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How to Be Effective and Efficient While Working Naked

September 6, 2012 By 12 Comments

When you’re “Working Naked” — working without the support of the corporate workplace — you face a few challenges. A few of them include staying focused and avoiding distractions. By taking the time to set up your home office to be efficient and change what’s not working, you can create a productive home office.

Start with the right equipment.

Figure out how much time you’re wasting using old equipment and outdated software. Computer prices fall regularly, so it may be worth your time to buy a new laptop or desktop. The money you’re saving by not buying new equipment may be costing you in lost time and productivity.

Turn four machines into one. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: , ,

3 Ways to Change Your Organizing Habits

November 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

source: balanced.crafts

A good friend of mine refuses to see a doctor (she hasn’t seen one in years) because she’s afraid that a doctor will find something wrong with her. What she doesn’t understand is that if she never gets a checkup, she may not discover a medical problem until it’s well advanced (and too late).

Change isn’t easy, and some people can’t get motivated to change their habits until they’ve had a bad experience. Or they may hear about something bad happening to someone else, which finally triggers them to make a change.

When you work for yourself, a bad experience could be losing an account, missing an important deadline, or double-booking appointments with two important clients. Bad days are part of life, but you’re a lot less likely to experience these types of setbacks if you take steps to get organized.

To read the rest of my guest post on Success Your Way, click here.

Filed Under: Home office organizing Tagged With: , ,

To Do or Not To Do…It’s All in the List

October 4, 2011 By 10 Comments

A good friend of mine used to use a paper-based planner to write her to-do lists.

As her business grew, she quit using her planner and switched to sticky notes that she plastered all over her monitor. Her system broke down when she started covering older notes with newer ones. She tried to improve her sticky note system by using different colored notes, but that didn’t help.

Now, instead of using her new smartphone to record tasks, she writes her top to-do’s on her hand. She admits that her “organic” way of tracking tasks is a little unreliable, especially by the middle of the day when she’s washed her hands a few times, but she’s out of ideas.

Whether you’re like my friend and you’ve exhausted all of your options, or you’ve used the same planning system for years, take a close look at how you’re planning your days. There are a few ways you can make your system more effective. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

Finding the Right Time to Work When You’re Working From Home

May 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When you work from home, your family’s schedule or your clients’ time zone may affect when you work, but other than that, you can set your own hours.

Lately, though, I’ve talked with some home-based business owners who think that if they’re not working 9-5, the way they did in their corporate job, they’re probably not as productive as they should be. They say that they’re working late at night, as early at 5 a.m. or whenever they can “get into the flow.”

Last week I asked a few business owners about their work schedules. They told me that their traditional and not-so-traditional work hours work for them for a few reasons. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: ,

4 Ways to Stop Running in Place

April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever noticed that on some days you’re incredibly productive and have something to show for all the time you’ve spent in front of your computer, while on other days not so much?

When you work for yourself, it’s easy to feel that you’re always playing catch-up or running in place. We all have days like that…some more often than others.

One of my clients described it as feeling like a hamster on a wheel. She was on the go constantly, but never accomplished anything.

There are a few ways to get off the hamster wheel.

#1. Determine what your time is worth. Are you spending time entering e-mail addresses into your contact management program, updating your Web site, or handling tasks that someone else could take care of? If so, hire someone to help you. You could hire a virtual assistant or a freelancer to take care of routine tasks that are taking you away from handling moneymaking tasks. [Read more...]

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No Need to Call in Sick When You Work From Home

January 21, 2011 By 5 Comments

When my alarm went off this morning I got out of bed, took a few steps and then fell back into bed.

I feel crappy.

When you own your own business you can’t call in sick (who would you call anyway?), but in-between naps you can still handle a few tasks from your comfy bed or sofa.

That’s what I’m doing today, but first I’m going to have another cup of tea from the new mug Carrie Wilkerson, The Barefoot Executive, just sent me. (Thanks, Carrie!)

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life Tagged With: , ,

Break Down Your Time and See Your Productivity Go Up

January 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago I had an incredibly productive week. I powered through everything on my To Do list. My main focus was on the marketing and publicity tasks I’d been wanting to try and a few money-making projects that I’d been putting off. I was a productivity powerhouse.

The next week I didn’t accomplish anything. Nothing. Nada. [Read more...]

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4 Ways for Staying Focused While Working Naked

November 16, 2010 By

Does this sound familiar: it’s almost noon, you’ve been sitting at your desk in your pajamas, workout clothes or um, your birthday suit, all morning and you still haven’t taken a shower?

This happened to me a few days ago. I started to leave my house early in the morning to go for a run, then one of my clients called. I finished the call and because I was in my home office anyway, I checked my e-mail accounts, tweeted and then updated my Facebook page.

I got sidetracked. [Read more...]

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Your Brain May Affect Productivity More Than You Think

July 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Some people think that left-brain thinkers are analytical, sequential and sometimes obsessive (I’ve been accused of all three), while right-brain thinkers are creative types who make sure nothing stifles their creativity, including organization. The saying, “If a disorganized desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what does an empty desk mean?” makes it hard to justify a clean desk. But if you’re a right-brain thinker, you can get organized.

  • Focus on one area of your life that’s organized. Think hard. There has to be something in your life that’s organized. Maybe you’re an impeccable dresser, or you keep your favorite supplies in one place. Consider everything you’re doing now to get organized, no matter how small it may be, and pat yourself on the back. Who cares if no one notices the changes you’re making? It’s your life, not theirs.
  • Consider your priorities. If something is important to you, you’ll change it.  If not, you won’t— and in some cases you shouldn’t. If you make only a few changes in the way you work, you could be more productive and maintain your creativity
  • Ask yourself why you’re having trouble getting organized. Instead of beating yourself up over missed appointments or postponed decisions about paper, face it: you may be someone who thrives in a disorganized environment.  Work around your need for a bit of disorganization and designate one place to put your keys every time you come home or figure out one place to keep track of appointments and enter them as you make them

Before you throw in the organizing towel, realize that being right-brained doesn’t doom you to a life of chaos. If you change the way you think, you’ll reduce your stress level and leave yourself open to accomplish more.

Filed Under: Home office organizing Tagged With: , ,

Perfect Doesn’t Mean Productive

July 23, 2010 By

Yesterday I watched a new show on the Food Network called “24 hour Restaurant Battle.” (Watching the Food Network doesn’t make me a good cook, but it inspires me to be a good cook.)  On the show, two teams have 24 hours to create and open a restaurant. The winning team earns $10,000.

In the episode I watched, the chefs on opposing teams were equally talented.  The difference was that one chef was a perfectionist.  The other had his eye on the end result: to serve good food in a timely manner.  The perfectionist spent more time on the presentation of the food — her customers wouldn’t have noticed if the lettuce wasn’t centered on the plate — and less time watching the clock.  The perfectionist lost the competition.

When you focus on making sure the slightest tasks turns out perfectly, you risk missing deadlines, annoying your clients and getting in your own way of success.  Your business can’t move forward when your need for perfection turns into an anchor that drags your business down.

The next time you can’t let something go because it’s not perfect, take the pressure off yourself and keep your eye on the big picture.

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Making money from home, Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: , , ,