term piece of work - you won't complete it well, if you burn yourself out: so, take a break.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Importance of Taking Breaks - The Wellbeing Thesis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Examine the importance of taking regular breaks and explore tips for ensuring you take breaks from your work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Time is money in the engineering biz. It is a resource which, if managed wisely, will help your firm grow profitable. However, time can also be traded or sucked away from income-generating projects and tasks to client relations, management, and soul-destroying admin.

As an engineer, how do you keep your soul from being destroyed? The answer is simple...

...Adopt time management practices that minimise the amount of time you spend on non-engineering tasks, and ensure the time you do have available is productive. In this article we get into the how with 8 time management tips.

Time Management Tip 1: Understand your patterns

The key to successful time management lies in understanding your own body and brain. When do you perform the best for certain tasks?

All humans operate using an individual set of physiological patterns. We all sleep differently - some needing hours more than others to obtain the same level of functionality, some needing an early bedtime and an early start, others wanting to sleep late into the day.

During the day, energy levels and cognitive functioning experience different peak and troughs. The time when you focus best and can think most creatively may be very different to your peers. The trick is to structure your day to take advantage of these pockets of extra-productive time, and ensure you've allocated them to the tasks for which they're most suited.

For example, I do my best writing work (the main thinking part of my job) early in the morning or in the late evening. So I make sure to schedule out those times for writing tasks. The rest of the day I allocate to administrative tasks or other duties that aren't so intensive.

Also, I find that exercising just before lunchtime means my lunch time is very lethargic, but my afternoons are more productive. Your patterns will be completely different, because you are different. Begin to understand your own biochemistry, and work around your most productive times for each task.

Time Management Tip 2: Get it Done Online

As an engineer, you understand the importance of keeping accurate records. You can't manage something, unless you first measure it. Tracking the time spent and costs associated with each job enables you not only to give an accurate total to your client and capture all your costs, but you're able to measure different aspects of your business.

As an engineer, you're gonna love that.

One of the easiest ways to get these numbers is to implement an online project management system that caters for engineers, like WorkflowMax. Why? Well, WorkflowMax enables you to track time, manage costs, send quotes and invoices, set project milestones, and a ton more, all with only a few clicks.

But what's more, WorkflowMax stores a wealth of data about each job you do, and enables you to pull up reports on that data. You can see:

Which clients bring in the most profit.

Which engineers work fastest on certain tasks.

Which types of jobs are most profitable.

How long projects are taking from inception to completion.

Anything you want, by adding custom fields.

This can help you to further prioritising your time and resources by, for example, focusing on bringing in more of the type of work that generates to most profit or placing your fastest and most efficient team members in the places they're needed most.

Time Management Tip 3: Default Calendar

As an engineer, you'll have a lot of tasks that need to be performed week in, week out, or ongoing projects requiring a monthly site visit or other recurring schedule. A great way to help your organise your time is to create a default calendar.

For this, you need a calendar application. I use Google Calendar, but there are many other options out there. In any calendar application you can set recurring events, and colour-code these events so you can categorise them in different ways - different types of jobs have different colours, or each client has a different colour, for example.

Most people use their calendar to put in meetings or other events where they need to meet others. But you can go a step further and create allotted time slots for different daily/weekly/monthly activities. For example:

if the first half-hour of the day is where you check your emails, then schedule it in as a daily task. That way, no one can book you in for a meeting during that time.

If you have to visit six sites every month for maintenance / checkups, then schedule these visits in to recur on specific days. This is a great way to help you streamline your time - for example, allowing you to schedule 2-4 visits in the same to day to cut down on traffic time.

If you then need to write up notes from those site visits, schedule a block of time for this the day following. This helps you to get those notes written up in a timely fashion.

By scheduling tasks in this way, you always have an accurate view of exactly how much of your time is already allotted in a month, so you can then fit new work and commitments around it.

Time Management Tip 4: Assume Everyone Knows What They're Doing

Engineers can be perfectionists, especially when it comes to projects they will have their names against. Unfortunately, this desire for control can result in you becoming an overbearing micromanager.

Give your team their assignments, check you've answered all their questions, and then leave them to it. Don't hover over them, asking every week, every day, ever hour for an update. Not only does this slow down the process and cost both you and your team precious time, but it creates a culture of mistrust.

If you need to keep apprised of progress, you can do that via an online job management system like WorkflowMax. Or schedule in a slot of time to receive updates. But outside of that, step back and focus on your own tasks. Don't try to do everyone else's.

You hired this team because they are educated, talented, and keen to prove themselves. So let them prove their worth to you.

Time Management Tip 5: Schedule before you commit

Here's a simple tip that can save your engineering firm from becoming overcommitted. Before you commit to a new client - often, even before the quoting stage - pull up your schedule and see how much time is actually available for that job in the coming months. If everyone in your firm is using a default calendar, you'll be able to add up how many free hours they have each week and get an accurate picture of how long the job will actually take.

This will be easy to figure out if you're using an online job management tool, like WorkflowMax, where you track similar jobs, and can see what each team member has on their desk at any one time.

If you're not assessing the available time, you risk overloading your team with work, putting pressure on every arm of the company to pick up the slack. When workloads are heavy, hours long, and employees stressed, mistakes happen.

Time Management Tip 6: Set Milestone Dates

As an engineer, you work on large, complex projects involving many different departments, tools, contractors, and components. Jobs can run over months or even years, and it takes a certain kind of mind to be able to visualise a schedule over that period of time.

Milestones enable you to break a job down into smaller sections. This helps everyone on your team focus on ticking off the tasks for each stage and moving a job through its different stages of progression.

Upon reaching each milestone, you can bill the client for work completed thus far. This helps you to manage cashflow and ensure your business continues to operate with peak efficiency.

Time management tip 7: Adopt a project management Methodology

Engineering projects can be mind-blowing in their complexity and intricacy. The way you approach a project and organise all the different facets has a significant impact both on the amount of time it takes to arrive at the finished result and on its overall success.

In the early days of engineering, it would be up to the leading engineer to set out this approach (the methodology). However, in the 1950s large companies began to develop standardised methodologies to streamline the project management process.

Using a standard methodology that sets out the steps you take in order to bring the process to completion can help you to manage a complex job with little hassle, and ensure you don't overlook critical steps. An established methodology takes much of the thinking process out of your hands, freeing up brainspace for the actual engineering work.

At WorkflowMax we have an in-depth article which discusses the pros and cons of different project management methodologies . It's a good place to start to choose the right framework for your particular project.

Time management tip 8: Collaborate and share

As an engineer, you can be a bit of a lone wolf, charging ahead with the work you need to do without coming up for air or water or cheap vending machine chocolate. You can sit for hours in the dark nutting out a complicated engineering problem.

This demonstrates your dedication to your work, but you may have been able to save those hours in the dark if you'd just gone and asked another engineer to help you nut out the problem.

Bouncing ideas off another person can work wonders for productivity. That other person brings a fresh pair of eyes. I've lost count of the number of times I've stressed over a problem for hours only to talk to someone else and minutes later have a solution. They also have a unique perspective, experience, or contact that could make all the difference to a project.

It's time for this lone wolf to hunt with the pack.
As an engineer, how do you manage large-scale projects? What time management tips can you offer?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Clever Time Management Skills For Engineers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Time is money! Here are 8 time management tips for engineers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A college major carries considerable weight in higher education, shaping career paths and lives as students pursue work within a particular discipline. Undergraduate students should consider just as carefully their choice of a college minor, experts say.

"A minor can allow you to explore a subfield of your major - communications with a focus on business, for example," Rachel York, an admissions counselor and academic adviser at admissions consulting company IvyWise, wrote in an email.

While many students pair their major with a related minor, some students go a different route and minor in a field unrelated to their major. Some do it to pursue another area of interest without committing to a full major course load. Others might see a minor as a creative outlet.

Here's what students should know when deciding if a minor is right for them.

What Is a College Minor?

A college major refers to structured coursework that students take within a chosen primary field of study. The number of classes may vary by major and school, but typically students can expect to log upward of 30 credit hours. By contrast, minors generally require 18 credit hours or more.

"A minor is an additional credential that a student can pursue that requires fewer classes to complete than a major does," says Adrian Grace, director of undergraduate advising for political science at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. "It differs based on the minor that a student is pursuing, but often you're talking about five to six classes to complete a minor, whereas a major is considerably more."

Minors at the University of Massachusetts are between 15 and 20 credit hours, Grace says. At Northwest Missouri State University, minors typically consist of between 18 and 21 credit hours, says Steven Chappell, director of student publications and an academic adviser at the school.

Some colleges require minors; others don't even offer them.

In helping students choose a minor, "I'm not generally driving it by what would be good on the job market, but sometimes it goes that way," says Grace. "It's just about looking at the whole student and seeing where their interests lie and where they think they want to take their degree work. How do we add some depth to it?"

Considering the differences among schools, prospective students should consult a school's degree plan for minor requirements and offerings.

What to Consider When Choosing a College Minor

While students may want to find a minor that complements their major, they should also consider how it will help them develop skills and experiences that could be valuable in their careers, says Fabián Álvarez, assistant English professor at Western Kentucky University. WKU requires students in certain bachelor's degree programs to complete a minor.

"A minor is really just a half-step off of a major, and so you're trying to figure out things and introduce yourself to the world that you might inhabit when you graduate," Álvarez says.

From a career perspective, a minor is a way for students to demonstrate additional skills that employers might be looking for "and help them stand out from their peers as a candidate in a unique way," says Wendy Winter-Searcy, director of the Career Center at Colorado School of Mines.

Minors allow students to develop and eventually showcase an interdisciplinary skill set, which can be attractive to employers, says Jagdish Khubchandani, a professor of public health and academic adviser for online and graduate students at New Mexico State University.

"The modern workplaces are often fast-paced, immersed in technology, require multitasking and may not have crystal clear specifications on duties, which would tell us that minors can help a lot," Khubchandani wrote in an email. "Furthermore, minors can help change employment and field of work, open up opportunities for career advancement in the same field or place of employment and give candidates more perspective."

Like choosing a major, it might take some time for students to decide on a minor. For others, it may come more naturally, York says.

"If you're drawn to an area of study and take a few classes, you're a few steps away from having an official minor in the subject," she says. "This organic approach may work for those who aren't sure what they want to do after college. It can add some definition to their experience."

But students who pursue a minor should make sure it fits into their graduation plan and doesn't tack on extra time, experts say. Students are encouraged to declare a minor around the same time as a major, which typically happens by the end of sophomore year or the beginning of junior year.

Minors are not required at Northwest Missouri State in what are considered "comprehensive majors," which require more than 53 of the 120 credit hours required for graduation. The education major is one such example, Chappell says, adding that state-required courses and student teaching experiences take up the majority of students' curriculum, leaving little time to complete a minor.

Any major at the university that consists of fewer than 53 credit hours requires a minor with it. For example, students who complete a bachelor of arts in history need to complete only 36 credit hours for their major, and thus must also complete a minor of 24 credits.

A major in mass media also does not require a minor, Chappell says. "Despite that, I still encourage all my advisees in mass media to have a minor and I specifically encourage them to get a minor in an area of interest they think they may want to be in the industry when they get out," he says.

For example, a journalism student interested in covering science could benefit from a minor in physical sciences, or one interested in covering politics may be well-served to minor in political science, he says.

College Major and Minor Combinations

Popular minors for political science students at the University of Massachusetts are economics, history, philosophy and foreign languages. Data analytics and computer science are also minors that political science students tend to gravitate toward, Grace says.

"It adds some depth and different understanding to the major they pursue," she says.

Students at Colorado School of Mines, Winter-Searcy explains, are moving toward similar computer-driven fields like data science and data analytics for potential minors or areas of special interest. Biosciences, aerospace engineering, business management and project management are also areas where she expects to see growth in both job prospects and minor interest.

Data science, information security and web developing are also projected to be among the fastest-growing occupations over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employment prospects aren't the only reason for carefully selecting a minor. Experts say that a minor can also deepen a student's thinking and allow the student to forge a broader worldview by tapping into interdisciplinary connections.

Minors are helpful for students who know what they want to do in their career, Alvarez says, as a minor "helps to hone some of those adjacent skills."

However, Alvarez says it's important for students to remember that they're not pigeon-holed professionally by their major or minor. He's seen numerous English majors go on to work in a wide variety of professions. The goal is to develop practical skills that will translate to a number of potential careers.

Khubchandani says he shares the same advice with students he advises.

"If someone has to select a minor and they ask me, I would say to add more technical skills to your portfolio such as data science, statistics and artificial intelligence," he says.

In situations where minors aren't required, students typically fill those credit hours with elective courses. If students choose that route, Grace encourages students to take some electives that align with their major.

Choosing Between a Minor and a Double Major

Some students round out their undergraduate education by completing two majors. A double major can be economically rewarding, particularly when combining lucrative fields such as business and STEM. But students should consider how such a move fits into their degree program and whether it is worth extra work and costs it may require.

Double majors can sometimes require students to stay in college longer, especially if declared later in their college career, experts say. A minor allows for a quicker path toward a credential in a discipline that can still be reflected on a resume.

Students should consider their financial situation and career goals when assessing whether to choose a minor or a double major, Grace says. A minor may also allow time for other opportunities that a double major wouldn't. Grace says she discourages students from taking a fifth year in order to support a double major.

"I would rather see them do a minor in a field and also do research with one of our faculty members or have an internship experience, study abroad or do a domestic exchange," she says. "Sometimes it's just making sure they're aware of all the opportunities that are on campus. Sometimes when they take advantage of those other experiential learning opportunities, I think it might mean that a minor makes more sense than a second major."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What a Minor Is and Why It May (or May Not) Matter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A minor in college often complements a major and allows students to explore another discipline.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ask for help when you need it to better understand concepts 

# data[].attributes.subject
Ask for help when you need it to better understand concepts 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Academic Success & Career Center - Washington State University

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
5 tips to prepare for Midterms

That's right everybody, its midterm time again! Midterms are often a scary time for students but it doesn't have to be! Prepare early so you can feel confident on your midterm exams. Getting good grades on the midterm makes a big difference in how the rest of your semester goes. Here are 5 tips on how to prepare for midterms so you can rock them!

1. Start early and create a study schedule

This is obvious right? Don't cram. Well when we say start early, we mean it! You should start getting ready for your midterms about a month before the exam. Plan out a schedule of when you will be studying throughout the week. Stick to it!

2. Take good notes

Make sure you take good notes in class and add more information from the textbook after class.

If your instructor doesn't give you a study guide, use your notes to create a study guide! The study guide helps you focus on the important information and the information you are having trouble understanding.

3. Attend review sessions or have study sessions with friends

If you professor holds a review session, attend! Make sure to bring questions or topics that you would like them to cover or review

If your professor doesn't offer a review session, plan one yourself! Invite your classmates and take turns explaining concepts to each other. Teaching someone else is the best way to review!

4. Go to office hours and tutoring

Now's the time to start attending tutoring and office hours! Be prepared with questions or topics that you struggle with to go over with your tutor or instructor.

If you are a bit scared to go, invite a friend! They'll benefit too!

5. Make sure to include self-care time

Studying can be a full-time job! That's why its super important to also make time for self-care. Midterms can be a crazy busy time, but you can't do well on your exams if you aren't taking care of yourself first!

Follow these tips and you'll be set up for success going into your Midterm Exams!

Good luck Cougs! You got this!

Morgan Jernigan G.A: Academic Coach

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
That's right everybody, its midterm time again! Midterms are often a scary time for students but it doesn't have to be! Prepare early so you can feel confident on your midterm exams. Getting good g...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Summary

Getting organized can help you ‌be more focused and happier in the workplace. If you're not an organized person, don't worry-organization is a skill that can be learned and honed over time, using practical techniques and tools like digital to-do lists, automations, and templates. This article shows you the benefits of being organized and outlines 17 actionable tips to get more organized today.

Organization might feel like a "born with it" trait-you either got it or you don't. But actually, organization can be learned and honed like any other soft skill.

It's worth learning. Organized people are less likely to miss important tasks and tend to feel less stressed. When things are organized, you know where to find your daily to-dos, how to grab that template you always use, and which emails need to be sent today. This leaves you more time and space for brainstorming, creating, and higher impact problem solving.

Being organized isn't just for Marie Kondo followers. With a few simple tweaks, anyone can add more organization to their daily routine in order to improve their work and reduce stress.

What are the benefits of being organized?

Being organized helps reduce stress. When you know where things are, you can accomplish more without getting overwhelmed. In the workplace, this means you can do more high-impact work without feeling burned out. When you can see all of your work in one place, it's easier to prioritize tasks and make sure that the most important items get done.
Organize work with Asana
Getting organized gives you time for the work that matters. It's a high-impact way to help yourself feel better and happier at your job, thanks to these benefits:

1. A more flexible schedule. Organizing and managing your schedule with time management tools can cut out time wasters, giving you more time for focus and deep work.

2. Less stress. When you're organized, you know where things are, when they're due, and what steps you need to take to get work done. There's no need to worry because every task is assigned and has a deadline.

3. More space for creativity. You know that mental task list that keeps running tabs on what needs to get done? That's taking up a huge amount of precious brain capacity. Outsourcing these items from your mind will leave more space for creative, focused work.

4. Less risk of burnout. When you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed, you're more likely to make hurried decisions. This increases stress and-when compounded over time-leads to burnout. Often, overwhelm stems from feeling like there is too much to do and not enough time. Getting organized helps you to feel in control of your work and reduce overwork.

5. Increased productivity. In a perfect organization system, every piece of work has a purpose, an owner, and a deadline. Even if your work isn't perfect-which, let's be honest, whose is-having an organized system reduces the amount of time spent on meaningless tasks and boosts productivity.

Organization also reduces work about work-things like following up on tasks, switching between apps, and looking for status updates. 60% of our days are dominated by work about work, with only 40% left for skilled work and strategy-the most important aspects of your job. When you know where things are, you can spend less time searching for information and more time executing.

17 ways to get-and stay-organized

Organizing your work can feel overwhelming-especially if it doesn't come naturally to you. But like many things in the workplace, you can tackle organization by breaking it down into more manageable steps. Whether you're looking to organize your individual tasks, your project-level work, or your team's entire system, here's how to get started.

6 ways to organize your to-dos

A great place to start is organizing your individual tasks. Tracking and writing down your to-dos helps you get things done faster and more effectively.

1. Track your to-dos in a central place

The more you try to mentally track things in your brain, the less productive you'll be. The first step to making a better to-do list is to get it out of your head.

This is a key tenet of the getting things done (GTD) method, which encourages you to free up brain power by tracking your to-dos in a tool instead of in your head. Once you have all of your to-dos written down, use a to-do list tool to turn those tasks into organized, actionable steps. With a digital to-do list manager, you can see all of your tasks, deadlines, and due dates in one place, so you can take action faster and more effectively.

2. Learn to manage your time

Time management is a critical part of being organized. If you aren't in control of your time, you can't be in control of your tasks.

Luckily time management, like organization, is a learnable skill. There are a variety of techniques and strategies you can implement in order to get better at managing your time.

Don't be afraid to try a few different techniques until you find the one that works for you. Check out:

Time blocking: Time blocking is when you schedule out every moment of your day. This includes your meetings, tasks, and everything in between-from scrolling on Instagram to lunch breaks. Creating a detailed schedule gives you control over your calendar. You'll become aware of exactly how you're spending your time and any opportunities to improve.

Timeboxing: For each task, create a goal to finish it by a specific time. If left alone, tasks might fall into the trap of Parkinson's Law -where work expands to fill the available time. Timeboxing prevents this, ensuring that tasks take only as long as they need to.

The Pomodoro technique: The Pomodoro technique can help you get hyper-focused work done. It's a simple structure: Each Pomodoro consists of 25-minute work blocks bookended by 5-minute breaks. When you're in a Pomodoro, limit distractions and turn off notifications. The goal is to focus solely on the task at hand.

Eat the frog: It might sound like a weird time management technique, but the eat the frog method comes from a famous Mark Twain quote: "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning." Essentially, this translates to tackling your most difficult tasks first. Start each day by identifying and completing your hardest tasks, going down the line until you're left with easier items to end the day. This helps you take advantage of your most productive working hours-often when you first start work-to begin with a success.

By implementing time management, you can take control over your schedule and have more time for... well, whatever you'd like.
Read: 18 time management tips, strategies, and quick wins to get your best work done
3. Practice Inbox Zero

Contrary to popular belief, Inbox Zero doesn't always mean having zero emails in your inbox. The concept is more about organizing your emails and reducing digital clutter so you can stay on top of important tasks and updates.

To apply Inbox Zero, set a time every week-or every day if needed-to triage incoming messages. Review your inbox and organize every item by tasks or priorities. Try to apply simple rules that help move the process forward. For example, if you use a work management platform, assign tasks as you read through messages. Or use keyboard shortcuts to speed-read through messages and shoot off quick responses as needed.

Each time you practice your Inbox Zero, it will be easier to replicate. Use a weekly calendar reminder or daily alarm to ensure that you stay on top of-or potentially ahead of-incoming messages.

4. Prioritize your most important work

There's a difference between work that makes you feel productive (busy work) and work that helps move your team and business forward. One might make you feel good-who doesn't love checking off a box on a to-do list-but the other is the type of work that will ultimately help you grow your career, team, and company.

Identifying your most important work starts with your company's strategic plan and organization-wide OKRs. Every task-no matter how small-should lead back to those larger, overarching goals. Connecting your individual tasks to broader goals gives you the context to get your most important work done.

When you know how your work ladders up to larger company initiatives, you have the context you need to adjust deadlines and priorities. That way, when a due date changes or a new project gets added to your plate, you can evaluate how that work compares to your current priorities and adjust accordingly.

5. Delegate tasks

Outsourcing or delegating tasks allows you to focus on high-impact projects. But delegating can feel awkward, especially if you're delegating work to peers or even-on rare occasions-a higher-up. But in reality, outsourcing tasks to the proper person is an act of trust and validation.

To delegate, start by identifying all tasks in your current workload. Then determine which ones are the highest priority with an Eisenhower matrix, sorting tasks as:

Important and urgent. This is your most important work. Assign these to yourself and prioritize anything in this bucket.

Important but not urgent. These are valuable but might not need to get done today. Schedule them out to ensure they get done.

Not important but urgent. These are the to-dos to delegate. They're not important to you, but they absolutely must get done. Assign these projects to others who can quickly and efficiently manage them.

Not important and not urgent. Remove completely. This is work for the sake of work.

If there's work in your "not important but urgent" category that someone else could do better, delegating is actually the best thing you can do.

6. Declutter your physical and virtual space

A clean, welcoming office space is energizing and exciting to walk into. When you clean up your desk so it's free of distraction, it can help you to feel more confident, creative, and even reduce anxiety. The same could be said for digital clutter. All those unread emails and overdue tasks are the virtual equivalent of having stacks of past-due papers in your workspace.

Instead of letting things pile up until they feel stressful or unmanageable, set aside time every week, quarter, or month-whatever works for you-for a routine decluttering. To practice virtual decluttering, try:

Reassigning any overdue tasks with new, relevant due dates.

Reading through and clearing out your notifications.

Practicing Inbox Zero.

Time blocking your calendar to make room for more flow.

As you go through the process of decluttering, remind yourself that what you're really doing is protecting your future self from unnecessary stress.
Read: 31 desk organization ideas for your remote office setup
6 tips to organize project work

Organizing your to-dos is the first step to getting organized. After that, you'll need to organize project work. If you've never thought about how to organize your project work, these six tips can help you get started.
Organize work with Asana
1. Create a place for everything

Aside from making your workplace more functional, having every item-both digital and physical-in its proper place saves you time and can boost productivity.

You can do this by organizing files and tasks within their appropriate projects. This works twofold-your team won't need to search endlessly for files and you can reduce debriefing meetings by pointing colleagues to the exact process or workflow they need.

To set up, create a project space with all of your team's relevant files, tasks, goals, and documents. You can use a work management platform like Asana to house all of that information in one place-including reference documents and templates.

2. Break down project deliverables

At its core, a project is a way to house all of the tasks and deliverables associated with a particular initiative. This can be a deadline-driven initiative like an event or a product launch, or an ongoing process like an editorial calendar.

Regardless of what your team is working on, break down project tasks into components that are small enough to assign to one person.

Here's why that matters: Imagine you have a complex deliverable that requires multiple people to get it over the finish line. Let's say, a blog. You have the writer, the copyeditor, and the designer. But if that one responsibility is equally shared between three people, who moves the work forward? Who tracks it? Who is responsible for changing the deadline or updating stakeholders?

Instead, break down project deliverables into smaller pieces of work. Give each team member their own task-in this case, one for the blog design, one for the blog draft, and one for the blog review-so everyone knows who's doing what by when. This is also known as a work breakdown schedule.

Project tracking software is the easiest way to do this. Set up a well-defined project and assign tasks so everyone can clearly see who's responsible for what. That way, team members with questions can go directly to the person in charge, cutting out the process of trying to find the who, what, why, or when behind every task and question.

3. Back up your files

We've all been through that awful moment when a computer crash or software glitch causes you to lose all of your work. But more and more, cloud storage is making that a thing of the past. Many companies offer storage solutions for employees-so if you can, take advantage of them.

Start by creating a system for all your files. Pre-organize the space so it makes sense for you, adding in folders and subdivisions as needed. If you start backing up your files in mass uploads with no real organization, you're going to be in for a headache when you need to search for something specific down the road.

Make sure that wherever you work has an autosave feature or that you routinely go in and save your work. Then, set up automatic backups if you're able. If you're not, set reminders to back up everything when you finish a task and again at the end of the day.

4. Centralize status reports

Reporting can be one of the most manual and time consuming parts of your job. We've all sat through a status meeting that could have been an email-plus, it takes a lot of time to collect data from multiple sources and manually compile it in a central place.

Instead, look for a way to report right where work happens. Consider using a project management tool with Universal Reporting that allows you to create reporting dashboards in the same space you track work. Use these dashboards to generate project status reports that minimize meetings-keeping stakeholders up to date or allowing the team to review data on their own time.

5. Automate repeated tasks and processes

Did you know that the average worker spends 13% of their time on work that's already been completed? As a result, employees lose a whopping 236 hours to duplication each year.

Organization can help you cut down on manual, duplicative processes and give your team more time for work that matters. And one of the best ways to boost organization is with automation technology.

Automating tasks helps things get done when they're supposed to-which is critical since 26% of deadlines are missed each week. Put another way, that means 1 in every 4 tasks is not getting done when it's supposed to. That's a lot of backlog that could easily be avoided.

If you're new to automating, try starting with the basics:

Use automation technology to automatically assign work to the right people.

Shift and adjust due dates based on dependencies.

Standardize manual processes with customizable project templates.

6. Track work in a central tool

When all of your team's work is organized in one central tool, you can see exactly who's doing what by when. This takes the guesswork out of planning because you know when tasks are completed, when it's your turn to jump in and move a project along, and which items you should prioritize first.

To get started, make sure all of your team's to-dos are in one place. Organize them so that everyone has access to all the tasks, and ask each person to update what they're working on in real time. This way, everyone knows the exact status of each task.

You can take it one step further by setting up automated workflows that alert colleagues when it's their turn to step in and move the project forward. Workflows can trigger action steps and automatically assign deadlines-ensuring projects stay on track. They take some backend work to set up, but once they're ready to go, workflows act as a central source of information for you, your team, and your daily tasks.

5 steps to organize across teams

The last-and hardest-step of getting organized is facilitating cross-team work. Each department has their own way of doing things, tools they like to use, and processes that they've implemented over time. But most work gets done cross-functionally across multiple departments. Try these five tips to simplify cross-team work and set your projects up for success.
Read: Building a cross-functional team: 9 tips and benefits
1. Integrate your favorite business tools

Context switching-moving quickly from one task or app to another-is a serious disrupter. Every time you switch, your brain has to adjust. This saps your energy and concentration, making it hard to focus on work or make effective decisions.

Context switching is a problem for many of us. The average worker switches between 10 apps up to 25 times per day. As a result, over one-quarter (27%) of workers say that actions and messages are missed when switching apps and 26% say app overload makes them less efficient.

You can reduce the number of apps you're using-and by default, some of this mental strain-thorough business integrations. Integrating your favorite business tools allows you to access information from different sources all in one place. That means you can centralize your information in a work management platform while also reaping the benefits of powerful tools like Salesforce or Google Docs-the best of both worlds.

2. Break larger goals into smaller tasks

Large goals can feel overwhelming. When these big, hairy audacious goals aren't organized properly, your team might feel like they're impossible to achieve or their work doesn't matter. But motivating workers is crucial to a successful team- 39% of workers want to know that their work will add value to the company.

Connecting these larger, big-picture goals to individual responsibilities shows your team that their work matters. For example, let's say your long-term goal is to grow your customer-base by 300% over the next 5 years. At this broad level, it's hard to grasp how to do this or what it means for the company until you break it down into short-term goals, year by year, task by task. In this case, it might look something like this:

Goal: Grow customer-base by 300% in 5 years

Yearly goal: Grow 30% by end of the first year
Sub goals:
Increase sales team by 25%

Launch 1 product feature quarterly

Boost marketing reach by 10%

By breaking your goals down into actionable steps, you're both ensuring that you pace yourself well to hit target deadlines and showing employees exactly how their daily tasks are contributing to large-scale, high-impact goals.

3. Track project dependencies

As a team, we depend on one another to do our own work. But what happens when something you're relying on gets delayed? Without an easy way to visualize dependencies, you don't know when work is delayed and you need to adjust-and your team members don't know that their delay is actually impacting someone else.

Clearly tracking project dependencies helps reduce unknowns for everyone on the team. Project dependencies help you see when your work is dependent on someone else's task, meaning you need to wait for them to finish before you can get started. By tracking dependencies with project management software, you can ensure team members are notified when they're unblocked. And if something is delayed, task owners know exactly who to contact to get an updated due date or deadline.

4. Create reusable templates and reference guides

Even if it's something you do regularly, launching a new project can come with underlying stressors. There are a lot of details to consider-remembering every key stakeholder and task, for example-so it's easy to overlook an important element. At the same time, you don't want to spend hours reinventing the wheel for every new project plan. The solution is a customizable project template that you can use and adapt to your specific project needs.

Templates and reference guides give structure to repeating tasks, allowing you to track them and prevent duplications. They're an adaptable tool that can help you to work better and faster.
Why use templates?

You're less likely to overlook small tasks since they're all tracked in one place.

Templates are easy to change and adapt to lessons learned.

Templates democratize project manager knowledge, making it accessible to everyone.

They help new teams to spin off of existing initiatives.

5. Build a centralized information hub

Organizing your team's work often comes down to creating one centralized source of information. When you're operating from one pool of information, it reduces confusion for the entire team because each person knows what they're supposed to be working on, when to do it, and where to get the tools to complete it. It also allows stakeholders to get insights at-a-glance and makes it easy to provide status updates and reduce unnecessary status meetings.

Using project portfolio management, you can streamline work into centralized portfolios to get a bird's eye view of your programs and projects. This is the digital version of a whiteboard in the common space. Here, everyone's work is listed and assigned to the appropriate team members, creating an active project space that can be adjusted and reported on in real-time.

Getting organized helps you work smarter

It takes a bit of effort and time to implement organizing tips and simplify your life. But doing the upfront work to get more organized helps you down the road. With time, you'll create more space in your workday for focusing on the tasks you're best at or bring you the most joy-helping you work better and happier.
Organize work with Asana

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Get Organized: 17 Tips to Start Today [2023] * Asana

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Getting organized helps you do your most important work without feeling overwhelmed. Use these 17 tips to get more organized in your work today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What can you do early in your career to strengthen your leadership abilities? I was recently asked this very question by a CS student from my alma mater. Challenge accepted!

In this first post, I will start with things you can do while in school, with a second post diving into what you can do early in your professional career. Let's grow!

TLDR/Table of contents:

Intro

I am a board member of Tufts University's Computer Science External Advisory Board. Last fall, during our inaugural meeting, we broke between sessions to have lunch with some of the students in the CS department. The lunch was great because I got a chance to meet and speak with students. It had been years since I had been on campus. The department had grown (in both department size and the number of students), there were new extracurricular activities (like JumboCode), and an excited student body with passionate teachers.

I smiled. It was good to be back.

I ate my sandwich (and destroyed two cookies), while speaking with three students who made me happy to be both an alumnus and board member. In between bites, one of the students asked me about my career, working, and being in a leadership position. What is it like? What does it take to be a leader?

Me? It brought me back.

Me? The student who got a D- in Intro to Computer Science.

Me? The kid who pinky-promised with the Dean of Engineering to go to class every day.

Me? The student who got a B- in Algorithms (by far the hardest core class I took and my proudest grade).

Me? The student who turned it around and made Dean's List in his Junior and Senior year.

Who was the TA for OOP in Java after struggling with Data Structures.

Who became the head TA for Intro to Computer Science. The same course he almost failed.

Who, on his first job was told that he would not be a fit for the position. Yet, was promoted in three months.

Who is now the VP of Technology & Engineering at TrueChoice Solutions. From almost failing out, to succeeding, to excelling, teaching, and now continuing to mentor and coach engineers from entry level to architect.

Yeah...maybe I did have a few perspectives I could share?

All this jetted through my head in the time it took me to finish that first cookie! Time for a second...

I shared some thoughts with the students on leadership, things that you can do while in school to prepare yourself for your career, and interspersed pieces of my journey. I realized I had some things I could share, more than what I was able to cover during our lunch. Inspired, I jotted some notes and determined I would share a few tips that would be helpful to people pursuing their degrees that can (begin to) prepare them for their professional journey.

My thoughts, coming right up? But first...a word on our definitions. What is Leadership...

What is Leadership?

There are as many definitions of leadership as there are links on the internet*.
*Maybe I exaggerate, but only slightly
I personally gravitate towards this definition of Leadership from Forbes Magazine:

Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.

The students asked me "What do I do to get on the leadership path?". The interpretation at that time, the underlying context, was how do I become a VP, a manager, a director, a CTO? Before we proceed, it is important to stress that being a manager is not the only way to be a leader. Leadership is not about the amount of people you manage, but the impact you have on your team, project, initiative, and organization.

I have worked with engineers who did not manage any direct reports but had tremendous impact and showed leadership through problem solving, setting and sharing of standards, mentorship, and high quality development, architecture, and system design. With the team, leaders help to set, shape, and achieve the vision.

Leadership vs management

Leadership is not about the amount of people you manage, but the impact you have on your team, project, initiative, and organization.

This is a big topic and a deep dive is beyond the scope of this post.

Whatever you do, just don't be this guy:

Ok, deuces for definitions, let's dive in.

Study the craft

Most importantly, learn how to learn

Fundamental to your career as a computer scientist...is...well...computer science!
Ajahne, seriously? This is your sagely wisdom?
Whoa, a little aggressive? Hear me out. The craft is the core. Everything is built upon this foundation.
So I have to get all A's? Get a 4.0 GPA?
No, remember, I got a D-. But, you have to learn, you have to get good. You have to know the fundamentals. The core of what you learn in school (algorithms, data structures, programming principles, etc.) will buttress your career for the long term. Full stop.

To that end, get good at this! However, most importantly, learn how to learn!

Learning is forever. In our industry, we are constantly learning. Not to be overly dramatic, but learn or die (ok...that was a bit overly dramatic).

Once you leave school, the learning has essentially just begun. On the job you will learn about stand-ups, SCRUM, assessments, Kanban, DevOps, TDD, CI/CD, server environments (Dev->Staging->Prod), new programming languages, emerging technologies, and...the list will continue. What has helped me most in my career is not only learning how to learn, but loving learning, loving the journey.

Be a TA or Tutor

Being a TA was the single best thing I did for my career as a undergrad.

One area that helped me early in my career (and continues to do so), was becoming a teaching assistant (TA). Being a TA helped me to further learn the craft, understand how to teach, and most importantly grow my ability to empathize.

During my office hours, I once had a student who was so frustrated by a problem, that she began to tear up. She felt that she could never figure it out. I remember working with her, helping her (but not showing her how) to get to the solution. Her excited smile on solving the nested for loop, still lives with me.

When I began working and had to show engineers who had only just started three months after me how to work on our code base, I went back to this moment. This experience laid the groundwork, which helped me from working with my first intern, to being a tech lead, to today.

Being a TA built my confidence, made me learn the subject matter better (because I had to teach it), and most importantly helped me learn how to work with (and teach) others. Being a TA was the single best thing I did for my career as a undergrad.

Work in groups

In school, I did most of my programming alone. In my dorm room, in the computer lab. However, in one of my first jobs at a marketing agency, I was thrust into a team, where the most important thing was not my ability to program (which, was key), but my ability to communicate and work with others. On almost all job specs, you will see some version of "must have strong written and verbal communication skills".

Yet. We. Do. All. Our. Work. ALONE.

Programming alone in a computer lab is not analogous to working in a professional environment.

So what can you do?

Take the initiative to push yourself. Boom, leadership exhibited!

Obtain an internship

One thing that you can do, which will help you early in your career is to obtain an internship.
Wait..for real, Ajahne? This is your advice? I knew this one...
I hear you. Let me add some additional color on why getting an internship is helpful:

it will set you apart from your peers when looking for opportunities

it will give you experience in the work environment, helping illustrate the difference between coding in the computer lab and coding in the office

it will help to improve your communication and team work

Unable to obtain an internship? All good, there are other opportunities to grow and learn. I never had an internship as an undergrad, however I did work on campus for the Math department and revamped their website (the original version is probably still online somewhere...). Whatever it is, find a way to code outside of the classroom and find an opportunity to work with others!

Participate in extracurricular activities

While in college, I helped restart Tufts' chapter of NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers). I worked to organize meetings, coordinate trips to conventions, and recruit members.

There are numerous societies and activities to be a part of from IEEE, NSBE, Girls who Code, etc.

Tufts has JumboCode and I am sure your school may have something analogous. If it doesn't, find an opportunity to volunteer!

Looking to go further? Take on a leadership position (become the treasurer, co-chair, captain, etc.). Take on a coding challenge. Work with the local Boys and Girls club. Start a podcast with friends/classmates. Additionally, explore speaking engagements and opportunities to present your ideas (to classmates and others, TED talks, etc.). You know more than you think and we all have knowledge to share!

Do something outside of programming

In college, I was a part of Onyx, a poetry and visual arts magazine that published a collection of art from the student body each semester. As Co-Editor in Chief, I had to:

create (with my co-editor) the magazine each semester

follow up with the printer to ensure we got the magazine printed on time

organize all pages and layouts

review art submissions

organize open mics (venues, performers, hosts, etc.)

more things that I have probably forgotten

This helped teach me time management, how to work with others, meet deadlines, be responsible to others, and take ownership. These are all critical skills that I continue to grow and improve upon - looking back, taking on activities outside of programming helped nurture these burgeoning abilities.

Have Fun

It's College! 'Nuff Said.

Bonus: A quick personal note, getting an advanced degree

For me personally, getting my master's degree has helped me tremendously in my career. It set me apart from other candidates, it provided me opportunities to become the head TA for Intro to Computer Science, and most importantly, gave me the confidence that I could actually be a computer scientist. All of this is a topic and post for another time. I mention this to say that we all learn and grow at our own pace. Do what you need to get the reps in required to be the awesome programmer (and person!) you are capable of becoming!

Conclusion

Everyone has the capability and potential to be a leader

This is not an all extensive list, but a set of tips that can help you grow your leadership capabilities early in your career. Leaders are not born, they are made. I believe everyone has the capability and potential to be a leader. Leadership is about seeing an objective that needs to be accomplished and working with others to ensure a collective goal is achieved.

Good luck and keep learning. Keep pushing yourself and growing. You got this!

Additional Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What can you do early in your career to strengthen your leadership abilities? I was recently asked this very question by a CS student from my alma mater. Challenge accepted!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Program a Video Game: 10 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Phones, browsers, computers, consoles: video games are more popular and widespread than ever before. You can find more tutorials, asset collections, game-making software tools, and expert advice than ever before. Programming your own game...