Office Cubicles

Who doesn’t love a good cubicle? I mean, you get to work very closely with a large group of people that you did not choose to have in your life. You get to thumbtack stuff on the wall – that is always awesome! You get to have all your phone calls overheard by everyone in the office. And if you are really lucky – you get to have your back facing your “door” so that you never know when someone is looking over your shoulder!

Okay, so I think it is obvious how I feel about cubicles.  But this could be because I am very good at being unproductive – Office Space style and cubicles make it very difficult to hide that!

Here are some things you can do to survive working in an office cubicle:

1. Hang up Dilbert comic strips. This may be the most important thing you can do. Choose your strips carefully. Choose the ones that say what you want to say about your job. At the end of the day, Dilbert may be the only one who understands your pain.

1. Walk Around.  Trips to the restroom are like little mini-vacations during your day.
2. Listen to music.  Pandora.com is a great way to stream music that is specific to your tastes.
3. Have a spreadsheet of go to websites.  My routine consists of tmz.com, perezhilton.com, failblog.org, fmylife.com, cnn.com, and foxnews.com.  Be sure to have work opened in other windows so that you can click on them if necessary.  I use a spreadsheet with hyperlinks so I don’t have these sites bookmarked on my work computer.
4. Play games.  Literati on yahoo games is always a winner for me.  The great thing is that it takes a long time.  One game can take up to 1/8^th of your work day.  I am also a fan of sudoku books.

All joking aside, cubicles are very efficient office design. The grass is always greener. Those who work in offices are secluded from their peers. In actuality, it is probably the job you hate and not the cubicle.

Hopefully, you will be able to make the best of your situation. Make friends with the people around you and learn to appreciate the human contact.

The single most important thing you can do to make a positive change for yourself is to create a work environment that helps you be the most productive as possible. At least you will feel like you have accomplished something. You accomplishments may not be recognized by anyone else, but at least you aren’t just wasting your time all day.

If you do find you have a lot of free time alone in your cubicle – then I would try to figure out ways to make money online. I know it is a trite thing to say, but the truth is a lot of people do it. And if you can start an online business while working your day job in an office cubicle, what else can you ask for?

Or you can spend your time decorating someone else's cube. Wrapping paper, foil, and sticky notes are popular choices. Carboard and mice can also do the trick...