successful home working
Posts tagged emails
Just do it (but what?)
141 year ago
I like today’s Watercooler post entitled Doing Things. David Wike is quite right in saying that in keeping on doing things we will increase our chances of success even if we experience failure.
But which things? Some things are more likely than others to enhance our business, get more clients, make us better known or achieve a particular goal. The trouble is that there are so many other things that can keep us busy and provide a sense of achievement, but that will have very little impact on our progress.
Now I’m on the Key Person Of Influence (KPI)
programme I have lots of big goals to work towards, but I’m finding it’s all too easy to let the day-to-day routine stuff take up my time and then end up wondering where the day’s gone. It’s amazing how quickly the little things clog up your attention if you let them.
I have a ‘buddy’ on KPI who is working hard on writing a book and we have agreed to send each other regular stern emails to keep each other up to the mark. So I will send ‘How many pages did you write today? How many do you plan to write tomorrow?’ and after I’ve explained how I’ve been derailed by an uncooperative piece of software he sends ‘Full draft by next Monday.’
Makes me laugh, but I also take it seriously. It helps that we don’t know each other at all apart from brief meetings at KPI. Doing this with a close friend just wouldn’t work for me, I’d be too happy to fob them off!
Inbox blindness
4As a minimalist by nature, I hate it when my inbox contains more emails than I can see all at once – when the dreaded scroll bar appears at the side. Although usually ruthless with the delete key, I like to keep messages there in full view until they have been dealt with, in the belief that seeing them there will remind me to do whatever’s required. But sometimes they build up and I somehow stop seeing the ones towards the bottom.
So my apologies if you’ve had a delayed response from me – it’s nothing personal, just a kind of inbox blindness. And yes, I know I give some cleverclogs advice in my book Work from Home about dealing efficiently with emails (page 89 if you’re interested), but it’s so much easier to give advice than to follow it, don’t you find?
7 Tips to Work from Home Successfully
133 years ago
Home working is a common dream for the many people who commute and are office-bound. The reality of working from a home office, however, is that it can be lonely and unproductive. I have worked from home for many years and these tips are the product of my own experience.
I have found that the key to being able to work happily and successfully from home is to create a strong structure for your working days.
If you work with other people, you are automatically part of a dynamic system which demands your participation. It may sound blissful to be away from the office politics and the constant interruptions, but it is difficult to achieve anything if it feels as though you are all alone and there are no consequences if you don’t get on with your work.
I have developed the following habits for building a structure for home working through trial and (much) error:
1. Have an established routine for starting your day. For example, after breakfast, browse websites you have found in magazine and newspaper articles or promotional material, have a look at your favourite newspaper’s site, log into your business bank account and check your e-mails – suddenly you are into work mode without any pain!
2. Make your phone calls straightaway – speaking to other people will give you energy and will probably provide some deadlines or help to prioritise your work.
3. Make yourself part of a web of business associates which may include any or all of the following – clients, suppliers, sub-contractors, employees, people doing a similar job. The more you feel part of something outside yourself and your own home, the more motivated you will feel.
4. Go along to networking and training events – never think you ‘don’t have time’. Taking a break away from your desk will re-energise you and give you fresh ideas for tackling problems which seem insoluble if you keep going over and over them.
5. If it’s all getting heavy and too much like hard work – stop and do something you enjoy, preferably away from home. Go for a walk, get a coffee at your local cafe, meet a friend. When you come back, you will be in a totally different frame of mind and what was so difficult before will just flow.
6. You have the flexibility your office-bound friends are so envious of, so use it! Combine something you enjoy with a business errand – after a business meeting, have lunch out, do some shopping, have a walk in the park.
7. Remember that sometimes it is just really hard and you may feel overwhelmed. At times like this, refer immediately to point 5 above!
