Back to Work.

AN APPLE A DAY

According to the International Journal of Obesity, 45% of Australians are not eating enough fruit. Fruit at Work can change that. They deliver small or large cartons of fruit to the workplace nationwide. What a delicious way to take care of your staff.
Tel: 1300 857 776.

SEW IT UP

Thirty-five year old Sydney institution The Shirt Shop has been given a mod re-fit by new owners Trevor and Jenny Cohen. But it can still whip a shirt together in just three hours, great when you’ve got a shirt stain and a hot date later. 17a/20 Elizabeth St, tel: +61 (2) 9233 2886.

THE MIGHTY PEN

Write your way to high style with the colourful Parker IM ball point pens range, from AU$19.95 to AU$149 for the Parker Rialto Silver-Plated Gold-Tipped Ball Point Pen (available in department stores and specialist pen outlets). New technology has created the Pilot Capless Fountain Pen (AU$168.95) with retractable 14K gold nib and refillable ink (available as above). And for the star-struck, there’s Inoxcrom’s Audrey Hepburn-inspired La Dolce Vita pens (AU$59.95; tel: +61 (3) 9220 0500) in their fancy cases.

PAPER TRAIL

Add some colour to the office this year with everything from mousemats (AU$9.80) to notebooks (AU$15.95) by Paperchase, exclusive to Borders. For the rest of your office needs, try Officeworks (across Australia, except Darwin; tel: 1300 633 423). To keep tabs on who’s who, file away your cards with the sleek new Card Scan 800 (AU$399, tel: +61 (2) 9669 5000).

BAGS OF STYLE

Laptop bags can be so blah. But not Knomo’s sleek Bungo Leather Laptop messenger bag (AU$499.95, from www.rushfaster.com.au). For something more casual, try on Crumpler’s Reginald Transfer (AU$80, Unit 26, Ground Flr, The Strand Arcade, 412-414 George St, Sydney) from the Squirrels range, which has a water-resistant shell; available in red, black, brown and olive. Or get funky with the STM Zebra carry case in blue-black stripes (naturally) and made from durable neoprene in 33, 36.7 and 40.2cm (AU$59.95; www.stmbags.com.au).

Andrew May, author of Flip the Switch, is the performance and productivity expert credited with leading the Sydney Swans to the premiership two years ago. He explains how we can turn the new year around.

Tell us about the two most common areas in which we can ‘flip the switch’.
Thinking (psychology) and time management (organisation). Get a bigger monitor – this can help you work up to 44% faster. Schedule at least half a day every week to work uninterrupted but also factor interruptions into your To Do list. Implement an email policy – 80% of emails shouldn’t be sent, let alone replied to. This can save more than an hour a day.

How do you build recharge time into your day?
The brain is only designed to work for concentrated periods of time. Have ‘brain breaks’ every hour to give yourself a chance to reload – stretch, make phone calls, grab a coffee.

How will you flip the switch this year?
I’ll have three to four weeks off in January and several three-day breaks throughout the year with my wife, which gets me through the busy periods. I’ll schedule in activities each week to help me relax: massage, yoga, stretching, walks with my dog and swimming in the ocean.

Andrew May started Good Health Solutions in Sydney, Australia’s largest corporate health company. He is also opening a Recharge Clinic in Sydney this month for corporate workers.