What are ad-hoc administrative duties in an Organization?

The phrase "other duties as assigned," which appears on many job descriptions, perhaps applies most aptly to the role of an administrative assistant or secretary. Ad hoc job duties, or other duties as assigned, are those specific to a certain situation, event, or period. They are typically not a part of your daily duties as an administrative assistant but may occupy a fair amount of your workday for certain periods.

Special Events

When your organization or business is holding a special meeting or conference, many logistical issues will likely fall to you as the administrative coordinator. Duties may include maintaining registration lists, processing registration fees, and creating name tags. You may also be asked to be available on-site the day of the event to assist with ensuring the day goes smoothly. Everything from ensuring the audiovisual equipment at the event is functioning properly to confirming meal requests could become a part of your position.

Special Documents

Creating reports and other common correspondences are likely already duties associated with your job. However, at times you may be asked to create special documents, such as a spreadsheet specific to a project or a letter to donors during the holidays if you work in a non-profit organization. These documents may not be forms familiar to you but you can find examples of most common business documents and correspondence online as a guide.

Special Assistance

The role of an administrative assistant is primarily focused on helping your supervisor do her job more efficiently and effectively. This means that, at times, you may be asked by your boss for special assistance with projects or personal matters. Helping to schedule travel plans, responding to inquiries while your boss is absent, and assisting your boss with updating software or other technologies are all duties she may assign to you. These duties are often not outlined in a job description as they arise under specific circumstances.

 

How to lose weight and reduce belly fat in 2 days?

 

You’ve been trying to slim down for some time but you haven’t seen the desired results despite your efforts to get rid of your bulging tummy. Chances are you’re not doing it the right way, perhaps, losing belly fat can be hard although many people store fat in this area. The good news is that there are ways that can help you drop those unwanted pounds without sticking to a conventional weight loss diet and exercise plan.

The following tips can make a big difference in how you look and feel in merely days. These strategies based on science are said to be effective for reducing weight and preventing weight gain in the future. Yet, you must understand that it’s not possible to lose fat in one specific area, meaning you can’t target your belly alone for weight loss. The fact is that healthy lifestyle changes can help you lose fat from all over the body, including your visceral fat.

There are 5 simple tips, based on scientific research.

1- Add more protein to your diet

Studies have shown that protein has positive effects on your appetite, which plays a role in weight loss. The macronutrient affects several hormones, ghrelin, and GLP-1, that play a role in hunger and fullness. Eating protein can increase the feeling of fullness, reducing hunger, and making you consume fewer calories. For instance, one study found that participants who increased their protein intake from 15 % to 30 % of calories ate 441 fewer calories per day. They also experienced significant weight loss by shedding 11 pounds over 12 weeks, on average, without conscious calorie restriction. So, eating protein-rich foods could be an effective way to lose weight fast without exercise or restricting taking any foods. Try adding lean protein such as fish, chicken breasts, Greek yogurt, lentils, quinoa, and almonds to your diet for quick weight loss.

2- Make fiber your best friend

Anyone trying to shrink belly fat should include plenty of fiber-rich foods in their diet. Fiber not only helps you lose weight but also reduces your risk of certain health conditions. Consuming a diet high in fiber has been shown to increase satiety and help you feel fuller for longer. Studies have linked one particular type of dietary fiber (viscous fiber) to weight loss. The ‘vicious’ dietary fiber-rich foods have been shown to help people lose weight as they increase fullness and reduce calorie intake.

3- Drink more water

You may have heard that drinking water, especially before a meal, can help you eat less and aid weight loss. One study found that participants who drank water (half a liter) about 30 minutes before meals lost 44 % more weight and reduced hunger over 12 weeks compared to those who did not drink water. Replacing those calorie-laden sugary drinks with plain water is one of the best things you can do to maintain weight and overall health.

4- Eliminate sugary drinks

It’s been proven that added sugar could be the single worst ingredient you can consume. Sugary drinks have been linked to weight gain, especially abdominal obesity, and an increased risk of many diseases like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Swap sodas for water, green tea, and other healthier alternatives.

5- Take a 15-minute walk after each meal

Keeping your physical activity at its peak regularly is an effective way to lose belly fat. While exercising at any other time of the day is good for you, research has found that keeping yourself active after meals can do wonders to your body weight. One study found that walking briskly for 30 minutes just after a meal leads to more weight loss than waiting for one hour to walk after lunch/dinner. Surprisingly, researchers have discovered that a post-meal walk, as short as 15 minutes, can help you burn more calories. It also aids digestion and improves blood sugar levels.

So, the bottom line is that making a few simple changes can help you yield effective results over the long term.

HAPPY DAYS STARTS NOW

How To Help You Stay look and feel Young?

Many of us are looking for ways to stay young and although you can’t stop the clock, you can fight the signs of aging and the aging process with a few wise moves. The following 10 tips will help you to look and feel younger for longer.

1 Use Your Brain

Although the brain isn’t a muscle, the old ‘use it or lose it’ adage still applies. Brain scans show that when people use their brains in unaccustomed ways, more blood flows into different areas of the brain, and new neural pathways form. In a study in the journal Nature in 2004, young people were taught how to juggle. After three months, MRI scans showed enlargement of the grey matter in their brains the part responsible for higher mental functions. When the participants in the study stopped juggling, their brains shrank again, suggesting that we need to keep our brains engaged to maintain mental agility and function. So, whether it’s a crossword puzzle, Sudoku, or a university degree, trying to give your brain a challenge every day and you’ll be more likely to keep your marbles! Also, another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that more frequent participation in mentally stimulating activities can lead to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

2 Be Sociable

According to US government research, social isolation is a predictor of declining mental function in older age. Experts believe this may be down to not using a wide variety of communication skills. Research shows that people who are part of a group whether it's a church or a book club are healthier than solitary people when they are older and that the wider the range of relationships (family, friends, work, and so on) a person has, the less cognitive decline they will experience with aging. So, as well as tackling the crossword puzzle on your lonesome, make time in your life for shared activities and ensure you spend time with as wide a range of people as possible.

3 Exercise More

Many of the depressing changes once attributed to chronological aging such as fat gain, loss of muscle, and poor posture are now believed to be due to plain old inactivity. For example, a Fels Longitudinal Study which investigated aging, body composition, and lifestyle found that women who do a vigorous physical activity such as running, cycling, or swimming several times a week weigh up to 11.8kg (26lb) less than sedentary women, and have significantly less body fat. If you are more concerned about your heart health than your dress size, though, then doing less intense activities such as walking will help to protect your vital organ. Maintaining as active a lifestyle as you can is good advice for anyone trying to hold back the years.

4 Eat Oily Fish

Oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, and tuna are the best source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, which have been found to protect against cardiovascular disease (particularly in combination with statins), type II diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Also, Omega-3 is believed to help the skin stay elastic and hydrated, which means wrinkles are less likely to appear and which is why salmon is the base of the famous anti-aging Perricone Plan. But the benefits of omega-3 aren’t just skin deep! Research by Rush University in Chicago in 2005 found that eating oily fish can slow the mental decline associated with aging. The results showed that eating oily fish at least once a week can slow the rate of cognitive decline by 10% to 13% per year.

5 Increase Your Intake Of Antioxidants

As we age, levels of harmful free radical levels rise, while the body’s production of antioxidants the compounds which can ‘mop up’ free radicals declines. According to studies at the Human Nutrition Research Centre on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, antioxidant-rich foods may slow aging processes in the body and brain. Researchers found that foods such as blueberries and spinach could increase the antioxidant power of human blood by 10% to 25% so try eating more of these. The antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E play a major role in protecting the body against free radicals, so aim not only to get your five-a-day but also ensure that you take in a wide variety of fruit and veg, especially those of strong color. Vitamin A in particular helps to keep the skin strong and healthy, which we get in our diet from foods rich in beta-carotene. Carrots are the obvious choice but sweet potato, swede, pumpkin, and melon are also good sources.

6 Have More Sex

It’s official: getting active between the sheets can help keep you youthful. Sex enhances emotional intimacy, relaxes us, decreases stress, and makes us feel great. A study conducted by Psychology Today magazine found that the more active and satisfying a person’s sex life is, the fitter and healthier they tend to be. For example, athletes who were still competing in the sport in their sixties had sex lives comparable to those 20 years younger. And it wasn’t just big talk the researchers interviewed their spouses for verification! Also, in his book Real Age, Michael Roizen reported that women who are unsatisfied with the quality or quantity of their sexual relationships have a life expectancy half a year less than is average for their age, while women who are satisfied with both the quality and quantity have a life expectancy one and a half years longer than average. For men, having fewer than five orgasms a year shortens life expectancy by two and a half years, while a man having more than 300 orgasms a year will add three years to his life expectancy.

7 Eat Less

You probably won’t be overjoyed to hear this, but recent research found that reducing calorie intake has a remarkable effect on the risk of developing diseases and conditions associated with aging including diabetes, clogged arteries, heart attacks, and strokes, and can also prolong your life! The study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis put 25 volunteers aged 41 to 65 on a daily intake of between 1400 and 2000 calories for over six years. Heart function, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers were compared against 25 control subjects, who had a calorie intake of between 2000 to 3000 calories which is typical of the normal Western diet. Heart muscle elasticity, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers (including cancer-related ones) were all significantly healthier in the low-calorie group. But don’t think you can get away with a meal replacement drink, like the diet, though low in calories, was highly nutritious rich in olive oil, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and fruit.

8 Believe In Yourself

As well as being physically, mentally, and socially active, people who reach old age have a high level of what’s called ‘self-efficacy’. Self-efficacy is a blend of self-belief and confidence, and studies show that it is a major distinguishing trait in centenarians. Researchers reported that the older centenarians become, the more they make decisions based on what they believe as opposed to what others expect. They place responsibility for their health with themselves and not their doctors. People with high self-efficacy tend to see problems as challenges to be met, setbacks as a reason to double their efforts, and failure as a learning experience for next time. Albert Bandura, the psychologist who created the concept of self-efficacy, points out that while many of our physical capacities decrease as we grow older forcing us to reappraise our capacity for certain activities the gains in knowledge, skills, and expertise compensate. ‘When the elderly are taught to use their intellectual capabilities, their improvement in mental function more than offsets the average decrement in performance over two decades,’ he says.

9 Stretch And Strengthen

Everyone knows about osteoporosis the loss of bone density that sets in as our skeletons get older and less active. But a similar disease, sarcopenia, affects your muscles as you grow older. Between 30 and 80, 15% of muscle mass is lost (and with it go strength and tone). But is the loss due simply to advancing years or declining levels of activity? In one study, published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, 70-year-olds who had lifted weights regularly for more than 10 years had as much muscle as 28-year-olds! Adding a couple of strength training sessions to your weekly regime is a wise move if you want to preserve your muscle mass. Flexibility also begins to deteriorate with age as connective tissues stiffen, muscles shorten and joints become drier as synovial fluid dries up. While you might not care about touching your toes, not being able to do up your bra strap or bend down to tie your shoelaces soon can dent your independence! Regular mobilizing and stretching (and it’s never too early to start) can help to reduce the effects of aging on joints and muscles.

10 Protect Your Skin

Two factors are affecting the way we age: intrinsic factors caused by the genes we inherit and extrinsic (external or environmental) factors, such as exposure to the sun’s rays and cigarette smoking. This is the area that you can take action in. If you smoke, stop and if you don’t wear a sun protection factor on your skin, start! Without protection from the sun’s rays, daily exposure can add up to cause noticeable changes and damage to the skin, such as freckles, age spots, spider veins, and fine wrinkles. Also, a 2002 study showed that facial wrinkles not yet visible to the naked eye could be seen under a microscope in smokers as young as 20. Cigarette smoking causes biochemical changes in our bodies that accelerate aging. A person who smokes 10 or more cigarettes a day for a minimum of 10 years is statistically more likely to develop deeply wrinkled, leathery skin than a non-smoker.

How to stop being addicted to a smartphone?

Despite all the advantages of technology, your smartphone shouldn’t be your only friend and conversation partner in this world. Phone addiction is a kind of addiction similar to alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling. Of course, it won’t injure your health like alcohol but its “toxicity” affects human consciousness and relations with the world. Some effective strategies will help you and your child to break free from phone addiction.

1. Do not do everything on one device. A smartphone can replace today’s books, newspapers, magazines, MP3 players, cameras, TV, game console, computer, and many other useful things. Plus, it gives you broader opportunities that the previous generations didn’t have. But it doesn’t mean that we have to let it replace everything.

2. When you switch between different activities it is good both for your brain and body. This approach makes your life more versatile. And you will be not that much addicted to one device because your likes and feelings will be shared between many different things. Family dinner or an important meeting is not the best place for you to use your smartphone.

3. Limit your screen time. Installing the parental control app on your device will be a great support for this. If you feel like you might be addicted to your phone, parental control will be of great help for you to become more self-disciplined and self-controlled in this area.

4. Disable notifications. You just reach out to your smartphone to check another notification and it turns into half-hour scrolling of news feed. Are you familiar with that? That’s because alerts are addictive and you even don’t notice how you’re drawn to them. If you turn the notifications off, you won’t have the temptation to check another notice. In case you’re afraid to miss something important, start with turning the sound off.

5. Establish phone-free periods each day. Let’s be honest, we don’t need the phone around all the time. So why not get rid of the device during dinner, while watching a film, or talking to your family. Schedule your phone use and arrange phone-free periods. Put the phone off when you’re busy with something else. For instance, you may not check the phone while making dinner in the afternoon or spending time with your family in the afternoon. This easy trick will reduce distraction and you’ll see how quickly you become less addicted to your phone.

6. Put it away. If you don’t have physical access to your smartphone right away, you’re less likely to check it every single minute. So put it on mute, hide it in a drawer, and see how it works. You’ll make sure this advice helps you to concentrate on work and to avoid distractions. Out of sight, out of mind.

7. Lock it. There are certain apps (Kidslox is one of them) that allow locking your device. You can either schedule the time when the phone will be locked or the device will be shut down after you run out of your daily limit of screen time. The software is more appropriate for kids, still, adults can effectively use it to lick the habit.

8. Keep it away from the bedroom. The phone next to your bed means it’s within touching distance so you’re likely to check it before sleep or as soon as you get up. Researchers claim that using mobile devices before sleep activates the nervous system that keeps us up. So putting your gadget away will not only help you to become less addicted to your phone but also promote quick falling asleep and easy waking up in the morning.

9. Replace the bad habit. When you’re bored and want to kill the time, why not grab a book instead of your phone? Psychologists advise replacing a bad habit of constant phone checking with a good one. So now when you stand in the queue or have some spare minute, feel free to read a few pages of your favorite author instead of scrolling news feed on your smartphone.

10. Get real. Instead of interacting with your nearest and dearest over the phone or on social media, find time for face-to-face meetings. Try to communicate with real people, not virtual friends, and acquaintances. Meet people in real life, share real emotions and conversations. It’s great!

11. Change thinking. Change of thoughts will refresh your emotions and influence your attitude towards cell phone use. Mind that whatever you’re going to check on the phone is not so essential as it may seem. Whenever you’re tempted to text or read the news feed, ask yourself if this is urgent or can be put off.

Remember that addiction takes place when there are problems in your life. If you live a full life, if you have proper ways to overcome difficulties like communication with your nearest and dearest, you’re less likely to develop an addiction. So the lasting fix to become less addicted to your phone is not about the phone itself. It is more about the change of priorities and dedicating more time to people around you.

How to help your child deal with smartphone addiction?

As a parent, I know for myself how much easier it is to let my kids play on the devices than take them out to the park to play on the swings. Yet you still struggle sometimes to get the kids outside. Once the kids are outside they have a great time and come back more content and settled, whereas an afternoon on devices often leads to petty arguments and grumpiness. The hardest thing is prising them off their devices to get them out in the first place. Creating a more balanced attitude toward technology in your home won’t happen overnight, but there are several clear strategies that you can take to help manage the situation.

Explanation – It may seem obvious to you that your teen’s excessive phone use is disruptive and is becoming a problem, but they might not see it that way. Make sure you talk with them about some of the potential downsides to their behavior, including the negative effects multitasking can have on their focus and productivity and the risk constant social media use can have on their real-life social skills. If they understand the problem they’ll be more motivated to join in with efforts to solve it.

Explaining how you see things to someone else (including your kids) can also help you to come up with your own, homemade solutions; it’s all very well to read an article like this about what you might do, but once you start discussing these ideas with other people you’ll find that it helps you to solidify your view and develop your strategy for dealing with the problem.

Set boundaries – Creating set times or places that will be device-free helps to establish some limits on device use. It’s crucial to provide opportunities for your family to communicate with each other without the distraction of their phones, tablets, and other screens. If you need a hand getting the devices switched off, parental control apps can be a lifesaver, but their use always needs to be accompanied by a clear explanation of why they’re being used and of any conditions, you want to attach to their use (eg. Don’t arbitrarily turn the device off because it’s bugging you, first warn “If your homework’s not done by 6 pm, your device will be locked for the rest of the evening”).

Lead the way – As the Common Sense Media survey suggests, this will be a real challenge for many of us. Dependence on technology is not just a teenage problem. The example set by parents is the fundamental guide for the behavior of younger children and whilst teens may not be quite so quick to follow suit, they’ll certainly be hostile towards perceived hypocrisy on our part.

Check-in – Keep the conversation about technology use and media consumption with your kids ongoing. Ask them what sites, apps, or games they’re spending time on, what they’re watching, what shows their friends talk about at school. Watch an episode together with them or have a go yourself at the games they’re playing to both understand the material better and show your willingness to engage with the technology and find a compromise together. Ask them what they like and dislike about the media they watch and use and what message they think that media is sending them.

I find the hardest thing as a parent is being disciplined and consistent with my children over screen time, it’s hard enough to restrict my own screen time let alone theirs! I have found the best solution is to allow them a fixed amount of time per day, and allow them to choose when that is, I have put a chart on the fridge where I can note down their screen time for the day. Kidslox helps me with this as I can give a fixed amount of screen time after which the device locks by itself which saves the struggle of getting the device off my children! Further, we’ll have a closer look at different aspects of phone addiction. Check out what are the reasons for obsession and run a quick test to find out if you are addicted to your smartphone.

What do the statistics say?

Especially vulnerable to phone addiction are kids and teenagers. A recent survey by the American non-profit Common Sense Media (CSM) suggests that 50% of teens consider themselves to be addicted to their mobile devices and that parents suspect the number is even higher. Perhaps equally alarming, the same study found that 27% of those same parents would describe themselves as being addicted to their devices too! The study asked over 1200 teens and parents about their use of and attitudes towards smartphones and other mobile devices.

The report recognizes the ambiguity of the word ‘addiction’ and elsewhere CSM has noted the difference between natural ‘super engagement’ and genuine addiction, which might be characterized by poor “behavior, mood changes, falling grades, mounting bills, or a lack of human interaction”. Even so, the report’s tone is largely cautionary, warning that internet addiction is potentially serious and requires additional study and that problematic media use can lead to reduced empathy and social-wellbeing as well as being a source of tension for many families.

According to a recent article in the Telegraph, British kids are some of the most housebound and screen-addicted in the world. 74% of our children spend less time than an hour a day outside which is the minimum recommended by the UN for prisoners. 18% of UK kids don’t play outside regularly at all, the main excuse given being the weather. The same survey found that British parents estimated that their children spend 26% on average of their free time inside in front of a screen, compared to 21% across the other countries surveyed, and only 12% outdoors.

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