Awesome Ways to Kill Time at Work

NOTE: While the whole de-motivational poster thing has gotten a little lame, in honor of their more sincere/less funny ancestors, I will share some of my favorites with you here. Also, it should be known that I don’t like Dilbert comics.

Working in an office sucks. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, though I can’t think of any at the moment, but overall it blows. That said, I feel that I must make a disclaimer before I dive into the world of professional procrastination. Be careful. Very careful. Procrastinating is a slippery slope, and unless you are skilled at pulling quality work out of your ass at the last minute, you may want to do your best to keep your nose to the grindstone.

I do think, however, that most people can benefit from a little healthy distraction every few hours/minutes to shoot the mental shit and escape from your cubical walls of Hell. For most, this escape can be found in the blessed invention knows as the Google Reader. Unfortunately I have found myself overly dependent on my dear Reader lately and have begun to look elsewhere for some healthy-ish distractions. Some of them actually provide me with a sense of accomplishment that 98% of my work tasks cannot. They are also harder for supervisors to identify from afar, saving your ass from being caught. Below are some ideas to help you procrastinate like a pro. Make me proud!

Map Quizzes
I figure that if I’m not going to do what I’m supposed to, I may as well learn something while I do it. I know my geography skills have gotten a little rusty since eighth grade and my guess is that yours have too. Some of the better map quiz sites include lizardpoint, ilike2learn, and maps.com but it’s really a matter of preference. So, in the spirit of being a global citizen, why not take a few minutes and learn the location of some far away lands? Your friends will be impressed. Trust me.

Photo Galleries
There is nothing worse that the creepy feeling you get after spending hours on facebook looking at the vacation photos of a friend of a friend of a friend you’ve never even met. It is also true that there are few things more mindless than clicking through endless photo galleries online. I find it very soothing. Sort of like Enya for the eyes. I suggest stepping away from facebook and looking at pictures of real strangers that don’t know your second cousin’s boyfriend’s aunt. The interwebs are teaming with galleries of everything from celebrities with big dogs, to important, news worthy photojournalism. LIFE and the New York Times have some great options for those days that reading words is just too difficult.

Puzzles
Playing games online is obviously a great way to kill time, but I’ve found that there is a special place in my heart for online jigsaw puzzles. There is generally no timer involved (unless you want to really challenge yourself) and they are easy to step away from when you go back to your “job” for a while. I haven’t REALLY looked, but the best version I’ve found is on the Salt Lake Tribune’s website. (Yes, I’m from Utah. No I’m not Mormon.) Staring at the screen intently while trying to fit the pieces together is probably really terrible for your eyes, but whatever. Eyesight shmeyesight.

Magic Eye
Speaking of things that are terrible for your eyes! Remember those posters that turned 3D if you stared at them long enough? Well for those of us who figured out how to do it like a pro (just cross then uncross your eyes duh) Magic Eye really was like magic! Beautiful 3D magic! And now they’re online! The “official” Magic Eye site that I found is kind of janky, but if you just Google image search “Magic Eye” you’re in business. But seriously, I’m guessing that with the combination of getting that close to the computer and crossing your eyes over and over again, you’ll probably go blind pretty quick. Moderation people!

Google Image Search
Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that are most rewarding. In this case, a simple Google image search of random phrases is enough to provide hours of entertainment. Start an email image search battle with a friend and you’ll be lucky if you get any work done at all!

Your turn! What is your favorite way to kill time at work?

Photo sources: bangitout.com, morethanmedicine.us.gsk.co, motifake.com, fashion-res.com, believeinone.com, lol-now.com, demotivateus.com