Feng Shui Studies

A blog entry I read by MaryPat Kavanagh, President & Owner of Strategic Results Marketing LLC, called 5 Joint Venture Time-Saving Tips, got me thinking about how I could improve my work habits. This article is focused on relationship building and offers some very useful suggestions. I especially like create a system for what to do and when to do it.

What I have found to be key for me and the way I work, is to create the system, or the idea, and to expect  there will be a certain amount of  necessary background work involved to get it going smoothly. Sometimes the string of tasks needed to be done to keep that appointment with yourself isn’t obvious until you begin.

For example what I really need is to set up blocks of writing time. In my home office there are so many distractions that getting to my priority (writing) too often feels like a luxury. I can manage deadline driven writing tasks, but otherwise it is surprisingly difficult to get around to writing regular posts, and I am nowhere close to Twitter updates — even though I have identified writing as a personal and business priority.

Funny how that works. I love the idea of having a portable office – of say, doing my writing in a coffee shop, away from the distractions of a home office. Going outside, even to the coffee shop next door, focuses and structures my time. And of course there is the coffee and the music and the interesting people who come in. 

As part of creating my system I invested in a tiny netbook laptop computer (under 1 pound!). The laptop I choose has a 9 hour battery life so that I can confidently pack up for a days’ writing without needing to pack the power adapter. I scheduled time this week and set out.

It quickly became apparent that my plan needed some fine tuning as I met with one problem after another. My plan was to  use  the free wireless Internet at the coffee shop, but I couldn’t get connected. I spent a  good portion of my time trying to solve it. Now the lack of Internet wasn’t necessarily a drawback, but in my mind’s eye, I saw myself writing and posting in my portable office. So automatically I wanted to be on my WordPress account. Eventually I gave up on the wireless and connected to the Internet through my iPhone.  Unfortunately as soon as I plugged it into my computer it began charging the phone, and rapidly drained that lovely 9 hour battery. In the end I barely got 2 hours usage and didn’t get even one article complete.

I would amend that Create a System to Create a System and Work out the Bugs. It might take a few trial runs.  I will be fine tuning my portable office over the coming weeks, working out those bugs. I’ll keep trying until I have an ideal work system in place.

What about you? Have you created a work system?  Was there anything you needed to do to make it work for you? 

© Deborah Redfern 2009. All rights reserved.