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I remember starting a new job at a law firm and on my first day I was handed a 3-inch white binder and told to read it. The Human Resources Director pointed me to a small office and I was left alone to read what must have been 200 pages. As I was going through the manual, I saw chapters on office procedures, confidentiality, health and safety, security and more. All important information, but I knew I couldn't possibly retain much of what I was looking at in one sitting so I started to cheat and flip through a few tabs because I had to sign a form that I read the manual. I remember throughout the first week that I was there, when I asked a question on how to do something, someone would say, "it's in the manual, did you not read it?" I think people forget how overwhelming everything can be when you start a new job. Your co-workers are probably all new to you, you don't know how to use the photocopier or fax machine and more importantly "where is the bathroom?&

I hope everyone has a great day today whatever your office may be doing, or not doing. I am speaking this morning at an administrative event so looking forward to meeting some new assistants. The one good thing about speaking at an event where nobody knows me is, they have no idea whether my hair is supposed to be this dark... Some good advice to pass along: Never colour your hair the night before an event. Give yourself at least two weeks prior and it will be just right. Have a great day everyone! Patricia

There are so many e-mails coming at us these days that e-mail management is very important. I find the best way for me to keep my Inbox organized is to immediately deal with the e-mail when it arrives. I never have more than four or five e-mails in my Inbox for any length of time. Here are five buts you can do without: But I don't have time! Dealing with an e-mail does not necessarily mean taking action on it right away, sometimes we are just too busy. It may be something that you have to deal with tomorrow or next week. Move it from your Inbox to a Task with a reminder to do it later. The main thing is to get it out of your Inbox or things become too cluttered. But it can't wait! At times it is just as quick to answer the e-mail and be done with it, but I like to keep a record of the e-mail so I know I did the work. That is when subfolders come in handy, but if your subfolders are too complicated it can turn into a never-never land and you will never find it again. Try to kee

Over the holidays I read a neat book called Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions , by Dan Ariely. The book is a fascinating glimpse into several bizarre and unfortunate bugs in our mental software. These bugs cause us to behave in weird but highly predictable ways in a bunch of everyday situations. For instance, one chapter explains why bringing an uglier version of yourself to a party is guaranteed to get you more attention than other people who are arguably better-looking than you are. I personally do this all the time, except that I'm usually the ugly one. The same principle explains a ploy used by real-estate agents to get you to buy ugly houses. Another chapter explains the bug that causes you to be a packrat, and shows why you desperately hold on to things you own, even if you know deep down that they would rate lower than pocket lint on eBay. In any case, well, good book. I'm going to harsh on it a teeny bit here, but it's only one

It often amazes me that a day is set aside for our profession. Administrative professionals usually go about doing their work with little or no recognition. We do the behind-the-scenes work. How often I have organized a conference or arranged a Board meeting and after all the organization and planning it goes off without a hitch. To those who don't know, it is because of the work behind the scenes that everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, if it doesn't go well is when it is noticed the most. I like organizing and feel satisfied when everything comes together nicely, but it takes a lot of work to get there. You have to look at the little details and consider all the things that might go wrong and then work towards making it not happen as well as making what you want happen. An organized person thinks everyone knows how to arrange things, but that is not the case. Have you ever been at an event that isn't well organized? The last Board dinner I arranged the person from th