HomeArchiveAboutDownloadsProductsContact Us

Recently in Holidays Category

3 Rules for Summer

By David Horne on June 9, 2010 11:20 AM | Comments | No TrackBacks
davidhorne6-9-10.jpegSummer is a hard time to stay focused.  The Sun is shining, flip-flops are on your feet, and the home office feels more like cell block 109 than a cozy work station.  Do you know the feeling?  I feel it every year the Mercury rises past 70.  To keep myself productive I gave myself a few "Summer Rules".  Maybe they will help you work smarter this season.


1. Own your calendar:  During the summer months the social calendar is more active.  There seems to be an endless number distractions to pull us away from getting work done.  I use Google Calendar internally, to schedule time blocks to accomplish my different tasks for the week.  I fill in the most important things as early in the day as possible.  I like using Tungle for my external meeting scheduler.  It integrates well with other calendars and has a cool "proposed times" feature.

2. Get outside everyday: I love the long days of April through October.  I start my workday an hour earlier in the summer.  This gives me more daylight to get outside and enjoy the afternoon.  You could take a 15-30 minute walk or work outside in the shade.  Your body will love the vitamin D and fresh air.

3. Unplug: This is related to #2 but is important to categorize by itself. Unplugging gives your mind time to reboot.  You will come back more focused and effective.  Use the off the grid time to enjoy the company of friends and family.  Experience the world around you.  Last week I saw a guy laying in a hammock with a cell phone to his ear and a laptop on his chest.  Really?

These are simple guidelines that help me stay productive during the summer months.  Most people get distracted too easily this time of year.  We relapse to our school days when we had summer break and could sleep in and shed responsibilities.  Today we don't have the same luxury with projects due and business to ship.  Don't give in to the summer blues.  Work hard and play hard.

What are your summer rules?

Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon

Workshifting Tips While on Vacation

By AJ Leon on January 1, 2010 12:51 PM | Comments | No TrackBacks
It's New Year's and as I write this I am within 100 yards of the immaculate Niagara Falls.  In aajleon-workshifting.jpg completely random sequence of events, I'm in an RV driving across the moose-filled terrain of Canada (For all you Twitter fiends out there, the hashtag for our current adventure is #rvcanada ). 

Melissa and I always take the last week of one year and the first week of the next and get as far away from life as we can in order to reflect about the past and dream about the future.  Technically, we are on vacation.  But just like most of you, we can't afford to be away from "work" for that long.  So what do we do?  We have learned the fine art of workshifting while on holiday.

I decided to shoot a quick video giving you a few tips for workshifting while on vacation.


Do you workshift while on vacation?  What tips would you suggest to others?

Photo by: melissaleon

Christmas and Workshifting

By David Baeza on December 18, 2009 9:47 AM | Comment | No TrackBacks
Ok, that title may alienate a few folks, but sometimes instead of "holiday", I just want to saychristmas-office.jpg Christmas!  Ok, I feel better.

As Christmas gets near I need to mentally prepare for in-laws, distant cousins, intoxicated relatives, long drives, delayed planes and a lot of general pain associated with getting to loved ones.  Once i'm finally in the mix, I find that I need to disconnect from the festive crowd, sit down and log-on.  I look to workshifting as break from all the human connectivity.  I need to interact with my online community, maybe check-in at Foursquare (wish it worked better on the iPod Touch), Facebook, read some blog posts and if I'm really feeling uptight, check work email.

It's exactly what I'm trying to escape when I'm on vacation, and yet I find it so comforting when I need to disconnect...from my vacation.  Weird, I wonder if some of you feel the same way?
I don't think this is a bad thing.  Many of us workshifters love what we do.  I happen to be one of those people.  Logging into work or joining an online meeting is sometimes just what the doctor ordered during the holidays.  So if you do it, don't feel bad. 

Many people will be doing the same.  Watch for this type of behavior:  Someone will be nodding their head like they are listening to you intently, slowly they will be backing up towards the hallway but being sure to grab a champagne cocktail on the way, then quietly dipping into an office.  They will sit down to the warm glow of the monitor and then a certain sense of calm will wash over them.  Ahhh.....

Is that you?  How do you workshift during the holidays?

Merry Christmas!

Photo by: dejahthoris

« Hiring Process | Main Index | Archives | Home Business »
  • Now
  • Overall
  • Our Faves
  • Workshifting
  • Christmas and Workshifting
  • Christmas and Workshifting
  • 3 Rules for Summer
  • Workshifting Tips While on Vacation
  • Workshifting Tips While on Vacation
  • Christmas and Workshifting
  • Subscribe to feed Subscribe to this blog's feed

Get every post in your inbox!

Enter your email address below and recieve each post directly to your inbox.

About workshifting

"If you work from your home, out of coffee shops, hotels, and airports every bit as much as the office, workshifting is for you. Tips, reviews, and opinions on the world of web commuting are what workshifting is all about."

Twitter | @WorkShifting

Flickr Feed | Photostream

Add a "workshifting" tag to your photos in Flickr to see them here

Featured Download


Featured Download

The purpose of this whitepaper is to quantify the benefits of workshifting -- specifically working from home -- has for employers, employees, and the community. "Workshifting - The Bottom Line" addresses this and is available to you for FREE. Download Now

Your Account

Creative Commons License
This blog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Categories

  • Air Travel (10)
  • Announcement (8)
  • App Review (5)
  • Applications (6)
  • Attire (1)
  • Balance (24)
  • Bartering (1)
  • Business (36)
  • Career (19)
  • Case Studies (3)
  • Case Study (2)
  • Cloud-Based Apps (5)
  • CoWorking (6)
  • Coffee (3)
  • Collaboration (21)
  • Communications (37)
  • Community (22)
  • Commuting (2)
  • Conferences (1)
  • Creativity (6)
  • Crisis (3)
  • Deal Making (2)
  • Disclosure (1)
  • Donations (2)
  • Download (5)
  • Email (4)
  • Employees (21)
  • Employers (14)
  • Environment (6)
  • Family (4)
  • Featured (30)
  • Fitness (4)
  • Focus (14)
  • Fun (17)
  • Generation Y (3)
  • Goals (4)
  • Guidelines (2)
  • HR (5)
  • Healthy (6)
  • Hiring Process (3)
  • Holidays (3)
  • Home Business (5)
  • Home Office (8)
  • Interaction (13)
  • International Travel (6)
  • Interview (2)
  • Lifeshifting (7)
  • Lifestyle Design (19)
  • Longevity (1)
  • Managers (19)
  • Marketing (5)
  • Mind-Mapping (1)
  • Mobile (10)
  • Motivation (5)
  • Non-Profit (1)
  • Office (28)
  • On The Go (45)
  • Organization (16)
  • Personal (11)
  • Personality Type (3)
  • Poetry (1)
  • Politics (6)
  • Presentations (5)
  • Productivity (59)
  • Professionalism (19)
  • Remote Support (6)
  • Research (8)
  • Resources (20)
  • Review (4)
  • Routine (9)
  • Sleep (1)
  • Social Media (7)
  • Software (5)
  • Sports (1)
  • Staycation (2)
  • Strategy (15)
  • Stress (5)
  • Technology (34)
  • Time Management (12)
  • Tips (93)
  • Travel (10)
  • Trust (6)
  • Unified Experience (19)
  • Video (28)
  • WiFi (6)
  • Work Environment (53)
  • Workshifting (228)

Monthly Archives

  • August 2010 (14)
  • July 2010 (37)
  • June 2010 (31)
  • May 2010 (25)
  • April 2010 (25)
  • March 2010 (22)
  • February 2010 (14)
  • January 2010 (13)
  • December 2009 (14)
  • November 2009 (16)
  • October 2009 (18)
  • September 2009 (18)
  • August 2009 (18)
  • July 2009 (19)
  • June 2009 (11)
  • May 2009 (11)

Tag Cloud

  • business
  • communications
  • employees
  • employers
  • featured
  • focus
  • fun
  • lifestyledesign
  • managers
  • office
  • onthego
  • productivity
  • resources
  • technology
  • tips
  • Tips
  • travel
  • video
  • workenvironment
  • workshifting

Citrix | Online
© Copyright 2010 Citrix Online. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy