What to Do When Bored at Work 8 Ideas

What to Do When Bored at Work 8 Ideas What to Do When Bored at Work: 8 Ideas Misc Tips / https://www.edenscott.com/blog In a perfect world, wed all just go home when our work is done for the day.However, many people have to stay until 5PM or 6PM regardless of what theyve accomplished that day.Dont worry though, if youre wondering what to do when bored at work, weve got you covered. Were going to share the top 8 things to do when bored at work to pass the time (and be at least somewhat productive)8 Things to Do When Youre Bored at Work:1. Stay current on industry newsWhat do most people do when theyre bored at work? Browse the web.Now you can do it productively Find a few blogs or news sites related to your companys industry and start reading about new developments, new products, ideas, etc.As long as you pick a few blogs that have fun articles that arent too serious, it wont feel like youre doing real work. Look for blogs with a lot of social sharing, a lot of pictures, etc.2. Set yourself up for a big day tomorrowInstead of sitting around waiting for 5PM, try to come u p with a list of tasks that you usually do in the morning, that you might be able to complete or start the evening before.Of course, this will make you even more productive tomorrow, so then youllhave to use one of the other 4 ideas to waste the extra time. Oh well.3. Ask your team members if they need help with anythingTake the initiative and ask your boss or teammates if they have anything going on that you can help with. Tell them youve covered your work for the day and wanted to stay productive.This will help you get noticed in a positive way, and youll also be helping your team.In the future if you need a favor or if you need to duck out early and have some of your work covered, youll have people that are eager to help.4. Clean up your email inboxOkay, so this isnt anyones idea of a fun task. But its pretty mindless so its great for the end of the day when you feel tired or bored at work and youre unable to focus on tough projects. It also makes you look super busy! Anyone look ing at emails must be busy, right??Whens the last time you actually looked at your inbox and thought about how the folders are set up, how your system for organizing emails is working (you do have a system, dont you?). Downtime at the end of the day is a great opportunityto organize this type of thing and come up with a system to make life easier in the long run.5. Clean up your deskThis one wont make you look like a workaholic superstar like idea #4, but its not a bad option once in a while.Find some sanitizing wipes and clean your desk, keyboard, phone, etc. Look in your drawers and throw away some old papers and junk.A clean workspace helps you organize your work and think more clearly.Even if you work great with a messy desk, it still looks pretty bad to those who walk byNobody feels great dropping an assignment off to somebody that has 200 papers and 3 used coffee mugs sitting next to their computer.6. Create training documents or SOPs for the groupIf youre bored at work, go cr eate some documents to help train new team members in the department.Or look for opportunities to create SOPs (standard operating procedures) for tasks that are done over and over. Then when a new employee starts, your boss can just give them this document and save a lot of time on training.Along with being a good way to pass the time when bored at work, this is also a fantastic way to get on your boss good side and possibly position yourself for a promotion.7. Systematize your work to save time laterDo you respond to the same type of customer requests over and over via email? Go write a template that you can cut and paste from now on. This will save you time every day in the future (along with helping kill your boredom).There are many things you can systematize or create a template for including external communications as well as internal emails/communications that you send frequently.After doing emails, look for other areas of your work that you can streamline and systematize. Any thing you do over and over each week (at least 4-5 times a week) is worth taking a look at.8. Think about your long-term career goalsThis is one of my favorite things to do when bored at work. Try to step away from the screen for a minute, grab a pen and paper, and think about your long-term career goals.Where do you want to be in 2-3 years? Is your current role and tasks getting you there?If not, consider asking for new responsibilities that are more closely-aligned with what you really want to be learning and doing.Or if your job is completely different than what youd like to be doing, that may be the reason youre bored at work and it may be a sign you should start a job search.I wrote an in-depth article about this on LinkedIn you really are the CEO of your career. Nobody else is going to care or take responsibility for your career direction. So if you dont want to end up on a career path you hate, you need to think about this regularly.If youre bored every day at work for hours and hours, it might be a sign that you need a change of job, or even industry/niche.The ideas above will help you with what to do when youre bored at work occasionally, but wont fix the problem if youre miserable in your job. Only a job change can fix that.