successful home working
Chitchat
Random work from home thoughts and musings
Home working neighbours
4
We moved to the mill nine months ago and part of the pleasure of living here is the wildlife we spot from our windows – no need even to put on a coat and go outside!
There are no sheep at the moment, they were moved after the ram had done his business, so we’re looking forward to their return with lambs in a couple of months. The chickens are the sole occupants of the field and very straggly some of them are. I keep meaning to find out if they are battery farm retirees. If so it must be a mind-blowing experience to come from a cooped -up existence to all this green freedom.
I have see the occasional fly and ladybird in the house throughout the winter and today there are midges dancing in the sunshine over the mill race. Long may this mild weather last.
A has seen a kingfisher flash past, and enjoys the dippers as they chomp up insects in the wall along the river, but the king of the mill is the heron, pictured here from our kitchen window waiting patiently for fish. It’s used to us now and doesn’t fly away immediately when we leave the house, pausing for a while before flapping languidly away upriver to settle on a treetop and wait for us to leave it in peace. I say king, and we always refer to it as a he for some reason, but it could equally well be a sheron, couldn’t it?
Staying warm in the winter home office
91 month ago
Much to my joy, the winter so far here in the SW of England has been wonderfully mild, and today is so warm, windy and dry I’ve just put some washing out. I’ve worked in a number of home offices over the years and picked up some tricks for staying warm while working from home:
Draughtproofing – last year we were living in a house with Victorian single-glazed windows and it was freezing. I kept some curtains closed all day, but this is too depressing for a room you spend a lot of time in. The house we’re in now has secondary glazing and it makes a noticeable difference.
If you can’t install secondary or double glazing, fill gaps between sashes and cracks in woodwork with draughtproofing foam. A home working friend tells me that the temporary secondary glazing kits you install yourself using tape and plastic film smoothed out with a hairdryer are also very effective.
Fill gaps around doors (not forgetting keyholes!), pipework and electrical fittings. Block up gaps in floorboards where cold air will come whistling through.
Follow the sun – copy the cat, the ultimate comfort-loving animal, and make sure you’re always working in a patch of sunlight. In our current house, my home office faces north and gets no sun at all, whereas A’s is on the opposite side of the house and on clear days is bathed in sun all morning. I sometimes take my laptop in there when he’s out. Not only is it warmer but working in sunshine provides such a psychological lift.
Thanks to wifi I’ve also been working in the sitting room window to take advantage, not only of the sun, but also the woodburner, which we both love. I find that working away from my usual spot also helps productivity, which gives me a warm internal glow!
Localised heating – home workers are often reluctant to keep the heating on all day when the rest of the family is out, and these days the cost is often prohibitive anyway. Once your home office is draught-free, bring in a space heater to keep you warm all day without busting the budget. Oil-filled radiators are highly recommended by a home working friend and apparently cost only pennies a day to run.
I’m hoping this winter will stay mild, but many home workers are guaranteed months of snow and ice – how do you heat your home office as economically and greenly as possible to stay warm over the winter?
Try KPI for yourself
7
I’ll be away from home attending the first of my Key Person of Influence workshops tomorrow, looking at perfecting my pitch with Mike Harris. He knows a thing or two about pitching, having raised hundreds of millions of pounds to set up First Direct and Egg!
I’m getting ready to go, but I’ve just received an email from Triumphant Events, the organisers of the KPI programme, with details of a Key Person Of Influence day event they’re holding in London on Saturday 30 October. So I’m publishing Friday’s blog post early so you have a chance to get a ticket at the special launch price, which is only available for a couple of days and includes a handful of bonuses.
As well as Mike Harris, the speakers are Mindy Gibbins-Klein, known as the Book Midwife for her work in helping people write and publish their books, Peter Thomson, UK expert in creating online information products, Penny Power, founder of Ecademy, Daniel Priestley, social media guru and MD of Triumphant Events, plus others to be announced.
Check out the Key Person of Influence day event if you fancy a taste of the programme I’ll be experiencing over the next 6 months.
That’s all – gotta dash!
And your time starts…now
151 year ago
A few weeks ago we were talking about procrastination, and ways of getting inspired to do something you’re putting off. I was interested to read iPhone/iPad developer Andrew Ebling‘s description of what works for him:
‘Breaking off a chunk of work that I think I can achieve in 25 minutes, writing this down, winding up the kitchen timer and working until it rings. Then I have a time 5 min break. It’s a trick borrowed from, or is rather the essence of, the Pomodoro Technique.
‘I’ve recently figured out an enhancement to this trick – as well as writing down what I hope to achieve in the next 25 mins (which I find in an important part of crystalising exactly what needs to be done), I also now write down the very next trivially small thing I need to do in order to get started. So for example if I’m preparing a presentation, it’s “Find the presentation template I was emailed the other day and open it in PowerPoint”. I really find this lowers the barrier for engaging in the task and then I tend to get on a roll and complete the task.
‘I think slicing tasks up is effective because it makes starting on seemingly over-whelming tasks much more possible, giving you a tangible amount of work you can do in manageable amount of time.
Ironically, it’s actually defining work to be done that seems to be 90% of the effort for me. It doesn’t take very long but requires the most mental energy.’
This sounded so effective that I have attempted the technique, but so far I’ve found that either I’m engrossed when the timer goes off, switch it off and just carry on working oblivious to time, or I’m on a roll and unwilling to stop. I’m going to persevere, though, because I think there are all sorts of reasons this is beneficial – to be more productive, move around more, rest the eyes etc.
Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside
15
A and I are back today after a few days in West Cornwall, where we took advantage of a 60th birthday party in Penzance to arrange a long weekend in St Ives. We managed to stay out of the rain and enjoy the sunshine when it reappeared and finally arrived home last night after squeezing every minute out of our allotted time!
As I had a very long day in London on Friday and we left for Cornwall on Saturday morning, I had no blog posts ready and waiting. So I took my laptop with the vague idea I could write something while I was there, using the B&B wifi.
Well, you only have to check this blog to find out how that worked out! I had thought maybe I could throw down some thoughts while A was surfing, but in the event my mind was far too busy relaxing and reviewing previous events to have room to create more posts!
Some people like to take away projects to work on during holidays, but I think it’s better for me to switch off and take a complete break before powering up again. I can always tell when I’m rested because ideas spring up spontaneously.
Thank you for the home working stories, comments and tweets that you’ve sent in since last week. You now know why there’s been a delay in responding. I’m currently doing my best to switch from beach mode to desk mode, but it might take a while!
What makes home workers happy?
251 year ago
I’ve been reminded by a tweet this morning by Heather Bestel that last week when I invited you to share your home working hurrays I called it Thankful Thursday.
Well, it’s Thursday again, it’s beautifully sunny, it’s the time of year I enjoy the most, and I’m fortunate to have a day without deadlines. My only commitment is meeting Louise Billington, an inspiring coach and much more for small business, for tea this afternoon to catch up with news. Tomorrow I’m off on the early train to London to hear Topher Morrison talk about the practical and performance aspects of becoming a professional speaker.
So this Thursday I have lots to be thankful for and I’m wondering if you’d like to take a moment to share the little things that make you happy and make a positive impact on your home working life?
