Mail

When you receive mail at home just by looking at it you know if it is important.  Well not in the workplace especially if you work for  a big company.  You never know if an envelope has a simple advertisement or a contract has been anxiously expected, if you decide you are going to work for an executive you better put on your reading glasses get a cup of coffee and concentrate.
Make sure that you are very thorough, don't fall under the impression that everything is propaganda.  The rule is when you have a stack of mail on your desk set aside items marked confidential to make sure you do not open those.  Next step would be to sort three categories on the bottom you should place items that are clearly advertisement or entertainment like; magazines, newspapers and so on.  On top of this section are placed the items that are not so urgent like regular mail, announcements that hold dates a month or more away.  On the very top you would place items that are urgent and need immediate attention.  Below urgent matters you need to place those items you set aside marked personal unless they are marked personal and urgent.
Here is the tricky part though.  Most mail does not have the works urgent  and sometimes they don't even say personal on the outside.  Your boss has developed a trust in you enough to allow you to handle his mail.  don't disappoint him/her,  Read the mail thoroughly and it comes in handy assure  that you have a pen and sticky notes at hand when you begin opening mail, even paperclips just in case.  Sometimes the mail has extra papers which are mentioned in the front either by the full word enclosures or by the initials Enc.  Your job is to make sure that all mentioned documents are in the envelope if not make sure you add a sticky note bringing this to your boss' attention, in doing this you also cover your back, this tells the boss that it was the sender who forgot to add the enclosure and not you who lost the extra documents.  It also helps if you get to the mail at the time of day when you know there will be less interruptions.

Traveling

Traveling internationally is a little like being poor, just kidding  wow! I am from another country so I did travel internationally bu not by airplane I was not so lucky. I rode on a bus for three days.  Yeah!, you can imagine it was pretty tiring especially since I was a restless little six year old girl..  My parents came to this country seeking to give me a better future.  I read up on air travel and, did you know that traveling by airplane can be classy or just like riding a  bus for three days with the exception that by airplane you would not need to travel  for three days. I have yet to look up how long is the longest plane ride.  well if you plan to travel by airplane you need to do some homework.  Some airplanes can allow more baggage than others and there are regulations as to how much shampoo you can carry.  There are different choices as to how you may travel.  there confined seats and spacious seats it all depends on how much you can afford.

Participating in a meeting

The work of the administrative professional is endless.  If you are not acquainted with the term the translation would be clerk.  A clerk can be responsible for so much at time the clerk needs to fill in for or pick up the work of someone in a different department.  Therefore the administrative professional must be prepared. There is a place and time to catch up, on changes and update on future projects.  The time is company meetings.   Meetings evaluate the company's progress, and they asses future plans.  It is vital for all participants to prepare well by taking notes.  write down ideas for the future, and concerns about the past. Take notes at meetings and follow up on those notes.  Also participate, everyone's input is valuable, but be careful not to dominate the discussion. Personally I have a habit of thinking humbly, this means I don't want to draw attention to myself and sometimes this is not the appropriate approach as we sit through meeting. I have some good ideas which should be mentioned.  Some times there is no mention of negative aspects or possible outcomes and even though we think them we don't mention them, failing to bring up certain things can end up costing the company loses.