1)
Keep a pen in your hand. Everyone looks busier when they have a pen
in their hand. It gives the
illusion that you are right in the middle of something, whether it be
proof-reading documents, signing off on invoices, etc… Think about it. Why else would you have a pen in your
hand unless you plan to use it whilst in the middle of “doing something”?
2)
Clutter your desk with
paper. A clean desk at the end of
the day means you’re organized, but a clean desk during the day means you’re
not doing anything. Spread a few
pages around, but be careful not to over do it, as too much paper could draw your
boss’s attention when he/she becomes curious about why you look so
swamped. That LAST thing you want
when you’re not doing anything is to be asked what you’re doing!
3)
Drink lots of water. If your boss walks by and sees you
drinking a glass of water, it just looks like you’re in need of refreshment
from all that “hard work” you’ve been keeping busy with, and they’ll likely
leave you to it. As an added
bonus, frequent urination means several more trips to the restroom than usual,
which helps keep the minutes ticking away.
4)
Pretend to read old
emails. Nobody knows they’re old
except for you, so any co-workers who happen to walk by will just assume you’re
busy “doing something” reading current emails, all the while your mind has in
reality wandered off to far away places.
If by chance the co-worker engages you, and asks what’s got you so deep
in thought, you’re already familiar with the email, and can spew out a quick
one line summary of what you’re “reading” without even looking, hence
satisfying their prying curiosity.
5)
Check your home voicemail. People who are on the phone look like
they are “doing something”. For a
passerby, it just looks like you’re about to place a phone call, or maybe
you’ve already placed a call, and the receiving end phone is still
ringing. Or maybe you’re on a
conference call, and someone else is doing the speaking. Either way, you look busy, and that’s
all that really matters.
6)
Get up and quickly walk around
the office. People don’t know
where you’re coming from or where you’re going to, but if you’re walking fast, surely
you must be in the middle of “doing something”. It’s also good to make an appearance every now and again and
remind everyone that you’re still there.
You don’t want anyone thinking “Hey, I haven’t seen {insert name here}
for a while, I wonder what they’re up to, maybe I should go see what they’re
working on…”
7)
Leaf through your
calendar. You need to still have
one of those old fashioned day-timers for this one. If your schedule is in your Blackberry or iPhone, this
doesn’t work quite as well, since it looks like you’re playing, sending text
messages, Tweeting, or lurking on Facebook, and you don’t want that. There’s nothing fun and exciting about
an old fashioned day-timer. If
you’re leafing through your day-timer, the only thing it looks like you’re
doing is checking your schedule or setting up a meeting. I like to buy the day-timers that have
the little mini Atlas at the back, as you can easily burn 5 minutes by figuring
out where you’ve been, and where you want to go, all while giving the
appearance that you’re actually “doing something”.
8)
Tie your shoes. When nobody is looking, reach down and
untie one of your shoes. As soon
as you hear someone coming, reach down, and slowly tie your shoe back up, being sure that they see you mid-tie. It may sound weak, but it’s still
“doing something”, and everybody can relate to having to tie up their shoe,
which means nobody will even think twice about it, and will just keep on walking.
9)
Pretend you’re looking for a
file. Searching for a file even
when you’re actually looking for one can easily take several minutes if it’s
not a file that you normally require access to. This is good for burning away at least several minutes, but
be careful not to overdo it. You
don’t want anyone offering assistance.
Grab the file (any file, it doesn’t really matter), take it back to your
desk, leaf through it, then return it.
That’s good for killing off another few minutes.
10) Highlighters. Grab a
highlighter and start highlighting something. It could be an old email, and old report, or whatever else
you have handy. Why would you be highlighting something if it wasn’t important, right?
You don’t even have to read what you’re highlighting, just the simple
fact that you’re highlighting words on paper makes it look like you’re busy “doing
something”.
ha ha ha...I've spent a good 2 hours trying to look busy today while at the same time reading all your posts.
ReplyDeleteHaha, that's great!!
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