How To Be Better At Your Job

Forbes.com recently ran an article on "10 Ways to Become Better at Your Job Today," and I'm happy to see that "stop multi-tasking" comes in at #2.  As I've said before, there's a big difference between having strong organizational skills that enable you to manage multiple concurrent projects and being the type of person who is actually doing (or trying to do) several things at the same time.  

Tip #6 - arrive 15 minutes early - is a great way to get a jump start on the day.  And even though getting up a little earlier can feel rough at first, it almost always feels better than sticking around an extra 15 minutes at the end of the day.  It can give you time to organize your day and knock out the tasks you really wish you could just put off.

I also really like tip #8 - to aim for clarity.  The article uses the example of making a phone call or an in-person visit instead of shooting off an email when handling a delicate situation (though, of course, there are certainly times when an email might make more sense than a phone call).  It's often easiest to try to handle several different communication tasks by banging out a few emails or phone calls in a row, but different situations and clients/coworkers/friends might best be handled as personal conversations.  

What are some of the things you do to perform as best you can at work?