I love old-fashioned sticky notes. I use them daily in the office. And not just the old-fashioned paper sticky notes, I also use the virtual sticky notes that float on my desktop alongside my shortcuts. I find them extremely helpful with important things I need or want to remember.
If you came to visit me in my office, you would notice a few key sticky notes hanging along the bottom frame of my monitor. I would like to share two of those Sticky Note Reminders with you.
The first Sticky Note Reminder reads “You Bring Me Joy”. One of my former co-workers left this on my desk one day. You may wonder, “That is nice, but why tape that one to your monitor?” I taped this particular sticky note to my monitor because I want to bring joy to the people I work with.
The opposite of bringing someone joy is stealing someone’s joy, and I do not want to be a joy-stealer. This sticky note reminds me of the type of co-worker I desire and strive to be, and even though I do not always get it right, the reminder is helpful.
The second Sticky Note Reminder has three bullet points: do not cut people off, do not interrupt, and always start with context. Good communication is extremely important to me. I am a constant work in progress. This sticky note reminds me daily of three simple ways to be a better communicator. Over-talking another person or interrupting them mid-sentence, these are behaviors that I do not want in my communications with others.
I want to give my full attention to each of my co-workers and our clients when they have something to say.
I know this may seem simplistic, “behind the times”, or even a little silly, but, for me, it works.
Bringing joy into the workplace and being good communicators are two simple ways to make our office environments better.
Thank you for reading.
