by Matt Bird

Created on: March 30, 2010

You’re trapped at work. You’ve finished everything you needed to do for the day, no one’s willing to give you anything else and you have a few hours to kill. What’s to be done?

Well, there’s plenty you can accomplish, actually. Work is more than just the objectives tossed out by your boss: you’ll occasionally need to generate your own tasks to get through long, tedious days. Here are some tips for doing so.

-    Get all your work done. Presumably this isn’t part of the problem, but for some it is. There are a few tasks you just don’t want to do and for whatever reason will delay as long as you can. If you want to be productive, however, you’ll have to get down to it eventually.
-    Check over your earlier work. It’s easy to make thoughtless mistakes with even the most routine of documents. Check over everything for spelling mistakes, mathematical problems and other simple errors. Depending on the work this can eat up a lot of time and will inevitably improve your work overall.
-    Ask around. Ask everyone if they need help with something, not just your boss. Chances are good SOMEONE has a problem that needs fixing.
-    Repair niggling office problems. Is there something loose on your desk, or that of a co-worker? Has one of the cabinets not closed properly the whole time you’ve been employed? Give fixing it a go. Stepping outside your normal job for a moment never hurt anyone.
-    Re-read office manuals. Brush up on the basics of your workplace. It’s easy to forget even crucial guidelines.
-    Tidy your desk. If you were worked to the bone in the past your desk is probably an atrocious sight. Put that to rights by filing everything that needs to be filed, organizing your stationary and emptying any overflowing waste baskets.
-    Get caught up on what other people are doing. Don’t be an annoying gossip or talk too much, but seeing what your co-workers are busy doing may spur your imagination and get you started on something that’ll benefit the office as a whole. Knowing what other people are up to can also make things more efficient as you’ll know where to go when you need help.

Every now and then, even with these tips, you’ll probably be at a loss for something to do. It happens. Keep on the go and constantly ask questions, however, and you’ll generate work for yourself eventually.

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