Home Office Productivity

Writing Rituals – a productivity guide for writers.

Most of us end up having to do a lot of writing, whether we are professional writers or not.

For professionals, the whole day is taken up writing, and our level of writing productivity becomes a key element in how successful our business becomes.

But even for people working in other businesses, there can be a lot of writing to do, whether it's writing reports, white papers, web sites or something else.

So how can one increase one's productivity as a writer? I have been thinking about this for years, largely because my own level of productivity used to be very variable. And that was bad news for me, because I earn my living writing.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I have just published a new guide called Writing Rituals. It describes 5 separate rituals writers can use to make sure that their productivity levels increase and remain consistently high.

You can learn more about Writing Rituals here...

GooToDo – a remarkable To-Do list tool.

GooToDo – a remarkable To-Do list tool.

I don't often get terribly excited about new software or services.

But last night I retired my old To-Do list software and started using GooToDo.

It is a web-based tool and very simple. Just add tasks for the days when you plan to do them. Re-order them if need be. Mark them as completed when you're done.

Pretty ordinary, eh?

But it has one more feature that is simply remarkable.

You can forward emails to your To-Do list.

So if I receive an email from a client today, which relates to a project I am working on next Tuesday, I simply forward the email to that date.  How does that work? In my Outlook (or any other email service) I click the Forward button and address the email to tuesday@gootodo.com ...and send it.

Their server looks at the "from" field in the email, identifies my account and adds the email to the day or date specified. The email subject line becomes the name of the task.

Or let's say I get an email from a software company saying my subscription is going to expire in 90 days. Well, I don't want to pay them 90 days early. But nor do I want to forget. So I forward the email to a date about 85 days from now. I simply forward it to april10@gootodo.com and I'm done.

Pretty cool eh? It means you can clean up your inbox and forward items to the days and dates when you actually need to address them.

Maybe you'll receive a newsletter on Tuesday that relates to some personal interest of yours. No time on Tuesday to read it? Simply forward it to Saturday.

It's cool. And it's also a great way to manage your emails and increase your personal productivity.

Check it out. GoToDo.com

A good reason to keep your desk area tidy.

The first good reason, quoted by everyone, is that a tidy desk helps you find what you need in order to complete the tasks in hand.

A second reason given has something to do with "an organized desk equals an organized mind."

That second reason may be true, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

The thing about being surrounded by clutter and piles of papers is that it signals to your brain that there are a dozen other things to do.

While you are trying to focus on the job in hand, a part of your subconscious mind is devoting itself to every other incomplete task you have on your plate, both personal and business.

This is why dealing with the paper on your desk needs to be part of your productivity planning.

Once every piece of paper is in its proper place, your mind can relax and focus just on the task in hand.

Some of that paper needs to go into the trash. Some of it needs to be filed. Some needs to be out in your "to-do" tray.

It's only when everything is in its place that your mind can relax in the knowledge that it now need focus only on the job you are working on right now.

The power of breaking projects down into tasks.

As home office workers we have to be skilled in time management. For most of us, there is nobody else who is going to do that for us.

Time management is a huge topic and central to productivity.

One tool we use to manage our time is a daily To-Do list.

Daily To-Do lists can be a fine thing. But they can also work against us.

One key is to ensure that the tasks you add to your list really are tasks.

What do I mean? I mean that sometimes we add a task that isn't a task at all – it's a project.

And then we wonder why that "task" is carried over from one day's list to the next.

It never gets done, or even started on, simply because it is too big.

And the longer it stays on the list, the more discouraged we become by our inability to get the job completed.

The trick here is take that project off your list, break it down into bite-sized tasks, and then add the tasks to your daily list, one at a time.

Suddenly, the impossible has become doable.

And we feel a lot better about the progress we are making.

Save time by speaking instead of writing.

One of the things that slows me down is that I'm a two finger typist.

In a way this is ridiculous, because so far I've written over 500 articles, a business book and a 75,000 word copywriting course.

At some point, I should have learned to touch type.  But I didn't. 

To speed things up, I'm now experimenting with a program that allows me to speak, and then it simply transcribes my words into a Word document.

In fact, this post is my very first try of the software.  It's called Dragon Naturally Speaking. 

This document seems to be going okay so far. 

I don't know how well this would work for everyone else, but for myself, my writing style is very similar to my speaking style.  So I think it may turn out to be a pretty good fit.  And I imagine I'll be able to get a lot more done this way.  I'm thinking in particular of writing quick e-mails, writing out to-do lists and maybe even writing whole articles this way.

(Confession: This post didn't work out perfectly, so I had to do a little editing with my keyboard. But I think with a little practice, the need for editing will be minimal.)

Using Mind Mapping software to better visualize your plans and goals.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am getting started on writing a fairly long guide to improving one's home office productivity.

There will be about eight or nine chapters, each of which will have a number of different sections and sub-sections.

In the past, when planning the structure of a new book or course, I have used either pen and paper, or a Word document for this planning and structure stage.

Recently I changed that and started using Mind Mapping software. The one I use is MindJet, although there are plenty of other choices out there.

You may want to try one of them. It makes a big difference. It makes it easier to visualize and organize each project, and much easier to add and edit your entries.

I also use MindJet for planning and managing large consulting projects with my clients. I simply invest some time up front in typing up the various stages and tasks involved, and then check in daily to mark my progress and see what I have to tackle next.

Mind mapping is also great for managing group projects, so everyone can see who is responsible for what, and also track everyone's progress.

Here is my unfinished Mind Map for the Home Office Productivity guide. (I'll probably spend another few hours on the mind map before I get started on writing the first chapter. I know that the better I plan the entire guide now, the faster I'll be able to write it when I get started.)

 

My Resolutions for the New Year

This has to be a record for bad blogging practices – a full six months without a single post. My apologies. In my defence, I have been very busy on a number of projects. I know, that's not a very good defence.

It's time for me to make a resolution or two on this, the first day of the new year.

Here they are:

1. Starting today, I hereby commit to posting to this blog at least two or three times a week.

That shouldn't be too much of a struggle for me, as it dovetails nicely with my second resolution...

2. I'll dust off my notes and start writing my 30,000 word guide to working from home, and complete it by the end of May 2008.

I don't know whether it will be 30,000 words. Maybe more, maybe a little less. But I have that figure as a target. In other words, this won't be a "weekend e-book". It will be a substantial, useful guide, focused on home office productivity.

While I'm writing it, I will have plenty of material to blog about. And I'll also have plenty of questions. So if anyone is still checking in on this blog, I'll be grateful for feedback and suggestions.

That's it for today. And now you really can anticipate another post within the next day or two.

Happy New Year!

How aging can impact how you work, and your productivity.

I’m reading a fascinating book right now – Carved in Sand by Cathryn Jakobson Ramin.

It’s all about how our brains age, particularly after the age of forty. And about how our memory begins to fade and our attention loses its sharp edge.

She’s not writing about dementia or Alzheimer’s, although she touches on both. She’s talking about regular people like you and me.

The more I read, the more I begin the recognize changes in my own capacity to remember and focus. (I’m 50.)

It some ways it’s scary.

For instance, I know that I don’t work at the same pace and with the same sharpness and efficiency as I did when I was thirty. When I was twenty or thirty I could juggle four or five tasks in my mind all at once, with no problem. I don’t do that as well any more. And when I try juggling too much at once, I inevitable drop one or two balls in the process.

I also find it harder to focus, and am more easily distracted.

It seems I’m not alone.

She interviews numerous professionals who, as a result of changes in their memory and capacity to focus, have either had to change jobs or dramatically change the way in which they worked.

I find myself on the same path. The old ways of working just don’t do it for me any more. In common with many people in the book, I am now having to consciously focus on one task at a time.

This, of course, has a significant impact on my productivity. Or rather, it could if I remained blind to the changes taking place and failed to adjust my work habits.

This whole issue has an effect on how we work in our home office – how we schedule our time and tasks, how we handle to-do lists and even the technology we use. (One point made in the book is that young minds are better suited to working with Blackberrys and Trios than older minds.)

I’m only about a third of the way through the book so far, but will post again on this topic when I have finished it.

Dilbert creator has the same struggles we all have when working from home.

Well, maybe not all of us.

But for those of us with a family, there is a constant struggle between being at work...and being at home.

As Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert, put it in a recent interview:

“I recently got married, so I've got two kids now in the house and stuff comes up. Kid gets sick and I'm right here. It's all good in the sense that I have flexibility, but if I drove two hours to work that wouldn't happen.”

Yes, stuff comes up. It’s hard to say, “No, I can’t help, I’m working.” And, of course, we want to help. But at the same time, we have deadlines to meet and schedules to keep up with.

Is there an easy answer? I don’t think so. It’s part of the tapestry of working from home.

If you have any insights into this aspect of working from home, feel free to comment.

When productivity tools become counter productive...

All too often we buy productivity tools, software and gadgets designed to help us get more done...but in the end they simply make us more busy and overly stressed.

When I wait at airports and see so many people thumbing their Blackberrys and speaking into their Blue Tooth phones, I ask myself, “Do these guys never just relax? Is it essential that they collect those messages and take those calls right now?”

For myself, I enjoy a little time when I’m out of contact with my email and phone. It gives my mind space to wander, to relax. While others are filling their time and minds with messages and phone calls, I’m taking it easy, and allowing my brain to wander off in different directions.

I might go into an airport bookstore and browse the bestseller business titles. Or check out the self-help section. I’ll glance at some magazine covers.

I can make a phone call at any time. But I rarely have the opportunity to browse through a bookstore. And sometimes I find gold in those titles and magazine covers. They give me ideas for articles and web pages. Even blog entries.

But I wouldn’t get those new ideas if I were being “productive” and catching up with phone calls.

Sometimes our efforts to be super-productive backfire on us. All we do is fill our time, and exhaust ourselves.

Far better, I think, to allow yourself some free time, and give your brain the opportunity to wander, and take you in new directions.