I don’t know about you, but I have always liked a good challenge. Doing something that stretches the bounds of my competency puts me on the edge and, quite frankly, freaks me out a bit. Not too much, but just enough to force me to grow and expand my possibilities and give a kick in the pants to my productivity.

The other day, while out doing errands, I saw a truck, and on its side was written, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” There was no attribution given to the quote, but I know that Eleanor Roosevelt said it, because I have a coffee cup that used to sit on my desk saying the same thing.

As I stare down the barrel of mid-year, there is still time to achieve the goals I set so optimistically in January. Some of them have already happened, others I realize have stalled a bit as I’ve settled down into the comfort zone of my life. I think doing a few things that scare me is a great way to break out of it.

Taking a step back, I’ve recommitted myself to a few of the most important of those goals that have gotten stuck in no-man’s land, and decided to break out of my comfort zone and get back on track with pursuing them. How do I plan on breaking out of my comfort zone? By saying “yes” and “no.”

Say “yes” to:

• Something you have always wanted to do, but were afraid to try for fear of failure, rejection or embarrassment.
• Say yes to a creative challenge, an exciting opportunity or new learning — that is on target with your long-term goals — even if it does not carry a big financial reward for the moment.
• Say yes to being of service to an individual, an organization or your community. Agree to mentor someone, serve on a local committee, and help out a fellow web worker who’s struggling. Do it all without any expectations of getting something back in return.

Say “no” to:

• A sure thing that keeps you in your comfort zone, but also prevents you from moving forward with your goals. Often we get stuck in doing things that we can do well, but that have no relationship to our long-term goals.
• Something you know you produce a positive outcome doing, but have no passion for. FYI, this does not mean leave your job and become a wandering holy man or woman — unless that’s what you are truly called to do. It means make better choices about where you spend your time.
• Something you don’t really want to do, but are doing anyway out of guilt, fear or shame. More than anything, the things we continue to do out of guilt, fear and shame keep us stuck.

So take a minute and think about where you may be stuck in your comfort zone, how you plan to get out, and what goals you want to recommit to pursuing. There’s still plenty of time to make this year one of your most productive and challenging ever.

One final note: This will be my last Productivity Superstar column. I’ve enjoyed penning these pieces, reading your comments and thinking about this topic for the past year, I’ve also appreciated working with the fine folks at WebWorkerDaily.

However, the time has come for me to move on and step out of my comfort zone by working on my next project — a book about PR and marketing in a wired world.

Hopefully, I’ll drop by this site once in a while and contribute a piece here or there. But in the meantime If you’d like to keep in touch, please feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Thank you for reading my articles this past year; I wish you a happy, safe and productive future.

While the rising cost of gas is making it more expensive for commuters to get to work, the shrinking cost of wireless technologies is making it easier to get work done from a desk in the bedroom, rather than a table in the boardroom.

One new national poll shows that telecommuting is becoming more commonplace. For example, nearly half (44 percent) of chief information officers (CIOs) surveyed said their companies’ IT workforce is telecommuting at a rate that is the same or higher than five years ago.

Improved retention and morale, increased productivity and better work-life balance are the biggest benefits cited by workers and companies. If you think working from the comfort of your home might be for you, make a compelling case to convince your boss with the following:

• Evaluate your job. Do you spend a good portion of your day emailing colleagues and customers? Talking on the phone to vendors? Working on the computer? If so, you may be a great candidate for telecommuting.
• Present your boss with a plan — in writing. Let your boss know exactly what hours you plan on working from home, what the cost savings will be, what monetary investments (if any) would be required and the benefits to both the company and your boss of your telecommuting. If you need some juicy statistics to beef up your case, check out more about how to work from home at The Telework Coalition.
• Promise results. Your boss’s biggest concern is likely to be that instead of writing that web design proposal, you will sit around in your pajamas (or underwear) drinking beer all day long. You can help erase that image from his or her mind by agreeing to commit to measurable, weekly or daily work-from-home goals. The trust your boss has in you to work from home will grow exponentially with every deadline you meet, promise you keep and commitment you follow through on.
• Recommend a test run. If after doing all the above, you boss is still skeptical, suggest trying telecommuting out for a few weeks or a month.

Once your dream of working from home (part-time, at least) has become a reality, the next challenge is to manage yourself working from home. A few things to keep in mind are:

• Create a real home office. A desk stuck in a small corner of TV room does not make for a great working space. If you are going to work at home, you need a private place that is set up as a home office, even if it’s small in scale. It’s also important that the room or space you use as your home office is not a free for all.  The items in that space and the activities that take place within it should all be work-related. Dawn provided some great tips for setting up your home office here.
• Don’t get caught in non-work tasks during the day. You may be tempted to pick up the cleaning, meet the plumber or power-wash the patio during the work day — don’t. Drawing a boundary around when you work is essential to making working from home successful. Get more advice in “10 Secrets to Being a Successful Corporate Web Worker.”

In the end, telecommuting can offer you the best of both worlds. It can give you the freedom you need to work on your timeline, rather than a company’s, and it can keep you in the game by remaining part of a larger organization. Just be sure to find a way to stay in the office loop, even when you’re not there all the time, as out of sight can mean out of mind. You don’t want to lose touch with your boss or co-workers because they see less of you. Scheduling regular check-ins, as well as making drop-in appointments, will help keep you part of the working team.

Are you ready to telecommute?

Photo courtesy Flickr user heidielliott, licensed under CC

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution

As for my own Twitter account,  I am besieged by the age-old problem of both not having enough time to do what I want with Twitter and sometimes getting lost in its maze of messages. For some productivity enlightenment on this topic, I turned to online marketing advisor and founder of The Blog Squad, Denise Wakeman.

Karen Laland: What is the biggest Twitter time waster?

Denise Wakeman: Having Twitter open all day. This can be my downfall. I use TweetDeck, and if I keep it open, the temptation is too great to constantly dip in and see what’s up. I end up getting sucked in, reading irrelevant content and getting off track with my client work.

Karen: How can people get the most out of Twitter in 10-15 minutes per day?

Wakeman: Turn off Twitter, or close the page if you use the web interface. Only open it when during scheduled time for Twitter activity. Dipping in two to three times a day with the sole purpose of connecting, retweeting, answering questions and following links helps keep you focused, present and visible.

Karen: What’s the most important thing to focus on with a Twitter account? What’s the first priority? How about the second priority? What’s nice if you can get to it, but can be dropped when you are slammed with work?

Wakeman: I automate some of my tweeting — such as automatically posting links to my blog posts when they are published and scheduling promotional-type tweets through SocialOomph — so when I personally use Twitter, I concentrate on conversation, responding to direct messages (DMs), retweeting and sharing other people’s content.

My first priority is responding to DMs. Next I review and acknowledge @ replies. I segment my followers into groups with TweetDeck so I see what my clients, students and colleagues are up to and reply and retweet when I find interesting content to share.

I also like to post links to articles about blogging, online marketing and technology when I have time. I read a lot of online newsletters and subscribe to a lot of blogs. I keep a running list of links to relevant articles so I can share them when I have a chance. Tweets with links to good articles tend to get retweeted more, which helps boost my visibility and attract new followers.

Karen: What are people’s worst Twitter habits that fritter away their productivity?

Wakeman: I’m pretty focused on using Twitter as a business tool, so I don’t have much patience for the chit-chat that a lot of people indulge in. I find value in sharing some personal conversation but prefer to stay on target with my message and relevant content.

Lack of productivity comes from not having a strategy when using Twitter. Constantly checking in just to see what’s happening and being a voyeur when you have no real outcome in mind is a quick way to fritter away time.

Karen: How can Twitter contribute to an increase in productivity?

Wakeman: Create a strategy for using Twitter. It’s fantastic for getting immediate, real-time feedback, doing research and getting someone’s attention when other avenues don’t work. Use tools like SocialOomph to pre-schedule tweets also helps keep your content and promotions top of mind when you are focused on other work. Follow industry leaders and use tools like TweetDeck to watch stay on top of trends and react quickly to opportunities.

Share your tips for making Twitter time more productive in the comments

Photo courtesy of Flickr user ShashaW’s photostream, licensed under CC

Bob and his wife, Linda, were having dinner with my husband, Jon, and I, and in the course of our conversation, Bob said to me, “I have fun every day. It might be sharing a glass of good wine with Linda, or having lunch with a friend or seeing a great movie, but every day, I have fun.”

At the time, I remember thinking how extraordinary this was. How many people can say that? And Bob didn’t just have fun; he was a highly productive person. He got a lot done. He was an attorney, an executive and a business owner. He was one person we knew we could all count on to make something happen.

We have all heard the sayings, “Live everyday as if it were your last,” “Life is short” and “No one gets out alive.” But how often do we really take those to heart and spend at least some part of every day having fun? Enjoying our life? Reaping the rewards of our productivity?

I know that I am as guilty as anyone of getting caught up in the minutia and drama of daily work life. As web workers, we constantly have clients with emergencies, bosses who want more for less and co-workers who disagree with the way we’ve done something. But I want to take a lesson from Bob and honor him by striving to still have fun every day, despite those circumstances. In fact, I am going to start to make having fun a priority in my to-do list.

Along with proactively embracing fun goes reducing the antithesis of fun — burden. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about dumping bad clients. That’s just one example of a way to lighten the load at work so that more fun can come through. And while every day might not be a yuck-it-up, hardy-har-har of humor, dumping the things that drain you, and embracing the tasks that enliven you, will make you more productive.

The most productive people I know are the ones who recognize that true productivity is not measured by the amount of stuff they get done, but by getting done the things that have the most meaning to them and doing them in a satisfying and even fun way. That’s how I plan to remember Bob and to be inspired by his example of how to be productive — by doing something fun every day.

How do you add fun to your day?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Pink Sherbet Photography CC

I often find that when I start spring cleaning my mind becomes flooded with open items that are unresolved. Open items are the tasks, to-do’s, projects, goals, ideas and actions (business or personal) that you need or want to do, but have not yet done. They may be things you need to get done today, or be as far off in the future as retirement.

A good dose of spring cleaning will often bring to the surface a whole slew of these open items. The trick then is to gather them together by writing them down so that you don’t have to waste valuable mental real estate trying to keep track of them.

Think of your brain like your computer’s hard drive – it can only hold so much information. When a hard drive reaches its capacity, it starts to slow down and wonky things happen. By capturing your open items on a list your brain is freed up to focus on what’s in front of you right now.

Just taking the time to capture all the open items in your life and write them down can dramatically improve your ability to focus and get things done. So to drain your brain for spring, do the following:

• Go through all your physical spaces at work and home. Look through your desk drawers, desktop, in-basket, office closets, cupboards, shelves and file drawers and make a master to-do list of anything that needs to be done based on what you see. For example, as you look through your file drawer, perhaps you need to: Clean out last years financial file and store the receipts; make file folder labels for the most recently added documents; follow up with a potential client, whose business card you found stuck in one of the folders.
• Go through your electronic spaces. Look through your email inbox, PDA and voicemail messages and add any action items to the existing master to-do list that you are not going to handle immediately and are not recorded elsewhere. This could include, for example: An email from a colleague requesting you make a few changes to a report you wrote; a voice message from a customer about possible dates for a conference; an email from your professional association announcing their fund raiser.
• Go through your own brain. Look through your own mind and using the source list above write down any relevant to-do items. Once you have done this final emptying out, you can keep this system squeaky clean by adding to your master to-do list anything that pops into your head.

Some people prefer to keep a master list of all these various and sundry to-do items and transfer them to a daily or weekly to-do list as needed. Others prefer a detailed breakdown of the master list into more defined categories.

While this is just a simple way to get started, if you get really into it – and find you’re running high on all the juice your generating from capturing your open items – you might like to consider using a system like Getting Things Done (GTD). GTD’s inventor, David Allen, also has a new book out, “Making It All Work.” I haven’t read it yet, but my husband has it by his nightstand and he’s been reading bits and pieces, here and there.  It contains a detailed process for capturing your open to-do items and a whole system for how to process them.

What tips do you have for getting unresolved open items out of your head and organized?

Photo by stock.xchng user lusi

Lately I feel that my time has been eaten up by a non-ending series of administrative and client maintenance tasks that take a lot of energy to complete, aren’t satisfying and don’t necessarily move me in the direction of my goals – personal or professional. As part of my taking back my time, I’m doing a serious re-evaluation of where I spend it.

One thing I’ve noticed in the past two weeks is that 80 percent of my time-suck on these types of tasks is coming from 20 percent of my clients – the bad ones.  It’s likely that most of you have one or two bad clients, too. And while every client comes with their own challenges, these are the ones whom you dread dealing with. They take up your time and energy and make you wonder why you ever got into being a web worker in the first place. When you see their name pop up on your PDA or in an email message, you reflexively think, “What’s wrong now?”

Fortunately, I only have a few of these folks on my client roster – but not for long. I’ve decided that in the name of taking back my time, I’m going to politely fire them. By conservative estimates, this will free up about four hours a week I spend dealing with their drama. But more than that, it will make me happier. I’ll enjoy the clients I like and will be better able to serve them, because I won’t be beating my head against a brick wall with clients who aren’t a good fit.

If you’re feeling drained by a dud and wondering if you should dump them, here are a few things to consider:

They don’t appreciate what you do and complain constantly: Did you move mountains for this person, come in under budget and over-deliver, but they still aren’t satisfied? If so, it may be that you have a disconnect between what they expect and want and what you think they do.

Start by inquiring as to exactly what their expectations are and what they specifically aren’t happy with. If their expectations are something you can’t deliver on, be up front about it. If you can and do meet their expectations, and they are still unhappy campers – cut your losses and leave.

They always want things done on the cheap: It’s one thing for a client who gives you a lot of work or books you for a big assignment to ask for a discounted rate on a particular project; it’s another to be nickled and dimed to death.

It’s often the case that the clients that pay your lowest rate are the biggest pain and the least loyal. If a good client who gives you steady work and is easy to deal with asks for a break now and then – accommodate them. If it’s a constant battle over cash, politely tell the person, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t do what you want for that price.”

They don’t pay on time: In a difficult economy, you can expect some slow pay issues – especially if you’re a freelancer. But clients who repeatedly pay late, promise to send you a check by a certain time and don’t or outright stiff you – are a no-win.

Professionals get paid for the work they do, period. That having been said, if a good client is behind once in a while, cut them some slack and extend them some additional time to pay.

They don’t take your advice: Nothing is more frustrating than being hired to help your client achieve a goal and then not having anything you say be taken to heart.  Clients who won’t listen to your professional advice, insist on doing it their way, argue with you at every turn and then complain when they don’t get the results they want are bad clients.

My standard line with these people is, “If you are going to hire someone to coach you, it’s not a good use of your money not to listen to them.” If my pep talk about empowering me to empower them does not work, I nicely suggest they would be better off hiring someone else whose opinion they trust.

While it’s never fun to fire a client – and most of use want to avoid the conflict when we can – holding onto bad clients carries with it a huge opportunity cost. The emotional, physical, mental and even spiritual drain of a bad client can keep you from enjoying your job and even your life.

So, go ahead — politely fire a bad client today. Who knows, you might just take back enough of your time and energy to create some great new ones.

Have you fired a bad client recently? How did it go?

The video editor and producer greeted me at the check-in desk, and the editor joined us a few minutes later. I had no idea what these people looked like before I’d met them, and their images in my imagination were fuzzy.

So why am I telling you this? I’m telling you because I’d almost forgotten how important real conversations, in real time, in real rooms, could be. That day I was reminded again that there is nothing like a face-to-face meeting.

I’m a huge fan of social media. I teach it; I write about it; I develop small business strategies around it. But I believe that even in today’s wired world in-person meetings meetings are a key ingredient in establishing relationships and an essential part of being productive.

After spending just an hour with my clients, I had a significantly deeper sense of who they were, how they operated and their personalities. All of which will make me more productive in working with them in the future. Besides, when I email them now, or speak to them on the phone, I can see their faces in my mind’s eye.

The impact of in-person meetings that I experienced personally this week has been studied in some depth by the fine minds at the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. In a 2009 global survey of 2,211 Harvard Business Review subscribers, 95 percent of respondents viewed in-person meetings as a key to success in building long-term relationships. Specifically, face-to-face meetings were seen as most effective for:

• Negotiating important contracts (82 percent)
• Interviewing senior staff for key positions (81 percent)
• Understanding and listening to important customers (69 percent)

Joanne Black, author of “No More Cold Calling,” says she’s not surprised by the strong feelings businesspeople have about the productivity-enhancing properties of in-person contact. “We have become so organized around technology that we have almost forgotten what it’s like to talk to people,” says Black. “But when you find yourself face-to-face with someone, you realize you can explore, ask questions, keep asking more questions and get to the heart of the matter.”

Black points out that we have all had the experience of email trails that go on forever, until someone finally picks up the phone and resolves the issue in a matter of moments. “While in-person is the best,” says Black, “even having a phone conversation gets you so much farther in a conversation than the written word.”

Black recalls one instance where she was on a personal trip and decided to go visit a client she had only met once, very briefly. Black met with the woman for an hour and not only learned about the client’s family and life, but also how the organization worked and how they budgeted for their speakers. As a result of the meeting, Black booked two speaking events and became a regular contributor for the client’s publication. “This is a woman I could not even get to return a phone call,” says Black. “But if you say you are coming into town, that’s different. It’s special, even in today’s world.”

As a result of my recent experience, I’ve made a personal decision to go out of my way to make time for those special meetings with clients and business associates. To do more sit-downs, invite more people to lunch and pick up the phone more often. I am going to make the time to attend more brick-and-mortar conferences and, when all of that isn’t practical, use the video conferencing feature on Skype to at least get a visual on the person I am talking with. I am convinced these actions will not only make me more productive, but ultimately will be more satisfying.

Do you still make time for fact-to-face meetings?

Photo by Flicker user Simon Blackley licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Sleepless nights, it seems, are becoming a regular gig. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 60 million Americans suffer from insomnia each year. And such sleeplessness can have a devastating impact on our productivity.

Brent Scott, who headed up a sleep research project at the University of Florida, found that a poor night of sleep can actually impact how satisfied workers are with their jobs. And a poll by the National Sleep Foundation concluded that 40 percent of Americans are sleeping fewer than seven hours a night during the workweek. In addition, 75 percent of those surveyed reported problems sleeping a few nights a week, often resulting in missed workdays and errors on the job, among other things.

All this lack of zzzzs will be on the minds of scientists, psychologists and sleep experts this week, as it’s National Sleep Awareness Week, an annual public education and awareness campaign from the National Sleep Foundation that runs through March 13th and coincides with the release of its yearly report on sleep. Last year’s poll results showed that 30 percent of Americans were losing sleep over the U.S. economy.

This year, the report focuses on sleep and ethnicity in America, exploring the significant differences among the sleep habits and attitudes of Asians, Blacks/African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites. It’s the organization’s first poll dedicated to exploring the sleep practices of different ethnic groups; to that end it aimed to answer the following questions:

• Do different ethnic groups sleep differently?
• Do attitudes about sleep vary among African-Americans, Whites, Hispanics and Asian-Americans?
• Do work schedules and finances impact sleep equally in all groups?
• Do sleep habits affect marital satisfaction or job performance?

“The Sleep in America™ poll is a springboard for research,” says Thomas Balkin, Ph.D., Chairman of the National Sleep Foundation. “This year’s poll, in particular, will provide compelling insights into our current beliefs and behaviors regarding sleep, health and well-being.”

As for what a sleep-deprived individual can do, many of the tried and true sleep solutions offered by such organizations as the National Sleep Foundation seem to be just what the doctor ordered for a good night’s rest.

According to the experts, here are five ways you can perk up your productivity by getting a good night’s sleep.

1. Go to sleep the same time every night. Having an established routine of going to bed and waking up at the same time each day helps your body set a natural alarm clock for falling asleep.
2. Sleep in the dark. Nightlights, open curtains, bright blue alarm screens and even laptop lights can keep you up. Your body has the best chance of getting and staying asleep in relatively total darkness.
3. Don’t drink before bed. Drinking caffeinated coffee, tea or soft drinks late in the day can cause a delay in getting to sleep.
4. Avoid certain foods after 8 p.m. Stay away from sugary foods later in the evening and, instead, try foods that have the amino acid tryptophan in them, such as bananas, sunflower seeds and low-fat yogurt.
5. Try a little white noise or waterfalls. Many people find the sound of nature (waves lapping, birds singing, rain falling) a soothing way to fall asleep. White noise has also been known to lull many a cranky web worker into a restful state.

While the gremlins of your problems may have you tossing and turning from time to time, regular sound sleep can often be achieved by developing good habits both in and out of bed. Tonight, turn off the TV, grab yourself a glass of warm milk, listen to a soothing CD, close the curtains and get yourself a good night’s rest.

Share your tips for getting a better night’s sleep below.

Photo by Flickr user kaibara87, licensed under CC BY 2.0

What twisted my brain (and got my undies in bunches) was not that she did all this, but that she managed to do it so skillfully — and get away with it.

She was a master at playing people off each other, telling one story to one person and a different version of that same story to another. She was charming when it suited her and calculating about who she charmed. The upshot of this strategy was that if one of her co-workers (including me) tried to call her on any of it — or bring the behavior to our bosses’ attention — she would put her hands up and innocently say, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

This situation had a devastating effect on team morale and on our productivity, both as a group and as individuals. Problems that would normally have been handled with one quick conversation grew into gigantic group discussions. Decisions that were made and should have been followed with no argument by the whole team became undermined by her personal agenda. And the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I tried every good management consulting strategy I knew, and each and every one of them failed. Stressed, unproductive, angry and with a tightness in my chest that I swore was going to give me a heart attack, I sought out the services of a specialist.

The first thing this top-of-the-line professional asked me to do was describe, without judgment or interpretation, exactly what had happened. As well as I could, I recounted the facts of my encounters with Ms. Personality.

Within five minutes, the therapist began laughing and said, “Ahh, I see what the problem is. You are dealing with a classic, textbook narcissist. Of course nothing you are doing is working; you’re not playing by the same rules.”

He then went on to explain that people who are truly narcissistic, as opposed to the occasional moments of narcissism we all have, are driven to be the center of attention at all times and under all circumstances — and will do just about anything to make that happen. Here is the official definition of a narcissist from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association:

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: Has a grandiose sense of self-importance; is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love; believes that he or she is “special” and unique; requires excessive admiration; has a sense of entitlement; is interpersonally exploitative; lacks empathy; is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her and shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.

OK, now’s the part where you should start thinking about the people in your life who might fit this bill.

Connie Dieken, author of the book “Talk Less, Say More,” says that if you’ve ever been the target of a narcissist’s anger or condemnation, their once-charming personality morphs into melt-down mode. “They lob verbal grenades at you and howl at the moon. It’s painful to be on the receiving end of their demanding, demeaning behavior,” says Dieken.

So what’s a web worker to do if a client turns out to be a bona fide nasty narcissist that’s sucking your productivity dry, the way a dog sucks marrow out of a bone? Dieken offers these five tips:

• Give them options. Beneath their bluster, narcissistic people fear being left out of the loop. They crave control. It’s far better to offer them options to choose from, rather than feeding them ready-made decisions. They’ll tear other people’s decisions to shreds. Giving them options helps them feel respected and in control. It also prevents nasty hissy fits.
• Focus on solutions, not problems. When you explain a problem or a challenge to a narcissist, direct their attention to the solution. Don’t allow them to dissect the problem over and over again. Narcissists love drama and revel in the chaos. They’re easily agitated when frustrated. Define problems and present possible solutions, so they don’t smell blood in the water and tear you apart.
• Make them the hero. Narcissists are preoccupied with power and truly believe they are special and unique. They live for attention and admiration. Want them to do something? Tell them how great they are at it and watch them perform. Better yet, praise their performance in front of others. Just keep it real, please.
• Let them think it’s their idea. Narcissists often steal the credit for ideas that aren’t theirs. Why do they do that? Strangely, they truly believe that hijacked results are their own. Grabbing credit is a driving force for them. If this gets things done, I say learn to live with it. Over time, everyone will catch on — wink, wink. Meantime, graciously transferring credit for ideas to them makes things happen.
• Manage their emotional blind spot. Egomaniacs lack empathy. They’re so caught up in their own world that it doesn’t occur to them to consider your feelings or viewpoints. It’s a huge blind spot. You must put your own feelings on the table, if you choose to do so. Just be smart about sharing feelings with a narcissist. Brace yourself for the guilt trips and disparaging criticism that narcissists often dole out when others explain how they feel.

For those of you reading this who have to deal with a narcissist gone wild, you have my empathy, but also my confidence. Knowing what I was dealing with and having some skills to work with, helped keep me sane. I never liked this woman, and I never trusted her, but I was able to quell my internal conflicts and get back to being productive — all while keeping one eye on my back.

Have you known a narcissist? What strategies have you used to handle them?

In my capacity as a management and marketing consultant over the past 25 years, I’ve noticed some definite distinctions in my own and my clients’ productivity flows. I have encountered executives who were balls of fire mid-morning, but turned into stone by 4 p.m.; I’ve coached creative types who rocked the house in the early a.m. and later in the day, but were slackers at lunchtime; and I’ve seen consultants whose best work got done after dinner.

So while there seems to be no fixed time of day that is the most productive for everyone, my recent poll of 181 people did provide some insights into who gets the most done when. Here, then, are some insights into people’s most productive times of day.

In second place was early morning, when 31 percent of those who responded said their productivity was at its highest. “I love the time between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. when no one else is in the office. It’s my time to think more creatively (rather than reacting to what’s going on around me),” reported Dan Muse, Senior Executive Editor at Jupitermedia.

The lowest time for productivity was between 12 and 2 p.m., with only 6 percent of respondents saying this was their most productive time of day. A mere 9 percent said the evening between 7:30 and 10 was their most productive. “I actually am most productive during two segments of the day — from 9 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. The morning is when I have an expected task to be completed each day, so I arrive ready to go, and late in the day, I stop any procrastination and finish the most important items of the day,” says Howard Sholkin, Director of Corporate Communications at International Data Group.

However, breaking the results down by job function told a slightly different story. 40 percent of the people who identified themselves in the “consulting” category reported that they were more productive in the evening between 7:30 and 10, while 57 percent of the people who identified themselves in the “creative” category said they were most productive in the early morning, before 9 a.m.

So what does all this mean to you, and how can you apply it to your daily life as a web worker?  Here’s the two suggestions I give my clients about how to find and take advantage of their most productive time of day.

Start by locating your power times. Are you an early riser who tackles your morning to-do list with all the gusto of a bear eating honey? Perhaps you’re a night owl and crank through your most pressing projects at 11 p.m.? Either way, knowing and taking advantage of your natural energy patterns — your power times — will help you be at your most productive by using these times to tackle the projects you find most challenging.

If you’re not sure when your power times are, try using a handy tool called a heat map, customized by blogger and productivity expert Charlie Gilkey. Gilkey’s heat map provides a pathway to plot your productivity tempos during the day by assigning a color to each time slot on a 24-hour map. Here’s Gilkey’s quick key to the colors you would use to determine your most productive time of day.

• Red: This is when your productive capacity is the highest. All systems are fired up and ready to go. Gilkey says that this is where he gets all of his creative heavy lifting done
• Orange: This level of productivity is a step down from the smoking hot creativity in the flow you experience in the red zone. Gilkey says that while a lot of work can get done here, you’ll be somewhat aware that you’re working.
• Yellow: At this level, you are in idle status. Some productive work can get done, but it’s not going to be the high-level, lose-track-of-time type of productivity you can accomplish in your power times.
• Green: When you find yourself in the green productivity zone, you’re spending more energy trying to keep working than actually doing the work itself. “Creativity, motivation or focus is pretty much gone,” says Gilkey.
• Gray: “Hopefully I’m asleep at this level,” says Gilkey. Unfortunately, all too often, you may still be trying to get something done or can’t sleep due to all the items on your to-do list that are keeping you awake.

Plan you day around your productivity tempo: Once you know what your power times are, get into the habit of planning your day around your productivity tempo. Knowing your productivity tempo can help you plan to do the most important tasks at the times when you are feeling focused and full of creative energy.

Many freelancers and telecommuters look at their day as one big, wide-open space of time. But in reality, all hours of the day are not equally productive. You might find that you get twice as much done on that wayward web project by working on it from 9 to 11 a.m. as you would pounding away on it from 1 to 3 p.m.

As for you full-time employed folks, while your time might not be wholly your own, by being aware of your power times you can make the hours you spend more productive.

So this week, before you open your planner to make your schedule, ask yourself: What is my most productive time of day? And just in case you want to share it with the rest of us — take the poll.

What’s your most productive time of day?

Photo by stock xchng user ElRincon

Related GigaOM Pro research: Can Developers Help LinkedIn Learn to Have Fun?

I will never forget the vice president of the North American division coming into a meeting I was leading, pulling me aside, and saying, “We need to talk.” As I listened to his concerns over the pending fallout from the situation, I kept raising my objections and saying, “But that’s not us, that is some other company with a similar name.” Despite my protestations, my client was not convinced.

Within the span of a few days, our relationship with this client went from a smooth-sailing ship to a constant barrage of inquires. To say our work with them was becoming unproductive would be an understatement. Still, up until this point, all my business partner Keith and I did was say, “Well, that’s not us.”

Then we got it. We got what Toyota missed for the first few months of their crisis, what Tiger Woods seemed to be unaware of, and what John Edwards didn’t want to address. We got that simply saying something that seems sufficient to you, but does not address the concerns of the public or your client, is not a productive way to handle a crisis. Certain statements must be made and actions taken to show those watching that you take the situation seriously.

Finally understanding that, we got into gear. We contacted the reporter who first wrote the story to request a letter stating that we were not the company he was investigating, got copies of all our past corporate records, and basically proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were an upstanding company, not to be confused with the similarly named nefarious organization being investigated. Once we took these actions, the problem cleared up within a few days, and it was back to business as usual.

There is a lesson in recent PR events that all entrepreneurial web workers — be they freelancers, small business owners or corporate types — can take to heart. That lesson is that when a PR problem occurs, and it will, there is a right way to handle it productively. Here, then, are a few expert opinions on what to do (and not do) to prevent a PR disaster:

Prepare in advance. “Make it a regular part of your staff meetings to figure out what could go wrong,” says crisis expert Jonathan Bernstein.“Craft plans at those sessions that address the operational and communication side of the equation.”

Develop messages that answer anticipated questions. “To be confident and gain credibility, answer questions with a straightforward “yes,” “no,” or “maybe,” followed immediately with “and here is why,” says PR consultant David Sheon. “State your message, state it again and state it a third time.”

Don’t just say, “I’m sorry,” apologize. If you are in the wrong, communications strategist Jason Mudd of AXIA suggests using this Apology Model he crafted for his clients.

• Confess. State what you did. Own up to it. Be clear and candid. Give enough details.
• Apologize. Say, “I apologize” — not just I’m sorry — for whatever it is you did.
• Rectify. How will you make the current situation better? What are the short-term/reactive measures?
• Prevention/Reformation. What are the long-term/preemptive steps that will assure this doesn’t happen again — ever?
• Seek forgiveness. This is important. Don’t forget to ask for forgiveness from your employees, shareholders, customers, community and other stakeholders and those impacted.

While we would all like to believe that PR crises are the purview of large public companies, anyone that has been in business for themselves knows that’s just not the case. By preparing, planning and executing a well-developed crisis strategy, you can productively handle any PR debacle that may find its way to your doorstep.

What steps do you take when a PR crisis hits?

Instead, I set my sights on January. The merriment is over, and I’m ready to get a grip on my work world again. The only problem is that my inbox is so backed up, and my to-do list has grown so long, that it takes me most of the month to process through the open items that have congregated while I was mentally away for the holidays.

So here I am in the beginning of February, finally ready to knuckle down and work on my business plan for the year. A process that — while I’ve gone through it dozens of times over the years — is always a bit daunting at first, but greatly worthwhile.

I find that my productivity during the year is always enhanced when I have a road map to follow in my business. Even if all the gaps aren’t filled in or the fine details sorted out, just knowing the major stops along the way, and how I plan on getting there, empowers me to be more on purpose and more productive during the year.

Now that I finally have the breathing room to sit back and reflect on my business plan for 2010, I sought assistance from my client Christy Strauch in her new book titled,”Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Convert Your Passion into a Solid Business.“ Here’s her take on creating a business plan.

Karen Leland: First off, why did you write this book?

Christy Strauch: I wrote this book for creative types (like web workers) who are in the business world, but haven’t necessarily had a peaceful relationship with making the business side of their business work. Because of that, the first step in any business plan process is to connect with your purpose for being in your business — whether you’re self-employed or working for a company. It’s easier to persevere through some of the challenging times if you have a purpose to pull you through.

Karen: Well, once you know your purpose, then what?

Strauch: You need to determine who your perfect clients are. Take the knowledge that you already have about who hires you and who works with you, and then talk to your clients to gather the rest of the information. You need both the demographic information about them (things like their age, where they live and their level of education) and psychographic information (what they like to do for fun, their attitudes about technology, what they read, who else they go to for help and so on).

Karen: How does knowing who your perfect clients are help you to build a business plan?

Strauch: If you understand how people find you and why they are drawn to you, you can better determine the best way to reach out to them. Is it through a networking event, advertising, cold calling or writing articles? People often choose web workers because a colleague has recommended them.

Karen: In the book, you talk about the importance of looking at the competition as part of your planning process. Why is that so important?

Strauch: Well, to begin with, you need to figure out what you’re best at. What is unique about you? What do you offer that is distinct from your competitors? By taking a look at your competitors, the economy and your own business, you can find a way to position yourself to your clients. That positioning becomes part of the strategies for your business that you pick and put in your business plan.

Karen: Do you recommend any particular tool for this analysis?

Strauch: Yes, I suggest every businessperson do a yearly SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. It will help you, along with knowing your purpose and your customers, to choose business activities that make the most sense in the current year — to serve your current customers and attract the right new ones.

Karen: How important is including financial information in your business plan?

Strauch: It’s critical. At a minimum, you need to have a forecast of your income for the next 12 months and projected expenses for the same period. You also need to choose three or four measurements that you can watch regularly to make sure everything’s on track in your business.

Karen: Is there anything else people should do to stay on top of their business plan after it’s written?

Strauch: Yes. Do a monthly and quarterly review process. Because things begin to change right after you remove your pen from the paper, these reviews help you keep up with (or even stay ahead of) the inevitable changes that happen to all businesses.

Do you have a business plan for this year?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

This out-of- town team says they travel around the country, wafting from state to state, sharing their social media knowledge. But how, I seriously wondered as I sat there, can they be so bad at this?

Lest you think this is just a rant on my part, I do have a productivity point to make; it may just take me another paragraph to get there, so please be patient with me.

The crux of my problem with these two presenters wasn’t that I doubted their technical knowledge; it’s that their presentation was so unprofessional they rendered it unproductive at best, and offensive at worst. What do I mean by unprofessional and unproductive? I’ll tell you:

• They continually made self-referential jokes aimed at amusing each other, rather than for the benefit of the audience.
• In a 90-minute presentation, they mentioned their book (a self-published paperback) at least 15 times. It was actually more than that, but I stopped counting after 15. They mentioned their one-day workshop coming up at least six times, after which time I stop counting. They offered, at best, a total of 15 minutes of content on their topic.
• They regularly went off on riffs and tangents that had absolutely nothing to do with the topic, add no value to the evening and are not in the least bit entertaining or charming.
• They were dressed as if they are going to spend an evening at a rock concert, or drinking beer in a bar, instead of doing a business presentation for a group of professionals.

OK, why am I telling you all this? Perhaps because I’m annoyed that I took time out of an already jam-packed schedule to have my time wasted? That’s true, but it’s not the reason. I’m telling you because as I was sitting there in disbelief, it dawns on me that productivity isn’t just something we give ourselves. It’s a gift we give other people as well — especially when we are making a presentation.

So whether we’re standing in front of the room with a PowerPoint slide pitching a new client, presenting a report to management or giving a speech to our peers at a conference, we have a responsibility to honor our audience’s time by making it productive. Here are just four simple ways to avoid the kind of basic mistakes the presenters in my story made and, instead, really rock the house with productivity.

1. Unless you are Jerry Seinfeld, skip the jokes. If you haven’t spent time as a professional comedian, don’t try and turn your presentation into a stand-up routine. Instead, express you humor through telling a relevant story with a slightly funny side to it or using humorous examples of situations everyone can relate to.
2. Follow the 90/10 rule of promotion. When you speak in public — whether you are offering a free teleclass on search engine optimization or discussing modern web design as part of a panel at a conference — lead with content. Ninety percent of what you talk about should relate directly to your topic, provide value for your audience and be valuable information. Only 10 percent should be promotional — i.e., announcing your upcoming seminar or promoting your book or services.
3. Develop and stick to a content plan. Before your presentation, prepare the major points you want to make, what the sub-points of those major points are and what stories and examples fit within each topic point. Practice this at home, until you can comfortably get through the presentation with just an outline. Doing so will prevent you from running off on a tangent or riffing into inappropriate topics.
4. Dress as well as the audience you’re speaking to. Like it or not, people will judge you based on how you are dressed. Always match your outfit to the tone of the occasion. For example, if you are giving a talk at a conference hotel in Hawaii, a top end Tommy Bahama shirt over khaki slacks would be ideal. But for a tony talk to a group of executives in midtown Manhattan, a more corporate look would win the day.

Just remember, productivity does not only live at a desk or in an office building. It’s not just managing our time well and getting through our in-box efficiently, it’s also about making the most of the time we spend with others and the time they invest in being with us.

And now, following my 90/10 rule of promotion, here’s my 10 percent: For more tips, check out my book, “Public Speaking In An Instant: 60 Ways to Stand Up and Be Heard.“

How do you make sure your presentations are productive?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A 2011 Green IT Forecast
• Why Google Android’s Electric Vehicle Deal With GM Matters
• Report: IT Opportunities in Electric Vehicle Management

One study by Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, found that workers spend on average only 10 minutes and thirty seconds on a task before being interrupted by either an external source (56 percent of the time) or self-interruption (44 percent of the time). Mark points out that part of the problem is how long it takes people to get back on track once they’ve been distracted.

“It takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds for people to return to the original task after being interrupted,” says Mark. “And 40 percent of the time, workers don’t return to their original task at all, but instead wander off in a new direction,” she says.

Another 2007 report, from the Center for Creative Leadership, found that 52 percent of managers surveyed are interrupted about once every 30 minutes. These interruptions come from co-worker requests, cell phone calls, incoming emails and multitasking. Among these, multitasking has a particularly negative impact on productivity. The Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London found that when workers are constantly juggling multiple tasks, their IQ falls ten points.

So how can you keep yourself from being driven to distraction? To overcome interruptions and stay on track, try these following seven strategies excerpted from my book, “Time Management In An Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day.”

Propose later: The next time someone strolls into your office asking, “Do you have a few minutes to talk?” say “I’d be happy to, but not right now.” Instead of dropping everything you are doing, make an appointment to meet later. Doing so will not only save you the stress of having to stop what you are working on and shift gears, but insures that later when you do meet, the other person will have your full focus.

Set a time limit: If the matter is urgent, find out how much time the person needs and negotiate to give them that much (and no more) at that moment. If future discussions are required, another meeting can be set up.  Most people when pressed to make their point quickly, will get to it in about half the time it would normally take.

Bypass the story: When you’re pressed for time, encourage people to bypass the narrative and get straight to the point. Ask the other person to summarize in one sentence what they need from you, the solution they propose and the specific time by which they need it.

Change locations: If you have a particular project that requires a lot of concentration, consider commandeering an empty office that is not in use and working from there.

Schedule open-door hours: Schedule, post and promote open-door hours on given days. With a little encouragement most people will wait until these times to talk to you about non-urgent matters.

Store supplies elsewhere: If co-workers come into your office to access files, office supplies or other materials, move them to a location where you are not continually disturbed by their retrieval.

Ditch the ding. If you receive a steady stream of incoming emails during the day and have your system set to alert you every time one comes in — kill it.  Even if you ignore the ding and don’t check email, the noise still acts as a distraction and can disrupt your concentration.

Lastly, don’t forget that the point of limiting interruptions is to improve your productivity and effectiveness – not to avoid the people around you. Always keep in mind the bigger picture of your customers’, co-workers’ and company’s needs, as you strive to conquer disruptions and sustain your concentration.

What tricks do you use to avoid distractions?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

“No,” I sheepishly say. “It pretty much looks like this all the time.” Inevitably my response brings an involuntary shake of their heads, followed by a statement that always goes something like, “Wow, I wish my work area was this together.” If they only knew.

On the surface, my office is a well-oiled organizational machine, and, compared to many people, I suppose my compulsive neat-freak streak does win out. But the deep, dark secret of my organizational shame is that my computer, while well placed on my uncluttered desk, is harboring enough unfinished business to choke a horse.

The problem is particle management. Up until a year ago, I was mostly working with five to six major corporate clients at one time. But in the wake of the economic shakeup, I now find myself juggling 10-20 smaller ones. And this requires a whole new way of thinking and managing information. I hunt for data on my computer the way I look for lost keys at the bottom of my purse — shaking the whole thing out on the table and sorting through the junk until I find what I’m looking for.

Let’s face it, my old systems for client and information management had broken down, and I was a loose-ends mess. So I went in search of a system of simplification that would help me regain my sense of equanimity, track my to-do’s effectively, follow up with potential clients efficiently and invoice in a timely manner. I don’t think that’s too much to ask – do you?

In my attempts to find software or web solutions that would keep things from falling through the cracks, I’ve tried at least five to-do-list managers, four contact management systems and several CRM products — all to no avail.

I even consulted my husband Jon for his sage advice. His recommendations seemed sound, but Jon, being a web designer and Internet marketing specialist, was all about the latest and greatest technology. Too much for me, since in spite of all my web work, I’m a simple girl, technologically speaking.

Frustrated, I turned to my administrative assistant Shelah for help. I ran Jon’s ideas by her. “Too complicated,” she immediately said. “Let’s start with the simplest solution and work our way up from there.” And what was Shelah’s simple solution? An Excel spreadsheet, and the to-do list built into my Apple Mail.

“Excel?” I said. “How could a simple spreadsheet resolve my complex workflow issues?”
“Here, I’ll show you,” said Sheila. Two hours later, all the data I had been hunting and pecking to find on my hard drive was integrated, organized and optimized into one nice, easy-to-find document with tidy tabs. I wanted to cry.

Next, we took all of the to-do’s off my very sophisticated to-do-list software — with its customized priority, multiple-context, project assigning capabilities — and moved them to my Apple Mail basic to-do list. You know, the kind that reminds you of the pen-and-legal-pad method we used to use, but a bit more sophisticated. I could enter the item to be done, the date it was due and its basic priority (high, medium or low). At the click of a button, I could see what I needed to do on what day and easily move items to a different date as I needed to. Again with the crying.

Now, I’m not saying that an Excel spreadsheet or a mail program to-do list is the right answer for everyone, so please — no cards and letters. But what I am suggesting is that folks who work in the world of high tech often look for more functionality in their productivity solutions than they really need in practicality.

How often do we as web workers make things more complex than they need to be? Because in the end, productivity isn’t about how many bells and whistles a solution has; it’s about how easy, practical and efficient it is to use. Sometimes, less really is more.

Are your productivity systems overly complicated?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

We spent weeks putting together what amounted to a very well-formed plan that the client could use with or without us, and provided them with several thousand dollars worth of free consulting. Unfortunately, in talking with other freelancers, entrepreneurs and corporate types, I’ve noticed an alarming trend towards service providers being asked to jump through extensive hoops and provide many services gratis, only to be told in the end “thanks, but no thanks.”

As we emerge from what many are calling a dismal decade, a lot of worried web workers are dazed and confused about how to effectively sell their services in this fragile economy. At no other time in the past 50 years has the field of selling changed so dramatically and quickly. In 2009, the infusion of social media transformed the selling landscape forever — and charted the course for 2010.

Josiane Feigon, author of the bestselling book “Smart Selling on the Phone and Online” and creator of the top business blog Cubicle Chronicles has identified the six transforming sales trends every busy web worker needs to know about to survive and thrive.

“The next generation of sales has arrived,” says Feigon. “people are fighting to be heard by busy and distracted prospects, and studies confirm that we are dialing more, but connecting less. We can no longer survive using Sales 1.0 tactics in a Sales 2.0 world. Instead workers must overhaul their skills and adapt quickly to meet the demands of these significant trends.”

According to Feigon, here’s the six trends, freelancers, entrepreneurs and corporate types need to pay attention to in the upcoming year.

1. Do Your Homework: Given the glut of web-based information available, you must come to the table equipped with a depth of information and knowledge about your target customers that proves your interest and attracts the prospect’s attention.
2. Create Contagious Content: Regularly publishing relevant content that is on message to a potential client’s concerns, needs and objectives increases your credibility and reinforces awareness of your services. In an era where content is king, frequent distribution of varying content (such as trend reports, webinars, articles and the like) is a must.
3. Synchronize Email and Voicemail: In order to increase response rate dramatically, email and voicemail messages must work together. Today’s web worker needs to create a consistent messaging, no matter what medium is used.
4. Determine Power Buyer Worthiness: More people today are involved in the decision-making process, but fewer have the power to make a purchase decision. Learning to recognize the “Power Buyer” and push their hot buttons will quickly take you into a position for closing the deal.
5. Get Good at Online Presentations: Web conferencing tools have replaced in-person meetings, but holding audiences captive through a Death by PowerPoint presentation guarantees a lost sale. Taking the time to organize, design, and build strong online presentations will quickly convert prospects into buyers.
6. Practice Prospecting 2.0: In order to engage a prospect’s attention, it is essential for you to assert themselves into the prospective buyer’s social network by participating in the client’s social media outlets, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and the appropriate blogs.

While practicing the above productivity-enhancing sales skills might not make you an overnight success, it will keep you from spending your precious time and energy pitching the wrong thing, to the wrong people, in the wrong way, at the wrong time.

Share your supercharged sales tips in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks