In case you missed it, here is Dealing With Stress at the Computer (Part 1)
Part 2 is a little more about organization. Organizing your computer system for the work you do can help you reach peak performance levels:
- Bookmarking frequently visited Web sites into neat categories is worth the time it takes to do.
- Keeping your email inbox and other folders as empty as possible is another useful productivity technique.
- Reply to all emails as soon as you can so that you do not have a backlog building up.
- If you have multiple email accounts, consider using a computer application that will allow you to centralize these accounts on your desktop so that you are not having to go all over the place to retrieve email.The one I use is called Digsby. It is totally free to use and helps me organize all my email and social networking accounts.You can check it out here.
- Having an office software package installed on your system is pretty much compulsory these days for nearly any line of work. Many new computers no longer come with ‘Microsoft Office’ so you have to purchase it separately. Fortunately, you do not have to spend hundreds of dollars on commercial office packages anymore; the open-sourced OpenOffice is a freely available and a highly competitive piece of office software that will run on many different platforms.In my opinion it works just as well as Microsoft Office and at no cost.
- There are plenty of freeware utilities out there that make your life easier, everything from scientific calculators to password managers to world clocks that sit on your desktop and display the time for all major cities around the globe (a great help given the international nature of much Internet-based work).
- Of course, having an organized computer means nothing if you are working out of a waste dump. Reducing clutter and having a neatly organized room or office seems to have a similar effect on your mind. Have plenty of space in which to move around, but do not strive for the warehouse effect where you are walking fifty meters just to retrieve a pen and a piece of paper.
- One of the biggest sources of computer-related stress is losing access to your important data. If you are heavily dependent on reliable access to your work data, it is absolutely imperative that you plan for data-loss contingencies.Perform frequent saves of any files you are currently working on, creating a duplicate copy every now and then so that you have a rollback option in the case of disastrous edits.
- Perform routine backups of your data on external media.I have a separate external hard drive
where my computer files are stored just in case I lose my computer data!
- If your budget allows for it, consider purchasing an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) so that you can either continue working during a power outage or save your work and turn off your computer gracefully.
- Forgetting passwords is another way to lose access to your data, so if you have been known to have the memory of a goldfish, find a solution in the form of a password-management utility, either a software program or one of the many physical devices that have appeared on the market in recent years.
- Finally, investing a little time, money, and effort in a basic computer-repair course or have someone you know teach you some basic repair. Knowing someone that could also be there to help out with computer problems that seem to strike only on weekends or during the early hours of the morning is also highly beneficial to reduce stress when these emergencies occur.
