What's Your Work Style? - 3SmartCubes.com

1. Your first task each Monday morning when you get to work is to:

Find your desk -- an increasingly difficult feat given the avalanche of office clutter.
Spend 10 minutes on a project that engrosses you, until you become distracted by another engrossing project for 10 minutes, until you are distracted by another project that engrosses you.
Decide which of the 15 important tasks you will get done before midnight (or before the onset of your nervous breakdown -- whichever comes first)
Organize the morning mail (yes, even the junk). It's impossible to focus properly on projects with looming deadlines until you know you've completely dealt with the pileup of letters and emails.

2. Your boss calls you to announce that the firm's most important client is coming in for an impromptu meeting in one hour. Your reaction is to:

Reread the client file for the 100th time, just to be sure.
Start digging through the papers on your desk -- you know the client file is here somewhere.
Panic -- you work on so many projects at a time you can't recall which project this client is attached to.
Worry -- not about your own preparedness for this meeting (you're a walking, talking spreadsheet), but rather about the few minor tasks your colleagues had taken on for this client. Are they ready? Will they emphasize the right information? You better check with them to make sure.

3. At the monthly staff lunch meeting you:

Occasionally tune out because you start thinking about the other tasks you have on your plate for that day .
Order lunch for everyone, copy and distribute notes from last time, decide on the topics you want to discuss and round everyone up at meeting time.
Have the most organized and beautifully bound notes on what was said and delegated at the last monthly meeting.
Hastily scribble updates about the status of your projects so you'll be ready when it's your turn to speak -- you just couldn't put your hands on the memo you prepared earlier in the week.

4. During a six-month job review, your boss is likely to:

Express bemused shock that you are always able to lay your hands on exactly what you need given the sheer volume of stuff in your workspace.
Jokingly ask if you have attention deficit disorder.
Share complaints from your underlings that you never give them anything to do.
Compliment you on your passion for your work but also gently comment on how slow you are to complete key elements of your job.

5. At the end of the day you typically:

Are equal parts proud and exhausted -- you personally completed every step of your projects, right down to the copying and collating, to make sure it was done right.
Feel guilty that you so immersed yourself in doing every project perfectly that you forgot to call your spouse/boyfriend/children/best friend to say hi.
Are frustrated with yourself -- you barely made a dent in your in-box.
Are left with the feeling that you're spinning your wheels -- you swore today would be devoted to one project but wound up working on everything but...

6. At the company office party, you win the award for:

Best Juggler.
Most Independent Employee.
Neatest Office.
Messiest Office.

7. When it comes to work, your motto is:

"If you want something done right ..."
"Polish it 'til it shines".
"Out of sight, out of mind," therefore you keep everything you think you'll need always in sight.
"I've got 20 balls in the air at any one time".

8. When chided for your sometimes ineffectual work habits, you tell yourself:

"I'm a great multi tasker".
"It's better to throw nothing out than to throw out the wrong thing".
"No one works as hard as I do".
"You can't judge a book by its messy cover".