There are thousands of books to choose from about what makes a successful entrepreneur; how to become a master at time management and so on.  Each of these books come with many nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned from them.  But as a workshifter, you probably just don't have the time to read all of these books, let alone put into place what you learn from them.

The fact is, solopreneurs are supreme jugglers, but even the most accomplished jugglers drop a ball at some point!
 
Over almost seven years of coaching people to run profitable businesses without running themselves ragged, the top five complaints I hear most often are:
 

1. "I feel overwhelmed and exhausted with too much to do and too little time."
2. "I know that I need to work ON the business, but I'm so busy working IN the business."
3. "I know what I need to do to grow this business, but there is never enough time to do it all."
4. "The business is doing ok, but it feels as if I can't quite make that leap to the next level."
5. "I feel like I'm just not planning my time effectively as I could.  I'm constantly fighting fires."
   

It's not hard to spot the pattern here - lack of time!  Solopreneurs tend to berate themselves for not having completed all of their gargantuan "to do" list at the end of each day.  But most of the time they have simply set themselves 12 hours of tasks to complete within a 6 hour day!  I know this because, while I'm superb at getting my clients focused and helping them to set up project plans to make their own businesses more efficient, I often forget to "take my own medicine"!
 
Solopreneurs are notoriously bad at setting themselves impossible targets and beating themselves up for not having achieved "the impossible".  The following tips are nothing new and you won't be bowled over with a magic formula for getting it all done.  There is no clever solution here, just time-tested stuff that you have no doubt heard before.  But whether they are old news or cutting edge to you, those who cultivate the following seven habits will find that they are more in control of their time, have less episodes of overwhelm and build sustainable businesses.

Seven Habits for Time Pressed Solopreneurs





Habit No. 1 - Learn to Prioritize


It is a truism that time is our most precious commodity and we just don't have enough of it. It's ironic that when you're doing something that you don't enjoy, the minutes seem to drag relentlessly.  On the other hand, when we are busy, time appears to fly and unless we grasp that time management is fundamentally about managing priorities rather than time, we are likely to feel overwhelmed.  

Professional coaching experts will tell you that time management is rule number one, but as we all know, time cannot be managed:  We each have 24 hours in the day, seven days in the week and no amount of wishing will give us that extra two hours a day!
 
Try this exercise for a week:  Evaluate all that you have to do for the week and take time to jot it all down in a list. You will need to allocate a priority to each activity and collate them into a realistic timetable. When you embark on this exercise,  it can seem daunting!  However, if you persevere, this can really pay dividends as you will start to grasp how you under-estimate and the importance of prioritization.   

Habit No. 2 - Don't Forget About You!



Remember to think about yourself.  Without rewarding yourself and enjoying valuable "me" time you will quickly burn yourself out and be far less productive.  The buck really does stop with you when you are self-employed.  Most solopreneurs are running micro-businesses where they are the chief bottle washer and cook!

So make personal time a priority and understand that this is not about being selfish, but is in fact a vital investment in your business and your life.

Habit No. 3 - Make Friends with a Little Routine in Your Life


Setting up a routine is one of the best habits you can practice. They say that it takes a minimum of 14 attempts at something before a habit becomes ingrained, and we all seem to work better if we adopt a routine.

While you might not like to be too structured, I would be surprised if you do not benefit from incorporating some routine into part of your daily business management.
 

Habit No. 4 - Block Out Time without Distractions


Don't let the myriad of communication methods become the enemy of efficiency.  You have to block out time when you can turn off not only your phone, but perhaps all those time-depleting social networking sites.  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, IM... the list goes on and on.  All of these new social media tools can be great networking and business generation tools, but more often than not, they can be great excuses for not doing the stuff that brings in the business.
 
So make use of time blocking or "do not disturb" time to focus on larger projects.  You can then allocate time to return calls once you've completed the tasks and projects that are essential to grow your business.

Habit No. 5  - Create Sacred Space to Work


Habit number five is about creating your own special and protected area. Many solopreneurs  run a business from their home. If you are a work at home entrepreneur, don't try balancing a laptop on the kitchen table and putting your file cabinet in your bedroom!
 
Wherever it is in your home, make your workspace sacred and ideally place it in its own room, off-limits to the kids when you are working. Design this room with efficiency and ergonomics in mind and don't use it for leisure purposes. If possible, have another computer set up elsewhere for personal use.

Habit No. 6 - Healthy Body, Healthy Business


If you don't look after your health, all the other habits will be difficult to maintain. Exercise and fitness must become a habit and you should plan on getting at least three exercise sessions in per week.
 
Do whatever is easiest for you to take on as a new exercise habit.  So if you don't live near a gym, it's unrealistic to plan to go to a gym three times a week, as you'll find that you don't have the time to travel to and fro.   Keep it simple - walking, running, cycling or dancing in front of an exercise DVD are all examples of keeping your body moving that are easy to adopt into your life as a mum.  And do what you enjoy - if you're not a sporty person, it's unlikely that you'll stick to a new habit of playing tennis each week.  One of my clients who hates the gym and all form of sports exercises keeps trim with her Wii each evening. 

Think laterally and do what works for you!  It doesn't matter what form of exercise you choose, providing you just get your body moving!

Habit No. 7 - Build a Superstar Success Team



You've heard the expression "no man is an island"?  None of us can run a business alone and we all need support in various guises.  Ask yourself what sort of support you need to become a highly successful solopreneurs and start to look for ways of building your "superstar success team".

But however you choose to build your team, don't try to do everything on your own as there is so much to be gained from seeking the wisdom of good friends, confidants, associates and professional experts. They can be superb sounding posts and linchpins to your business success!

Having read these seven habits, it's likely that you will go away and forget most of them!   So,  rather than trying to adopt all seven at once, thus dooming yourself to failure, choose just one habit, focus on it and practice and practice it until it truly does indeed become a habit (i.e something you do without even thinking).  Then, once you have adopted one habit, choose a second and so on.   


Easy does it - and remember to acknowledge each little achievement along the way!

About the author:

Amanda Alexander is a Professional Certified Coach who helps work at home professionals who long for more hours in the day.  Through her coaching programs and online coaching courses, Amanda helps people to create fulfilling and successful businesses.  Learn  more at www.amandaalexander.com

Photo Credit: derekGavey
 

Now that we're just about 5% of the way through 2010, you may be at that point where some of those New Year's resolutions you made just a few weeks ago are already starting to slip.  There is still time to recover and keep to those resolutions.  But, make sure we don't make the following mistakes or else you'll certainly derail yourself:

Ten surefire ways to fail your New Year's Resolutions!

1. Make huge, unrealistic and unsustainable resolutions like "Lose 6KGs in the next 4 weeks", "join gym and go every day" or "Go to bed at 9.30pm every night without fail"
   
   
2. Make sure you set the sort of resolutions that you think you should achieve, not those that really "pull" you towards them.  New Year's Resolutions have nothing to do with who you are and who you want to become.
   
   
3. Ensure that you make at least 5 New Year's Resolutions, preferably addressing every area of your life. That'll keep you busy for this first week of January!
   
   
4. Make New Year's resolutions into your one and only chance to change your life this year.   Keep telling yourself that if you fail now, you may as well give up and accept that you'll never make those positive changes.
   
   
5. Test your resolution at every opportunity. So for example, if you've resolved to give up smoking, hang around all your nicotine pals at every opportunity.  If you've resolved to be a calm parent when your children test you, make sure you are exhausted most of the time and that you haven't met your own needs first.
   
   
6. Remember that you must do it alone.  It's not up to any of your friends or family to support you in achieving your New Year's Resolutions.
   
   
7. If you've managed to keep your New Year's Resolution through to the end of January, don't give yourself a pat on the back. You have to keep on your toes, dammit!  Just because you've managed a month that doesn't mean you should reward yourself or acknowledge your so-called achievement in any way.
    
8. Ensure that  your New Year's Resolutions fill you with horror/dread/a sinking feeling every time you think about them (all ten of them). Nothing worth achieving was ever easy, was it? No pain no gain!
   
   
9. Compare yourself frequently with other people who appear to have achieved what you are trying to achieve with your resolutions.  Remember that whatever you achieve, there will always be someone who has achieved it faster and better than you.
   
   
10. Don't prepare for your resolutions at all.
    

Of course, I don't need to tell you that, in order to achieve your resolutions, the opposite of the above ten points apply!  However, let's get the positivity flowing for 2010, shall we.  Here are the ten tips that will increase your chances of success with your resolutions:

Ten Ways to increase your chances of succeeding in your New Year's Resolutions

1. Make small, achievable resolutions.  Instead of "Never lose my temper with my children again", try a resolution that addresses when and/or why you lose your temper.  It might be because you are tired, you are in a rush, and you've got too much on.  Which resolution might you choose that addresses one of the underlying causes of you losing your temper?  
Or try a more general resolution.  Try on "Be nice to me and my kids by ensuring I get my 8 hours sleep most nights".
   
   
2. Set resolutions that are a reflection of you and your values, not resolutions that reflect someone else's values.
   
   
3. This year, just try one or two resolutions.  Once you've achieved one (maybe you could set a realistic date), then try another.  Think quality resolutions rather than quantity.
   
   
4. You're bound to have days when you do less well in keeping your resolution than you'd hoped.  Don't define such days as failure. Instead use them to reflect and learn in order to do better tomorrow.
   
   
5. Just because you don't achieve 100%, it doesn't mean you've failed the test.  Treat your new year's resolutions in a similar way. Give yourself the best chances of success by keeping temptation out of reach. If this is impossible, then make a choice as to whether a tempting situation is going to mean that your resolution is not going to be kept on that particular occasion.  If you anticipate this and give yourself permission to "slip up", then you're more likely to keep with the resolution afterwards.
    
6. You're more likely to achieve your resolution if you get support from those who want you to succeed.  Note the careful wording there - choose your support team carefully and avoid the naysayers and false friends!
   
   
7. Build in celebratory milestones and acknowledge yourself for what you've achieved at each of those milestones.  I believe that people nowadays are starved of acknowledgement, and it's important that you learn to acknowledge yourself in all areas of your life, not just for your resolutions!
   
   
8. Choose resolutions that fill you with joy, peace or pleasure at the thought of achieving them.  Put each resolution through the joy/pleasure/peace filter. If they don't meet one, bin them!
   
   
9. Remember that comparison is the killer of creativity. This is your resolution - nobody else's!
   
   
10. Prepare!  The following questions WILL of course help you to prepare effectively for keeping your resolutions:
• "How can I give myself best chances of success?"
• "What must I do more of/start doing in order to keep this resolution?"
• "What must I do less of/start doing in order to keep this resolution?"
• "Will this bring me nearer to achieving this resolution or further away?"
  

Happy New Resolutions!

Photo Credit: beX out loud

In a recent cover story in Business Week, Gen-Y was painted as a helpless group. A large population that is settling for underpaying opportunities, moving into fields just to have a cube to call home or staying home with mom and dad while they wait out the Recovery Plan. Only 46% of people aged 16-24 had jobs in September of this year. Where does Gen-Y go?

School

They can head back to school. This certainly seems like a viable option. Learn more stuff and in turn, look more experienced or fit for a job a few years down the road. The options range from Grad School to Tech and Trade Vocations. While this may only dig you deeper into debt, it does prolong the idea of going out into the workforce and not finding something you love to wake up to do everyday.

Start a Business

Gen-Y can opt to start their own business. This is something that Gen-Y is taking to heart and in record numbers. Donna Fenn, author of Upstarts interviewed over 150 Gen-Y entrepreneurs for her book and was amazed at the growth, maturity and leadership qualities found in these young business owners. When we talked a few weeks ago, she mentioned that many of these companies (and not all are Internet companies) had better visions, customer service and creativity than most big businesses.

The Freelancing, Blogging, Career Hopper

A close friend of mine has had an awesome time in her 20's. Heading up organizations in college, landing internships with mega media companies and graduating at the top of her class was just the beginning. When she left UCF doors seemed to open for her. She started at a magazine as an assistant and left as an assistant publisher. Next was freelance writing, a little time off and some brand building. Next was an opportunity at a large production company running their marketing department part-time. With Fridays off, she was free to frequent the coffee shops, browse through Guru.com or eLance and pick the jobs for her price. Her latest opportunity brings her to a Fortune 500 as a contracted writer where she got to name her price and hours. This makes her an asset to the company, builds her portfolio and gives her the freedom to enjoy her 20's while focusing on her future.

Lifting Rocks

The case of my friend is not an uncommon path. Take a look at the bloggers over at Brazen Careerist. I bet over half have links to freelance design, consulting or coaching. Those same people are working full time, looking for new opportunities and building huge personal brands that will enable them to work on their terms with companies they believe in.

The Gen-Y's in the Business Week article are depicted as the victims. The jobless in a nation faced with major unemployment problems. I like to call them the unmotivated. There are jobs. There are opportunities. You just need to lift the rocks before you can look under them.

Gen-Y gets a lot of press for a bevy of reasons. I just wanted to point out that the do'ers, not the say'ers are today's hit makers and there are plenty of do'ers within Gen-Y. I know Donna can introduce you to 150 of them. Brazen another 500 or so. Let's go say hi.

Photo by: billaday

Today we have a guest post from Sean Ryan.  Sean is an research analyst with IDC focused on mobile enterprise software. 

Ok, now that I have pegged myself for a Led Zeppelin fan with the title of this post, I can get to the second reason I had for choosing this particular title. We all experience those days (probably more often than we'd like) where the deluge of new projects and urgent requests come pouring in all at once on top of an already steady stream of deadlines, emails, chat sessions, and the rest.

Being an effective multi-tasker is a skill unto itself - it is an even more refined skill for those of us working remotely and/or traveling for business. In some ways the technology being used by mobile workers today makes it easier than ever to multi-task and deal with urgent tasks. However, the myriad of applications and devices we use can have the effect of overwhelming us and creating a hurricane of activity that can actually make us less productive.

In a recent NY Times article about using smartphones to get work done while driving, a communications professor at Stanford, Clifford Nass, noted that the brain is "fundamentally built to unitask." So, that being the case, mobile workers need to be even more disciplined about prioritizing tasks, setting short-term goals, delegating responsibility, and following through with tasks since the distractions are greater and the layers of abstraction are greater.

Below are some of my recommendations for coping with the rushes when the floodgates do burst open. I'd also be interested to know your strategies for dealing with the deluge.

• Use the tools at your disposal, don't let them use you. I keep my IM open most of the time for quick communication without having to pull away from what I am doing, but when I don't want to be disturbed, I put that in my status and am usually even more specific with something along the lines of "researching and writing" as an added qualifier. This helps filter out some of the not-so-urgent requests, or diverts them to email where I can deal with it later and won't forget the details. I do the same thing if I am at an event with my BlackBerry, noting that I am at an event and using my mobile device only. Again, the channel is open for urgent requests only (at least in theory).
  
  
• Mitigate the inevitable by triage and offload. Emails, from the vaguely important to the totally useless, can seriously clog up your inbox and bury important emails in a sea of  unopened messages. The same is true for minor tasks, from a quick email response to a five-minute phone call to a calendar entry. I will often take a couple minutes in the evening and a couple minutes in the morning to go through emails on my mobile device or my home computer, delete the ones that are just spam, move others to respective folders for later, and be mentally prepared to address more urgent matters when I get into the office or start my workday from home. For quick tasks, I try to address them right away, to avoid the death-by-a-thousand-cuts when I have a larger urgent matter to address and the smaller, but still important, jobs to be done are still there to distract me and stress me out (which makes for poorer quality work all around).
  
  
• Always have a "plan B" for accessing critical files. Having more than one way to get at critical files while away from the office is always a good idea. This could be a combination of higher- and lower-tech means. For instance, you could use a remote access solution and also keep important files on either a laptop, smartphone, or USB device. Additionally, you could keep the files on a shared corporate drive and have a point person who could email them to you in the event of an urgent request. I'd recommend one method that leverages secure access to corporate networks, and one that has files securely stored on a local device.
  
  
• Prioritize and set realistic goals. Invariably you'll be in the middle of a couple of other things when the "drop everything and deal with this now!" phone call comes in. I find it best to work backwards by making an educated guess about how long the new project will take and how I will weave that deadline in with that of the other projects I've begun. In this process, I also ask myself some important questions: Which deadlines can be extended and which cannot? Where can I delegate or ask for help from colleagues?
  
  
• Take a deep breath and assess the situation before diving in. There are few things worse than panicking and over-reacting to a crisis without all the relevant information. Unless you are a first responder, taking five to 10 minutes to assess the situation, gather more information, and set a game plan is a very good idea. This also helps take the emotion out of the response, thus avoiding sending flamograms to our bosses or locking on to the wrong details and running full speed in the wrong direction.
  
  For mobile workers, this dynamic also applies to your environment. Say you're racing down the highway at 80 mph; it's probably a good idea to wait until you can get to a rest stop, assess the situation, and then respond accordingly.
  
  For remote workers, it is also important to know who you need to turn to for the right information and expertise when the problem is bigger than what you can deal with on your own; also, to know the best methods to reach those individuals who themselves may be remote or on the road.
  

As a workshifter, how do you manage crisis situations?

Photo by: jereandreagan

Today Zack Grossbart stops by to take a different take on distractions and focus.  Zack is the author of the upcoming book The One Minute Commute and writes over on his blog.  Zack focuses much of his writing on exploring how to build distributed teams using best practices from the high-tech industry.

Everyone knows that distractions make it more difficult to stay focused, but sometimes they make it easier. Have you ever fallen asleep during a long phone meeting? My father (a practicing psychologist) told me how distractions can make it easier to stay focused on the telephone.

When you talk with someone face-to-face you are getting a huge amount of information. Telephone conversations give your brain the audio information, but not the visual information. When it doesn't get the visual information from the conversation it will look for it somewhere else. Give your brain something more to do. Other people can tell when you lose focus on the phone conversation.

Use small distractions to help you stay focused:

• Visual distractions help you focus. Don't watch a movie (that is too distracting), but some low-key Internet browsing can work well.
• Do something with your hands. Play with a desk toy, pass a ball back and forth, knit, anything that you can do mindlessly.
• Walk around. Exercise is good for your brain and movement helps you focus.

Giving yourself small distractions while you are on conference calls will help you stay focused and be more productive.

Do you have a good idea for staying focused on the phone? Post a comment and let other people know.

Photo by: Robert Banh

It's great to stop working for a few minutes and get into the mind of an author that can really change the perception of your day and give you that kick in the butt you were looking for. I know sometimes working from home you need a little spark to turn off Hulu, the Wii or the kids. You need that light to go off. For me, I like looking into the strengths of others and seeing how they transcended their life, overcoming adversity or just said I am going for it.

This list is a god start and what I turn to when I am looking for some daily motivation.

4 Free eBooks That Rock My Day

The Zero Hour Workweek by Johnathon Mead

This is Jonathon's personal story of going from 9-5 to day job killer and breaking free from the constraints that were holding him back. This is a really meaty 60 pages that looks into how to get paid to be yourself with tips and insights into how grabbed over 10,000 subscribers to Illuminated Mind, writes for a top 50 blog, and created a full time income online.

279 Days to Overnight Success by Chris Guillebeau

Writer of the blog, the Art of Noncomformity, Chris has a nack for connecting with others by sharing his insights and instilling wisdom that really lights up the page. In this free resource Chris shares how he created his own brand, the motivation for his website and how he set himself free. This is really motivational and something that a lot of people can learn from, get excited about and do themselves!

How I Got 100,000 Subscribers in 2 Years by LeoBabauta

Most people in the blogging space know of Leo's story from humble beginnings to a book deal and total domination online with his suite of websites and products. Learning what Leo did right and wrong is motivation for anyone to become a rock star. His story is very possible for anyone and applying some of his knowledge in your business, whether it's big or small, can give you a jump start on the competition.

Spiritually Rich by Brooke Ferguson

Brooke, author of the Business Backpacker blog, wants us to think about our core, what makes us special and how we can use that to serve a greater purpose. The read is quick and exciting and offers those questions you need to ask yourself to get going for the day. To grab the eBook, you will need to opt-into her list, where she sends out very infrequent updates on working from abroad and lifestyle design.

So, that is my list. I am really interested to learn from you all as well. What gives you a quick jolt of energy when you hit that mid-day lull? Please share in the comments so we can make a great resource for people.

First off, let's throw the 80-20 rule out the window!

Many studies have been written about the importance of using your time efficiently.  We all know it.  We all know what it feels like to be exhausted at the end of day, and in hindsight, feel like we didn't accomplish anything.  Ever have one of those days?

I vote we throw the 80-20 rule out the window and crush it.  It's aspirational at best.  You know, the Pareto Principle.  As I browse Google for a definition I find the following; "...helps you manage those things that really make a difference to your results."  The key word, "results". There are good results, ok results, impressive results...  I think I speak for most when I say we want amazing results.  Amazing results are not achieved merely by checking off tasks.  It feels good, but what did you accomplish?

I think the best use of anyone's time is spent striving to be effective.  If you're like me and can't live your life out of a list with the three most important things at the top, than read on.  If that is how you are and you can be effective, then no offense, I'm impressed.

I measure my day by how effective I was at every turn:

Did I look into my Daughters eyes when she talked to me this morning, or did I continue to glance at the computer?  If the latter, ineffective.

Did I take over the meeting or allow others to contribute, come up with ideas and solve problems?  If the latter, effective.

Did I create the PowerPoint just before the meeting, or did I create a meaningful experience for the team by being prepared?  If not prepared, ineffective.

There are dozens if not hundreds of times a day you can choose to be effective.  Two of the three on my top 5 list may not be done yet, but if I can say that today I was truly effective, than for that day, my list is complete.

How are you effective?

Photo by: mag3737

I'm a big fan of Dan Pink.  First, it's hard not to like a guy who describes his former role as chief speechwriter for then-Veep, Al Gore, as his last real job; who describes his contribution to Yale Law School as being in the part of the class that made the upper ninety percentile possible; who's written three transformative best-selling business books, including A Whole New Mind, Johnny Bunko, and my favorite, Free Agent Nation which he ingloriously lists among "Other Projects" at DanPink.com. Oh, to be so good.

While his latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us won't be out for several months (December 2009), his recent presentation at TEDGlobal hints at what's to come. Corporate America, he asserts, is ignorant (my word, not his; but I'd be willing to bet that sentiment will come through in his book). Pink points to the fact that study after study shows that incentive-based management does not work. In fact, according to Pink, it's actually been shown to stifle creativity and reduce performance. Yet, the large majority of companies cling to carrot and stick-based motivation. When it doesn't work, they may try different vegetables and call it innovation, but the fundamental approach never changes.



What does motivate people? According to Pink, three things: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In short, people want to excel, they want to contribute, and they want to work on their terms. Hmm, that pretty much sums up freelancers and entrepreneurs doesn't it? We want those things so badly that we're willing to leave the safety of a paycheck, retirement plan, and job description to get them.

A handful of companies are finally getting it. Pink cites Google's policy of letting it's people spend 20% of their time working on something other than what they're supposed to be working on as a prime example of how well these principles work in practice. More than half of Google's new products are hatched during this "play time." Best Buy and others have achieved amazing increases in performance by letting their people work where, when, and how they want while only focusing on results only.

Two years ago, companies were jousting for talent. Then came the recession and with it layoffs, unemployment, and employee angst. In times such as these, people may be willing to settle for carrots, but this too shall pass. The factors that were predicted to lead to widespread labor shortages two years ago are still present. Smart companies are positioning themselves for the recovery. The ones that are willing to abandon management techniques that were shaped in the days of sweatshops and typing pools are not only going to grab the best people, they're going to empower those people be the best they can possibly be.

So, now I want to know what motivates YOU? Is it autonomy, mastery and/or purpose?

There is no one I know that exhorts the concept of working independently more than I do.  If you've ever read any of my posts, I probably seem like a creepy Workshifting Evangelist, preaching down the archaic, dehumanizing cubicle farms that rich executives use to subjugate their employees because it feels better than empowering them...okay, there I go again.

However, if there is one thread of verity that we should embrace from the tyrannical enclaves of the traditional corporate world it is this.  Routine is indeed important.  In fact, I would actually posit that maintaining some construct of routine is far more important for a workshifter than for a traditional employee.  Now let's back up for second, by routine of course I don't mean "9 to 5" routine as I feel that as workshifters we inherently (and intentionally) smudge the lines between work time and play time.  What I do mean is a daily schedule, some regiment or form to your day that makes it both productive and effective no matter where you find yourself.

But developing some sort of daily architecture or schedule is of incredible importance and here's why.  As independent workers, workshifters, digital nomads, whatever you want to call us, we are agile. We are flexible. We are mobile. We use technology to allow us to make a living while working from coffee shops and airports!  It's nuts!  I literally feel like I am living in Back to the Future II sometimes, minus the hoverboards (much to the chagrin of all children of the '80's).  

However, as with most freedoms, the converse serves up an equally potent dystopia.  Mobility is freeing for sure, but if we don't watch it, we can very easily become unproductive and inefficient, and being that we report to...ourselves, this can obviously become a dangerous cycle for our careers and livelihood.  Embracing mobility without some form of daily structure can lend itself to anarchy.  Outside of a formal schedule, it's just far more natural for us to devolve into disorganization and scattered efficacy.  In other words, we can find ourselves either "putting out fires" or finding new stuff to worry about 90% of the time, while actually accomplishing "real" stuff 10% of the time.

Most people don't realize this, but workshifting isn't new, it's just much more easy than it used to be.  Winston Churchill is the greatest workshifter of all time.  Apart from being arguably the most influential statesman in the 20th Century, the guy is like the Godfather of all workshifting.  During the period of the Second World War, Churchill traveled well over 100,000 miles to meet with national leaders and visit Allied Troops!  But let's remember that Churchill wasn't a General, he was the Prime Minister of the British Empire.  He was the first one to call Hitler out, was instrumental in crafting most of Britain's war time strategy, personally recruited most Allied nations (oh by the way, including the US), signed dozens of treaties, gave literally hundreds of public addresses, weathered two heart attacks, almost fatal pneumonia, and ran the most expansive empire in modern history AND he managed to do all of this while working in underground bunkers while in London as it was being decimated by Nazi V1's and while traveling 4x the circumference of the earth!

What is even more remarkable is the stark contrast between Churchill, FDR, and Stalin.  FDR worked from the White House, leaving only a handful of times during the War and Stalin literally got on one plane during the same period!

Churchill was said to have accomplished all this and work until the age of 90 by maintaining a rigorous routine.  Recently, I visited the the Churchill Centre and Cabinet War Rooms in London. I was trying to figure out how in the hell he was able to accomplish everything he did while traveling so damn much.  And there it was. In the "Grey Section" of the museum, there was actually a little case devoted to his legendary schedule, which he maintained irrespective of what was happening around him or where he was in the world.

It made me realize how much work I have to do in this arena, and since I've returned to NYC, I have started taking my Google Calendar much more seriously :)

Have you developed a routine that helps you maintain productivity?

What are some tips or tricks you can share with us?

Super Secret Workshifting Tip:

Later in his life, when Churchill was asked by Walter Graebner from Time-Life how he was able to work so many hours and maintain such a rigorous schedule, he was quoted as saying:

"You must sleep some time between lunch and dinner, and no half-way measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That's what I always do. Don't think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That's a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one-well, at least one and a half, I'm sure. When the war started, I had to sleep during the day because that was the only way I could cope with my responsibilities. Later, when I became Prime Minister my burdens were, of course, even greater. Often I was obliged to work far into the night I had to see reports, take decisions and issue instructions that could not wait until the next day. And at night I'd also dictate minutes requesting information which my staff could assemble for me in the morning--and place before me when I woke up."

Churchill continued: "But a man should sleep during the day for another reason. Sleep enables you to be at your best in the evening when you join your wife, family and friends for dinner. That is the time to be at your best--a good dinner, with good wines...champagne is very good...then some brandy--that is the great moment of the day. Man is ruler then--perhaps only for fifteen minutes, but for that time at least he is master--and the ladies must not leave the table too soon."

Photo by: melissaleon

It's true: I do some of my best thinking on my bike. Or while swimming laps. Or sitting on a snowy chairlift during a powder day. And one of the great advantages of workshifting is, I can do all those things while I'm supposed to be working--because, while I'm doing them, I usually am working.

Here's the thing: Most of us don't spend enough time thinking at work, at least not about work. We spend plenty of time doing things, or asking others to do things. We spend plenty of time procrastinating, and thinking about other things (like what to have for lunch, or who to invite to our child's first birthday party). We certainly spend plenty of time talking, discussing, reviewing, brainstorming and otherwise "meeting." But we really don't spend much time at all just thinking. And that's a problem, because the only way any of us can come up with new, better ideas is to think about them.

But then again, the fact that we don't think nearly enough is not really surprising. After all, with the exception of highly-trained academics, who among us can really think while sitting in an office chair, staring at the wall? No--don't check your e-mail, don't tweet, don't post a status update to Facebook ("I'm trying to think!"), don't check your favorite web sites for news and information... just sit there and think. It's pretty much impossible.

On the other hand, there's not much to do but think when you're riding a bike for an hour, or swimming back and forth in a pool, or staring into deep, drifting snow banks from 15 feet up. And that's why I consider my time out of my office chair to be some of my most productive. I use it to analyze new research data, to formulate ideas for client presentations and PowerPoint slides, to evaluate where vendors and markets are and where they're going, and, yes, even to come up with ideas for blog posts.

Of course, there are downsides to thinking on the go. For one thing, there's no guarantee that the ideas that pop into your head will be work related. For that, you need to focus on business--I've gotten pretty good at it, and I liken it to yoga, where you try to clear your mind of everything but your mantra. In this case, you're clearing your mind of everything but the business topic at hand. Also, there's usually no way to write down your ideas, so you have to get good at remembering them on the fly. That, too, takes discipline and practice, but the skill is one I've found useful in many other areas of my life, so I'm happy to hone it.

The great thing about work shifting is, most of us can sneak out of the "office" for an hour of uninterrupted thought. But don't feel guilty about it--you're probably being more productive than your cubicle-bound colleagues. And, you're getting some exercise, to boot!

Where do you do some of your best thinking?

Photo by: mtsofan