Slow Day At Work = Learn Something New
When offices slow down around the holidays, new employees (that lack vacation days) often struggle to find something to pass the time with at work. This is the situation I’ve been in since about Wednesday last week. While a slow day at work gave me a chance to check some low priority tasks off my list, and a second slow day gave me time to research for some upcoming projects, by the third and fourth slow day I needed something to do.
I had originally planned to spend most of my day studying for the GRE at work since I knew most people that I work with wouldn’t be here. Of course, when I got to work at 8 a.m., the last thing I wanted to do was study for the GRE. So I started thinking about what I could do that would be both productive and fun. Despite working on a web design team, I know very little about Photoshop because I usually use Fireworks to layout site designs and create simple graphics. So I started searching for a good tutorial.
I found this one on PSDTUTS and decided to create an image to attach to one of my sister’s Christmas gift in place of a gift tag with her name on it. A few hours later (took me awhile to get started), I had created the image to the right of my sister and her best friend.
Using my free time at work to pick up a new skill helped me pass the time in a fun way, be productive and learn something that benefits both my job and personal projects. So if you have some down time at work, think of something you’ve wanted to learn for awhile and get started! Strive to work on learning something that is relevant to your job, as well as fits a personal interest.
Anyone have suggestions for other ways to pass time productively during a slow day at work?
