This week, my husband was laid off for the second time in five years. This one hurts more than the first. At that time, I held a corporate job, so our health insurance and other benefits remained intact. But I became a full-time freelancer after he found a stable job with benefits. Now that’s all gone or won’t be around for long.
After I stopped reeling, it was time to start dealing. And deal I did — by taking these actions. Read the rest of this entry »
With all the noise from the Internet, our computers and our environment, some folks struggle to work and focus even for 10 minutes straight. In this post, I’m going to offer some ways you can stop the distractions so you can get your tasks done. Read the rest of this entry »
My lack of routine in recent weeks has made it abundantly clear how important routine can be for productivity, for creativity, and for creating a life by design rather than by default. The key, though, is making sure to develop a unique routine deliberately, with intent and purpose.
Successful musicians, athletes, writers and entrepreneurs all have one thing in common: They practice their craft, and then they practice some more. They dedicate time for practice by creating structure in their daily lives. By establishing their own unique routines, they ensure progress is made in the most important areas of their lives on a regular basis. Success is about consistency, and there’s no better way to establish consistency than through daily routine and habit.
I’m still trying to figure out a good routine for me, but I’m fairly confident it will follow a few basic principles. Read the rest of this entry »
Web apps, computers and smartphones are all key tools in my web working arsenal, but using only those things alone, I doubt I’d ever get anything done at all. Instead, to help boost my productivity, I supplement the obvious utilities and devices with some perhaps unexpected ones, upon which my sanity largely depends. Read the rest of this entry »
Recently Get Rich Slowly did an excellent article on Getting to Now: How to Beat the Procrastination Habit, with good tips on doing things immediately instead of putting them off.
While the article doesn’t address this directly, the Habit of Now is one of the most important factors in how organized you are. If you want to get organized, you must develop the Habit of Now.
The other important factors in getting organized? There are three:
- Have a place for everything. If you have an item in your hands, you should know where it belongs.
- Put everything in its place. Instead of just tossing a paper any old place, or pasting a scrap of information in a random text file, put it where it belongs.
- Keep your information in one place. This is related to #2 above, but if your information is in multiple places, you’ll waste time looking for it. Try to keep everything centralized, to save time and searching.
But even with those three factors, if you don’t develop the Habit of Now, things will fall apart. Instead of stacking a bunch of papers to put away where they belong later, do it now. If you don’t have a place for something, such as a folder, make one now instead of later.
Read the rest of this entry »
Logging whatever is important to you can be one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal, whether it’s logging the time you work on any project, online activities, spending, progress towards a goal, reading, exercise and food consumption, or anything really.
But developing the habit of logging can be intimidating or frustrating for many people who’ve tried it for a few days and failed.
Logging anything is a habit, and just like any other new habit, it can be a challenge to develop. But it doesn’t have to be difficult, and certainly not impossible.
Read the rest of this entry »
This week, my husband was laid off for the second time in five years. This one hurts more than the first. At that time, I held a corporate job, so our health insurance and other benefits remained intact. But I became a full-time freelancer after he found a stable job with benefits. Now that’s all gone or won’t be around for long.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
