Like many people, I spend a lot of time traveling.  And, I don't mind it but I'm always looking for things or ways to make traveling a bit more like home.  It's amazing how one or two little conveniences can relieve insecurities when you're in an unfamiliar place, new hotel surroundings, etc.

Interestingly enough, the topic came up at a recent conference.  What do you travel with that makes life a little more bearable so you can focus on the task at hand...which is work?  Here's what we came up with:

1.    Outlet - Maybe it's just the hotels I frequent, but they never seem to have enough outlets or they have them in the wrong places.  That's why I carry a 3 plug extension that also has 2 USB outlets.  It's small and I don't have to worry about cords all over my hotel room.  I can get work done and charge my gadgets at the same time.

2.    Book Reader - After listening to my friends rave about their electronic readers, I'm gonna have to break down and get one of these.  And now, there are many different kinds to choose from.  Besides the obvious advantage of not taking up a lot of space, there were a couple other benefits that intrigued me.  One was always having the latest and greatest sellers available; you can also pre-order books and have them delivered right to your reader.  But the biggest for me was the reader will stand up on a table.  I often travel alone and eat meals by myself...so being able to have something to read is important.  Having a reader stand up on a table is a great solution.

3.    Coffee (or tea) - There's nothing worse than waking up to terrible hotel coffee or tea.  In tiny cups.  So if you're like me and need that morning caffeine - even before I venture out to find a Starbucks - bring a couple of small disposable condiments with you.  For example, I'm a big fan of vanilla - and I've found vanilla instant coffee, vanilla creamer and even vanilla flavored sweetener.  Friends have done the same with their hazelnut fix.  And, I bring a travel size coffee mug.  I can use it for water on the plane then coffee in my room.

4.    Exercise - I'm not as good with this one as I should be but I do try to get in some exercise when I'm on the road.  And because sneakers can be bulky and hotel gyms can be expensive, I bring resistance bands.  They really work, take up virtually no space and I can exercise in my room.

5.    White Noise - Getting a good night's sleep is essential.  Otherwise you'll need to pack a lot of coffee (see #3).  One of the things that helps me sleep is having noise, similar to house noise, in my room.  I have apps on my iPhone that create white noise (or other sounds) to help me sleep.  If you don't have an iPhone, there are travel alarms that include a white noise feature.


Whether you're gone for one night or a week, being comfortable when you travel allows you to be productive and do your best work.  What comforts of home do you bring with you when traveling?

Photo Credit: ThinkPanama

Today Andrew Millard stops by from across the pond to give his input on how to retain business continuity in the face of the unexpected.  Andrew is the eCommerce Director of EMEA at Citrix Online.

This winter has seen some extreme weather conditions on both sides of the Atlantic with snowfall causing havoc for businesses and employees alike. Of course, as savvy workshifters know, it doesn't have to be like this! But the sad fact is that there are many who are just not as prepared for these unexpected conditions when they occur.

In the UK, we conducted some research during the heavy snowfall that hit in January and found that the cost of the inclement weather was £1.35bn in lost productivity for British businesses in just one week!

In addition to this, we found that despite 78% of small businesses saying they were prepared to cope with the snow chaos, over half admitted that their business suffered as a result of the winter weather.

When we look at the impact on employees, around a quarter of British workers claimed they lost more than five working hours, with as many as 124 million working hours estimated to have been lost in total.

Let this be a warning!

But now is not the time for us to breathe a sigh of relief.  More snow is predicted, and it's just one of any number of unexpected events that can prevent workers getting into the office. During the rest of the year we're likely to face a gamut of other incidents that will make life hard for employees and employers, whether its strikes on public transport, natural disasters or something totally unexpected.

So for all those businesses that were impacted by the snow, now is the time to get your business continuity plan in place, so that next time round there will be no nasty surprises and you have the right processes and technologies in place so productivity losses are avoided.



And it doesn't have to be hard! Here are my five top tips for businesses on how to prepare for the unexpected:

1.    Communicate clearly in advance - make sure your workers know what they need to do if they can't get into the office

2.    Equip employees with the right technologies - remote access and Web conferencing tools can help them remain productive even if they can't get to their desk

3.    Talk to your customers - Phone redirects and remote access software will allow you to go about business as usual, but if clients or customers are likely to be affected let them know as early as possible and keep communication channels open

4.    Consider alternatives - Travel to the office or to client meetings may be impossible, but instead of canceling, conduct the meetings online instead

5.    Put in place a business continuity leader - if the unexpected happens, it's wise to have one person in your organization responsible for coordinating efforts and informing all staff of the potential impacts and company policies


What will do you to prepare for the unexpected?


Photo Credit: Anirudh Koul

When I started my consulting business eight years ago, I heard tons of advice about setting up a home office.  Everything from - "don't do it" to "it will take two years to get used to it."  While on the surface, hearing the words "work from home" might conjure up the somewhat blissful vision of a person working in their sweats all day, having a home office does take some getting used to.  And in order to be successful, you have to plan the environment for your needs.

If you think about it, when companies design work spaces they do it for maximum efficiency and productivity.  When you make the decision to work at home, you want to focus on the same things.  Create a space that allows you to be comfortable, efficient and productive.

7 Considerations for Setting Up a Home Office

1. Location, Location, Location - Think about the best place in your home to designate as work space.  Not only should you think about how much space you will need, but whether or not the space needs to have a door or window.  For instance, having a window doesn't matter to me.  But having a door does.  I need to be able to separate myself from work.  And, the best way to do that...is by closing the door.
   
   I also considered the temperature of my house.  My home has an east-west facing.  Meaning the back of the house is warmer toward the end of the day.  So I intentionally have my office at the front of the house.  It stays cooler and I don't have to deal with too much sunlight.
   
   
2. Ergonomics - In order to do your best work, you have to be comfortable.  And, that comfy sofa in front of the plasma TV starts looking real good after a couple hours in a poorly designed workspace. Your office chair needs to properly support your back.  If you'll be working on a computer from home, make sure you have proper lighting and wrist rests. 
   
   I know this might sound elementary, but you'd be amazed at the people who don't consider taking good care of their posture in designing a home office.  It's one thing to jump in a chair and send off a few bills from a desk.  That takes minutes.  It's another thing to work for hours.  Reading a few articles on how to take good care of your movements will make you healthier and more productive.
   
   
3. Communication Musts - One of the keys to working from home is being accessible.  I've always found my clients didn't care where I was as long as (a) they could reach me and (b) I delivered on time.  This means how you communicate is key, because you are establishing your credibility and creating trust.
   
   Many people use their cell phones as primary communication devices.  Which is great.  I love my iPhone and use it all the time.  But I also know there are a couple of places in my home that the coverage is spotty and I could drop a call.  So I have a landline backup.  Nothing is worse than being on an important conference call and getting dropped off the line.  I'm not endorsing one way over another...just keep in mind how you need to communicate when setting up your office.
   
   Also when it comes to phone coverage, think about whether voicemail, forwarding services and applications like Google Voice make sense to keep you connected to your customers.
   
   My last two-cents about phones - one of the best investments I made was a wireless headset.  If you spend a lot of time on conference calls, this could be a lifesaver for you.  It's also great when you're on a call and someone wants you to sign for a package.  Multitasking at its best.
   
   In planning your communication needs, consider other electronics.  I know faxing can seem old-fashioned, but some places still use it.  A lot.
    
   
4. Technology - Talking about communication leads to discussions about the internet.  If you have multiple computers in your home, a wireless network might be necessary.  I've had plenty of occasions where the Ethernet cable wasn't working but the wireless network kept me up and running until a repair was made.
   
   Ever lost a document you spent hours creating because the electricity blinked?  Well, don't let that happen.  Get a battery back-up (also known as a UPS - Unlimited Power Supply) for your computer.  Trust me.  It's money well spent.
   
   I also can't resist sharing my technology indulgence.  Dual monitors.  Years ago, the graphic designer who worked on my website suggested it.  If you spend a lot of time on computers, it will completely change the way you work and your productivity.
    
   
5. Storage - As you finish projects and/or accumulate resources, you'll have to find someplace to keep all of this "stuff."  First, I'd suggest contacting an attorney who can offer some advice on how many years you need to store projects. 
   
   After you know how long to store files, consider how you'll maintain both electronic files and hard copy.  And how you'll dispose of them as well.  I've found a wonderful service that brings a truck to my door, destroys files on-site and provides a certificate they've been destroyed.  So I can rest assured that any confidential info that has been entrusted to me by my customers is safe. 
   
   It goes without saying that I use a personal shredder for everyday items.
   
   
6. Find Your Zone - Working from home can be a blessing and a curse.  Need to take 5 minutes to make a personal phone call - no problem.  Want to work in your pajamas, no worries.  But it also means that work is staring you in the face all the time. 
   
   While you might enjoy what you do...you still need time to disconnect.  Figure out a routine that works for you.  When I first started working at home, I was so concerned about falling into the trap of being undisciplined that I made myself miserable.  After settling into a schedule that allowed me to do some things that were important to me - like working out - I was happier and more productive.
   
   
7. Marketing your office - Even though you work at home, you still want to send the message that you're a professional.  So when I refer to where I work - it's called the office.  Not home.  

And since it's not feasible to hold meetings in my home, I also think about where to hold meetings.  Lucky for me, most of my clients want me to meet them at their site.  Or they want to meet over coffee or lunch.  But find good places to have meetings so you're always prepared when a customer wants to see you face-to-face.

With more people considering freelancing and consulting, working from home has plenty of advantages. A well-thought-out plan to establishing a home office can offer you a casual, comfortable, flexible place to work that's also easy to set up and relatively inexpensive to maintain.  Best of all, it's a place where you can really get things done!

Photo Credit: Paladin27

In the last week I have taken two flights, rode in a bus and on a train.  While on these three modes of transportation I evaluated what type of work could I get done.  How productive could I really be while in transit from one place to another.  I usually sleep on a flight or in a train ride, but recently I have tried to make that time productive.  

I have not been lucky enough to be on a flight with internet as of yet.  So my productivity is limited to what I can sync offline and finish while in the air.  I used my time on a flight from London to Barcelona to answer emails and work on blogs posts.  Once we landed I connected to the internet and synced my emails and sent out my blog posts.  This was a pretty good use of the three hour flight to Barcelona, considering I would usually have slept that whole flight.

On the train I had my broadband card so I was able to access the internet to work on a client proposal and record a screencast for an application.  The train was nice because the seats were spacious and if you get on the train a bit early you can get a seat with table.  The hardest place for me to work was on the bus.  The bus was really cramped and extremely difficult to work on.  The space was too small to try to work on my laptop and the ride was bumpy making it really hard for me to read because I get motion sick.  So I used the rest of the bus ride to catch up on some sleep.  So at the end of it I got some sleep but realized that I can be pretty productive on a train or plane.  

What do you do while in transit to stay productive?  What type of work do you do on planes, trains and buses?

Celebrity Chef and Activist Jamie Oliver gave a fascinating and disturbing presentation at TED on how food is literally killing us.  We are eating ourselves to death.  We live in the most abundant time in recent history.  In the developed world, we have living standards which were unheard of only a generation ago.  We also have access to the great equalizer, the Internet.  Despite all of this, 2/3 of Americans are overweight.


What really stuck with me is how casually this can happen and how it affects all of us.  This really got me thinking about the Workshifting diet.  If you frequently work out of a coffee shop, airport or any other remote location, have you ever stopped and considered what you're eating?

Well...I did.  On occasion, I workshift from Bulldog Cafe in Solvang, California.  I happily enjoyed a latte with a ham and cheese quiche for breakfast.  Throughout the day I was snacking on whatever was there, muffins, juice and more coffee.  I don't think my story is unique so I started poking around the internet for tips on a healthy travel diet.

Much of the advice appears to be consistent:

• Pack you own food
• Eat breakfast at home
• Avoid the drive-through
• Be mindful of what your order
  

Sounds logical...but hell, I don't do that.  Doing a quick search I didn't find any practical advice so I reached out to Celebrity Fitness Coach and Nutritionist Rich Guzman.  This is what he had to say:

Meals:  One third protein (eggs, fish, chicken, turkey, tofu) and two thirds vegetables (greens, squash, or other less starchy ones) if you're trying to remain healthy and lean.  

Timing:  Eating every three hours is advantageous to keep the body from burning muscle for energy.  If you have the tendency to feel bloated or have indigestion after most meals you may have food allergies to yeast, gluten, dairy, or sugar.  Sugar is the real enemy when trying to maintain or lose body fat.  It sneaks into our diets via fruit juices, alcohol, packaged or restaurant food, and in our energy drinks.  The body can only manage small amounts of sugar in the system and uses insulin to keep the body on an even keel.  The body reacts in a defensive mode when sugar is introduced in mass quantities by pumping out insulin and storing everything as fat (carbs, protein, and fats).  

On-the-go:  Starbucks has oatmeal and hard-boiled egg choices.  The dried fruit and nuts also works if you're training hard and need a snack. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf offers a yogurt parfait and a tuna sandwich.  My recommendation for a drink is Green Tea iced or hot, or a soy decaf sugar-free coffee drink (take all the fun out of it).  

If you have questions, you can reach Rich Guzman on Twitter @laroxdude.

The best outcome of this post would be awareness.  You are going to do some of the things Rich recommends and not others, but if you keep this top of mind and share information on lessons learned, we'll all be better off.

What are your tips for healthy eating on-the-go?

Photo Credit: sshb

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
 

Since I know that many of you access this blog via RSS or email, you may not know that we have recently uploaded tons of new whitepapers and eBooks to our Downloads section.  To give you a little taste of what you can find over there, we have recently added:

• Leading Virtual Effectiveness: Four Strategies for Effective Communication in a Distributed Workforce
• It's Time to Review - And Renew - Your Telecommuting Policy
• The Top Ten Strategies for Managers of Mobile Workers
• Five Tips for Better Virtual Meetings
• 9 Management Practices for Exceptional Webinars
• Getting the Most from Your Marketing Events: The ROI of In-Person Seminars, Trade Shows and Webinars
• Emerge! How to Avoid the Seven Sins of Live, Online Presentations
• Beyond the Basics: How to Optimize Online Training for Maximum Impact
• How to Promote the Value of Online Training within Your Organization
• Five Keys to Getting Started with Interactive Online Training

Over the next couple weeks we will be making the Downloads section easier to navigate and more organized so that you're able to find the information you're after a little faster.

If there are whitepapers or eBooks you would like to see the Workshifting team focus on, please let us know in the comments below.

As always, thank you for continuing to make our little community around here so much fun to be a part of.

Photo Credit: ConanTheLibrarian

So much advice is being disseminated I thought it would be worthwhile to talk about lessons learned from the inside.  We were experimenting around with social media in late 2008.  To be honest, we were just tinkering with Twitter.  We noticed that people were having conversations about our brand and we wanted to get in on the action.  To keep this post brief, I'm going to focus specially on Twitter.
 
We started working with New Marketing Labs to help us narrow our focus, or should I say, start focusing. Lesson 1: learn how to listen.  Listening is hard.  When we started, we responded to just about every post on Twitter. There is a balance between the community being self sufficient and the company's desire to join the conversation.  We were trying not to be "that guy".  You know..."that guy", the one that brings a hundred business cards to an event and measures his success by the amount of cards he gave out.  I think, in the beginning, we were "that guy".  We measured success by the amount of conversations we were involved in as opposed to engagement with the community.
 
Twitter, to many companies, is public customer service and the Twitter public timeline is the diary.  A company's successes and failures are there for the world to watch in real time.  The companies that do it right, are the best listeners, not the best talkers.  My advice is spend 2/3 of your time listening and 1/3 engaging.  It's a simple metric which is derived from from how we listen in the real world.  As humans we have the ability to listen at 400 words per minute but we talk at roughly 130 words per minute.  That's a good guidepost as opposed to a rule.  However, some of the most useful advice comes from the people that are the faces behind the branded Twitter accounts.

Glenn Dobson manages our GoToMeeting Twitter account and he was kind enough to give me his thoughts on how to be an effective listener.  Most people that follow GoToMeeting on Twitter know Glenn as ^GD.  He is the man behind the tweets.  I believe he even had a marriage proposal on Twitter from a crazed fan.  You should ask him about it.  

Glenn's Top 5 Tips for Effective Social Listening:

1. Be genuine in your interactions: People can spot a fake and do not appreciate lip service, you could do more damage than not engaging at all.
   
   
2. Be responsive:  If you are going to offer a presence you need to be there when needed.
   
   
3. Know when to take it offline: Sometimes 140 characters are not enough to work through an issue, know when to offer a more traditional support channel so that you can resolve the issue sooner. Don't be afraid to lose the publicity of resolving the issue in public on Twitter.
   
   
4. Be open to feedback even if it's negative: All feedback is good and sometimes negative feedback is best for growth.
   
   
5. Don't feed the trolls: Everyone knows the Internet is full of trolls, no one can make them happy so sometimes the best response is none at all. Put your efforts into the people who want to work with you.
   

My Top 5 Tips for Effective Social Listening:

1. Use tools such as CoTweet and Radian6 (and hire a ^GD clone).
   
   
2. Separate support inquiries from general conversations about your brand.  Assign a specific group to manage the support inquiries (in our case, tech support and product queries).
   
   
3. Create a branded Twitter account.  List the real names and pictures of the people "on deck" as part of the Twitter profile.  This helps humanize the brand.  Check out GoToMeeting Twitter account for an example of how we're doing it.
   
   
4. Use the carrot symbol and initials to identity who is posting.  If I was posting from the branded account I would end my post with ^DB. 
   
   
5. Learn from the best.  Check out: Southwest Airlines and Comcast as just two of the many great examples available.
   

It's very likely that you and/or your brand are being talked about on Twitter.  Follow the advice that is relevant to your needs, and toss out the rest.

What are your tips for effective listening?

Photo Credit: abrinsky
 

In any relationship, trust is a critical part of the foundation. For Workshifters and the companies that employ them, working arrangements must be based on mutual trust to be successful.

Businesses need to trust their telecommuting employees aren't slacking off and are actually working when they say they're working. Workshifters, on the other hand, need to be able to trust that their physical absence from the office doesn't isolate them from the team and negatively impact their chances for growth within the company.

So what builds trust? Here are some tips from a Workshifter's perspective that may help:

For Managers:

• Maintain a sense of teamwork. Feeling as though they're part of the team can often be one of the most challenging aspects from Workshifters. Find ways to create and sustain a sense of camaraderie among your employees. One way to do this is to schedule regular team meetings, by phone, video conference or other methods.
  
  
• Assess the needs of your remote workers to determine the tools they need to succeed. This isn't going to be the same for everyone, so I recommend addressing these needs on an individual basis. If you demonstrate that you're invested in their success it will go a long way in establishing trust.
   
• Share organizational knowledge. Develop tools to keep your Workshifters plugged in. Whether it's Google Docs, a server that's accessible via a VPN client or other applications, remote workers need to be able to access organizational knowledge anytime and anywhere to be successful.
   
• Finally, be accessible to your remote team and make it a point to connect on a regular basis. This will go a long way in building the relationship with your Workshifters and building mutual trust.
  

For Workshifters:

• Establish a consistent routine so coworkers know when and where to reach you. Being predictable in your actions will build trust with the people who aren't able to observe you work every day.
  
  
• Be responsive. This is even more important for Workshifters than our office counterparts. After all, your colleagues will probably begin to wonder what you're up to if you haven't returned phone calls or checked your email all day.
   
• Deliver as promised. Although this is a bit of a no brainer, I feel it's still worth mentioning. One of the quickest ways to build trust, after all, is to deliver quality work when promised and on a consistent basis.
   
  
• Finally, go beyond emails when you're communicating with your coworkers. We all send and receive hundreds of emails a day. Go out of your way to build stronger relationships with the people you work with by picking up the phone or making time to stop in the office, if possible.
  

What are some of the tactics you've used to build trust?

Photo Credit: vagawi

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