2010 seems to have been the year mobile gadgets have really become ubiquitous. Smart phones, laptops and the like are no longer just for professional uses. It's hard to walk through a public facility anymore without seeing people of all ages on their smart phones and mobile computing devices. As workshifters you know that the majority of the weight in any of your carry on bags these days is at least 50% gadgets and devices. Well, mine is anyway. The biggest challenge all of these devices bring us on a daily basis is having the ability to access the information you need from any of them.

Today I'd like to talk about an app that I use all the time and has been a lifesaver on many occasions: Dropbox. Dropbox gives you the ability to access data across a multitude of devices and share that data with anyone you allow access to.

Last year at about this time I was speaking at one of the biggest events of my life. While traveling on the plane to the venue my laptop screen decided it was going to just stop working. No warning and no Apple store in sight when I landed. Luckily, I had placed my presentation in my Dropbox folder and had it stored safely up in the cloud. 15 minutes after landing I sent a message to the event promoter and asked if he might be able to lend me his computer to do my presentation. He was more than happy to help me out and within 20 minutes I had alleviated the stress of having to give my presentation without slides.

This is the magic of Dropbox. Heck, my wife is as far from a geeky gadget gal as anyone but loves the Dropbox app! We place photos of our 12 week old son in the secure Dropbox and she then has the ability to show them to anyone that asks via her Andriod based smart phone installed with the Dropbox app without taking up precious memory space.

Dropbox can serve a multitude of functions but really excels with the workshifting professional that wants to have important backups and files easily accessible from any device with internet access. Give it a try today. they have a free 1 Gig plan as well as some paid plans.

Let me know what you think of Dropbox!


Photo Credit: Akakumo

Recently I polled some fellow workshifters on the twitter network asking about what some of their biggest challenges were when working out of the home office. It was an interesting find because quite a few folks said that the biggest challenges included trust and communications. After having been a professional workshifter for the past three years I can honestly say that I concur with this challenge. So how do we deal with them? I've created a few methodologies in which I live by on a daily basis. I hope these help. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Would love to get your take.

1. Always be honest. Recently I fell ill to a nasty flu bug and needed to take a couple days off to recover. I was very open and honest with my team and did everything I could to minimize the impact on the team for those two days. Look, people will see right through a lie. I've always found that being honest whether it's for a sick day, a family event, or anything really is the best policy.

2. Keep Good Logs. I keep logs of everything I do on a daily basis. For me this happens in two places. I use Evernote for my digital logs and a yellow note pad for quick notes and a second hard copy of my daily logs. Evernote is an application that runs in the cloud. You have access to these notes on any computer with the app installed as well as the majority of all mobile devices. I am an iPhone user and absolutely love it!

3. Don't flood the email. I have found that throughout my career it's best not to flood coworkers email. This is inefficient and wastes a lot of time. If I have questions I try to note them on my pad and send one email with all the items if possible. As workshifters I know there often feels like there is a disconnect between you and the main office so email is a great way to let everyone know you're busy. Resist the temptation and be conscientious of others time.

4. Clarity in Communications. make sure that you are clear on the methods of communications used by your team. Maybe they use Google docs and spreadsheets, maybe they are heavy users of GoToMeeting and Citrix products. there are many ways to communicate but be sure to find clarity there. If your organization has no clear communications system or methodology it might be time for you to do some research and lay out a plan!

5. Do Amazing Work. This one is obvious right? It's really hard for your boss to come down on you with fury if your work exceeds expectations. This is the number one way to build trust and make sure you are always in the communications loop!
 
What do you think?


Photo Credit: Assbach

Just recently, I found myself lying in bed at 1:30 am with my iPhone in hand answering emails and responding to people who I missed on twitter and Facebook that day. After switching off the device I realized that I was then spending another hour laying there thinking about the next day and how I might be able to work on the issues, problems or ideas presented in the emails. This sounds somewhat absurd doesn't it? I mean it wasn't more than a few years ago that you shut down the computer and that was the end of your day. Now we have mobile devices following us around and I know that I am not the only one perpetuating this issue!

I suppose you think that the rest of the article is going to be tips on how to find balance. Well, maybe a bit of it will be but I would really love to poll the readers of the workshifting blog on how you find balance! As remote workers and workshifters it feels second nature to pick up your phone during dinner to check your email. It feels natural to want to check the status on a project when you're really supposed to be focused on your kids school play. So what gives? Do we need to start setting up rules for ourselves? Here are two things that I am trying to reclaim a bit of sanity and hopefully make me more efficient with the time I am spending working.

1. Morning and Evening Email Redux - I remember hearing advice years ago saying that the worst thing you can do to yourself is watch the news first thing in the morning and just before you turn in at night. After all there is rarely anything good or uplifting on the news so why inundate yourself with that energy to start and end your day. I am going to apply this advise to email and social networks for now on. My advise would be to spend 15 minutes in silence each morning. Maybe visualize your day and set your wheels on the right track to move forward. Maybe it is talking a brisk walk before the morning shower. Either way I recommend clearing the mind every morning to get aligned. For those evening email and social media stints I recommend a good book. Read something enjoyable that settles the mind and leaves you with positive feelings. If you find yourself grumbling about the world forces around you each day, change the forces!

2. Reclaim the Weekend - Ok, so not all of us can afford to ignore our work life all weekend and maybe some of us are even scheduled to be actively working on the weekends. For those of you in that situation this should be called Reclaim a Day. I love my job and I love what I do. That being said it's important to disconnect and recharge for a day a week. I find this helps me immensely. Every Sunday i turn off the computers and leave the mobile devices to play sweet tunes in my ears rather than being a email machine or work device. I can't give you specific to do's here as we are all different but after chatting with a friend recently about this topic I told him to rekindle a passion. We grew up together golfing and fishing on the weekends as kids. Why not revisit some of those things? There is always time for yard work and chores. Go rekindle a passion.

These are two of the things I am doing to keep me fresh and creative. I would love to hear your thoughts. Are you able to put away the technology for a bit or are you checking your email at 1:30 am each night? What rules or habits have you created to help you stay fresh?


Photo Credit: Jorge Quinteros

It's 2010. The web is allowing us to collaborate and connect with people at a rate higher than any other time in history and people are becoming more conscious about the earth with the "Green Movement". I am not an expert on green by any means but I have recently done some research on saving gas that I would like to share with you. The workshifting community tends to spend lots of time on planes and on the go in their vehicles so I thought it might be of some interest how you can lower your carbon footprint and save a bit of cash at the same time.

Gas Saving Tips:

#1 Warming Up - It is a common misconception that a vehicle needs to be warmed up for a prolonged period of time. It is really not necessary. Avoid sitting in a running car for extended periods of time and shorten your warm-up times to 30 seconds or less.

#2 Fuel When it's Cool - When fueling your vehicle try to do this during the evening or morning hours when the air is cooler. Gas is denser in cooler weather. I can't give you the science behind it but it has to do with how the pump measures the volume of gas being pumped. Less density = less gas for the same amount of volume.

#3 Don't Whine - When sitting at a stop light don't whine or rev the engine needlessly. This will open the throttle and consume more gas getting you no where.

#4 Electric or Hybrid Vehicles - These vehicles are still about 15-20% more expensive than their gas guzzling equivalents. However, it might be worth looking into if you spend a lot of time in your vehicle. The decreased emissions, cost of gas and possible tax benefits may make it well worth the investment.

#5 Maintenance - Keep your vehicle maintained. Old spark plugs, dirty filters, improperly inflated tires and old oil can cause an engine to decrease it's efficiency by 10% or more. Maintaining a vehicle will not only increase overall efficiency but help maintain resale and trade-in values as well.

#6 Stop Hauling - Don't be that person that never unloads his/her vehicle. Carrying excessive weight will decrease fuel efficiency. Unload your vehicle after shopping trips and save gas!

There are many small things you can do to improve the efficiency of your car but these seem to be the biggest gas guzzlers. Feel free to share your green workshifting tips in the comments!


Photo Credit: Sausyn

Many of you who read this blog are probably users of social technologies like Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr. I know I am! The interesting thing is the way people use the technologies. For business for personal or combining the two you'll never see the same usage pattern twice!

I'd love to share a story with you that I wrote about some time ago but felt was a great story to revisit. It's called, "How Twitter Search changed the Life of a man in a coffee Shop"  Enjoy!

The Coffee Shop Chronicles
About a year ago now, I visited a great little coffee shop and lunch destination in a small town just outside of mine. I began to work away on the computer as usual when a very well dressed gentleman sat next to me presumably stopping for lunch. After I finished banging out an email he seemed to get transfixed by my laptop screen as I opened up tweetdeck and asked me if that was twitter. I told him that it was a third party application but for all intents and purposes, "Yes it is Twitter". He went on to say that he had heard a lot about the service, but really had no idea why he would want to use it. And that my friends was the beginning of his love affair with twitter.

The Job
I went on to ask this gentleman what type of work he did. He told me that he was an independent pharmaceutical sales rep and that he was trying to get established with some local doctors. He had been at it for about six months and had regular calls, but most of his accounts were on the smallish side. I decided to do an experiment with him and run a twitter search on the name of some of the companies he repped for as well as names of some of the key drugs he was selling. So we went forth and created a real time conversational search using my tweetdeck client and he was amazed at what he saw.

The Search
The search immediately revealed that one of the drugs that he was told to push by his distributor was possibly going to be pulled from the shelves by the government due to complications of taking the drug. He was flabbergasted and honestly didn't believe what he was reading. I mean you can't believe everything you read on twitter....right? Well, like any other source you must look into the facts deeper. We clicked a few links and checked a few websites and sure enough this drug was in danger of being pulled. At that point this guys mind was completely blown and he left the coffee shop in a bit of a daze.

The Follow-Up
Two days after our first encounter I saw this gentleman again at the coffee shop and he approached me with a glow on his face that had not been there two days before. He proceeded to tell me that he called on a doctor the afternoon after we had spoken and that he was going to be making a fairly large purchase of the drug that we found was in question. He mentioned to the doctor that he might want to hold off and that he had done some research during lunch that indicated problems with this drug and that it may get pulled. The doctor thanked him and he went on to his next customer. The real magic came the next day when the doctor called him back and thanked him for alerting him to the news before it officially broke. The drug did get pulled from the shelves and the doctor was thankful for his insights. On his next visit to that doctor he was not only given a larger chunk of his daily orders, but was given three referrals of whom that doctor called personally in front of him.

A Month Later
About a month has passed and I have seen this salesman since. He is a regular user of twitter for it's search and monitoring capabilities and he told me that his income has increased significantly due to the referrals that stemmed from this early information. He bought me lunch last time I saw him and I was happy to let him.

How have you seen social media tools change someone perspective? Are you using social media in your daily work flow?

Are you one of those perfect neat and tidy types? The kind that never have a pencil out of place or a double booking in your schedule? If that is the case then you really don't need to read this. However, If you are like the rest of the 99% of us....Read On!

Nope I'm not going to blather on about getting your life in order, and I'm not going to preach the latest five tips on how to keep a clean office. Rather, I'm going to tell you a story that just might hit home for many of you up to your ears in paper and stacked up coffee cups.

Years before I had this illustrious career as a glorified typist and web strategist I worked as a Chef in fine dining establishments. For those of you that have ever worked in the business you know that some chefs are the neat and tidy types while others have a lot to learn about keeping an organized work station. I happened to be in the latter group where the perception of speed and efficiency always seemed to trump organization.

About three years into my career as a chef I was offered a job under a classically trained French Chef at one of the finest Country Clubs in New York. I jumped at the chance assuming I would learn more from this man about cooking in a year than I had learned in all of the previous three combined. Little did I know Lesson One would be my first night on the line.

So you have heard phrases like, "We are throwing you to the wolves" or "You need to learn to swim sometime!" Well, that was my first Friday night at the Country Club. I had been working in this kitchen a total of three hours before the chef had posted me to the grille station for the evening. I would be cooking all grilled seafood and steaks that night! "Piece of cake", I told myself. After all, I had been working the grille in my previous job and it was a very busy place. I was up for this task. Of course, eager to please my new boss and pumped up on adrenaline I began prepping food for that evenings service. About 30-40 minutes into my prep work the Chef came barreling towards me. I was hoping he was coming to give me a pep talk and to wish me good luck my first night as part of his brigade. Unfortunately, it was not.

The Chef in all of his mighty wisdom whispered in my ear and said, "Look at your station.   You have knives and trimmings everywhere.  A cluttered workspace is a cluttered mind." and he walked away.

So my recommendation to YOU is this. If your working in a cluttered office.... get it uncluttered. I don't care how you do it. Wrangle up the kids, hire a decorator or whatever works for you, but don't put it off a second longer. In fact. Take a photo of the office before and take another with the office after. Post it online and share the link here with us in the comments!

Just remember the phrase from the wise old French Chef: "A cluttered workspace is a cluttered mind."


Photo Credit: NAIT

Working outside of a traditional office setting where you have colleagues and resources to draw on at all times can be difficult. If you work from a home office or space away from what your company considers 'home base' you know the added challenges. My name is Keith Burtis. This is my first addition to the workshifting blog but I have been a professional workshifter for three and a half years now and I'd like to share with you one of my weekly To Do's.

Break the Routine

So we have all heard of the importance of a routine right? Major league baseball players have a pre-swing routine, and workshifters tend to live and die by their routine and calendar. This may sound contrarian to all you have heard and learned about being an efficient worker but I'm going to tell you to Break the Routine! Do I mean that you should throw your life into a tizzy, start missing meetings and falling behind on your deliverables? No. However, what I am saying is, at least once a week you should step out of your pre-fabricated robot like routine and shock your system with something new!

Your asking me why? The routine works for you right? In fact maybe you have been following this exact routine for years and it's like the comfort blanket Linus from the Charlie Brown cartoon walks around with all day. The fact is this:

Change forces adaptation and adaptation increases strength.

Lets compare our work lives to physical fitness for a moment here.  Maybe even some of you have going to the gym a few times a week as a line item in your calendar. Why do you go? Many of you will say, To stay healthy, lose a few pounds or heck maybe to help break the monotony of your day. I'll tell you the real reason:

Change forces adaptation and adaptation increases strength.

By going to the gym and stressing your system on the treadmill or breaking down muscles by lifting weights you are forcing your body to adapt. Essentially, by adding a few clicks on the treadmill and a couple reps to your curls your body responds by getting stronger and healthier. This is why it is important to frequently change the routine of your workout to maximize results.

Can you see where I'm headed here? I don't want this to start sounding like a workout guide but rather a guide for life and work. Do you find yourself doing the same things every day? Expecting the same paycheck? Jut sort of....dare I say, Coasting? It's easy to fall into this trap, in fact it's human nature. However, for those of you that want to stay on top of your game, creative and fresh it's important to challenge yourself and step away from the routine every so often. please share your experiences here with us! If you think I'm off my rocker please share your thoughts

Photo Credit: Inoneear