« Parsing the Home Office Day to Boost Productivity | Main | Tech Balances That Place Called Home Office »
From Day to Week, Maximize Your Home Office Time
By Jeff Zbar | January 15, 2009
It’s one thing to look at your work life day by day.
But what about a week-long snapshot?
A day-long view tends to keep us focused on the day itself. But by taking that longer view we can take five days, and parse them into bite-sized, more manageable bits.
It’s not about some grandiose plan here. You don’t want life’s plans to be big and overwhelming.
Monday: I’m going to look at my week ahead, categorize or triage those projects that must be done sooner — or later.
Tuesday: I’ve dealt with some tasks that needed doing, but still have an eye on the week’s remaining days.
Wednesday: It’s hump day. I still have stuff to do, but now I’ll start taking that look toward Friday, which might include prospecting, new business development, and even stuff for the next week.
Thursday: Ah, I love Thursday. That Seinfeld frame of mind, when people are loose of mind, and ready to talk new business or prospecting. In my own home office, I’m also ready to do some mental clean-up of my own. I’ll do some work, handle some tasks, and along the way, check off some completed items.
Friday: I’m almost ready to call it a week, but I know I have some final items to be tackled. Maybe it’s prepping a project for next week, or just putting the fininshing touches on something I dealt with this week.
By the time the week is through, I’ve mastered much of my work and many of my tasks. Deadlines have been met, details handled, prep-work for coming projects laid in place.
And if you review what we just did, nothing was focused on Today. It was all focused on the future, but the day’s stuff got done (of course, as a work-at-home father of three, I deliberately avoided any mention of kids and the issues they tend to bring. Those curve balls are for another column).
By focusing on tomorrow instead of the here and now, we were able to accomplish a few projects and advance our work. It’s almost conscious avoidance.
Pretty simple, if you don’t think about it…
ShareTopics: Time Management | No Comments »