GigaOM » Getting Things Done

5 apps to improve productivity and collaboration

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:03:24 +0000

If you’re like me, your to-do list has taken on a life of its own, and after several failed attempts at taming it, you’re now simply looking for a way to peacefully co-exist.

Fortunately, new apps and devices are being created almost daily to help us improve our productivity and collaboration.

Coolendar

Coolendar is attempting to go where no calendar has gone before, integrating traditional calendar and task apps into a “planning experience.” It works as a simple list, instead of the standard calendar view, and provides alerts of tasks and plans via email, messenger, desktop, mobile and Twitter notifications. One interesting feature is its use of tags to organize items and create group plans so that events are more social (think Twitter meets Google Calendar).

Making task entries is seamless and intuitive (the example it gives: “tomorrow 8am make sure to grab the #umbrella!”) and allow for one-click rescheduling and recurrence.

Let’s Crate

We all love the days we stumble on solutions that make some aspect of our work “ridiculously easy,” and that’s exactly what Let’s Crate claims to do for file-sharing. Create an account, select a crate for storing your files, drag and drop to upload them, and then send the link to the individual file or crate you want to share. It’s that easy, and the free plan of 1 GB of space includes six crates, 1000 downloads, and a 50 MB file-size limit, with higher-capacity plans being very inexpensive.

MyDataNest

MyDataNest is another online storage and file-sharing solution, but unlike Let’s Crate, it offers the ability to edit files online without installing any software. Files are stored online and are available to your team through shared online work spaces.

Using similar functionality to Let’s Crate, you simply upload your files and then share a link with members of your team. With their basic and free plan, you can upload files up to 50 MB in size, and that includes three collaboration folders, 2 GB of online storage, and 10 GB of monthly transfer. As with Let’s Crate, higher-capacity plans are still very affordable.

GroupZap

GroupZap takes the “cool factor” award in this roundup of apps, offering real-time brainstorming and online collaboration, as if you were in the same room with your team. Quickly set up your group’s whiteboard by simply entering your email address and sharing a link. Then use sticky notes to each add your own ideas and thoughts to the board. Team members can also upload images and files by dragging and dropping them onto the board or use boxes and arrows to further annotate concepts, processes, and dependencies.

Once all the ideas are in place, your team can then use stickers to vote on different items within the board, and when the meeting is over, you can create a PDF to send to your team as a record of the meeting or for follow-up. It even records the brainstorming session to show the progression of ideas throughout the meeting.

GroupZap is free for up to 100 MB per board, with each board remaining active for seven days. There are also pay-as-you-go and subscription options, which extend the life of a board to one year and include increases in storage capacity.

Twilert

Social networking has become the distraction of late, but if you want to keep a pulse on what’s being said about you or your company, it’s hard to navigate away from the live feed for fear of missing something. Enter Twilert, an online app that sends email updates of new tweets on topics of interest to you. Advanced search options allow for monitoring of specific keywords, people, locations, and even links and attitudes (positive or negative posts or questions).

What are some of your favorite productivity and collaboration apps?

Image courtesy of Flickr user imglighting

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

Working On What Counts

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:00:01 +0000

As things get busier and busier, it’s important to work on what counts within your business. If we’re smart, we do this early on, even before things get busy, but if you’re like me, you prefer learning things the hard way.

When You Can’t See the Forest

It’s probably only natural to get caught up in details: the how and the what over the why. Big-picture or big-vision thinking is abstract, requires risk and assumption, course-correction and resolve, and it requires faith that something that can (for now) only be seen in your mind will manifest itself someday, if only you stay the course and do those things that will help you make progress for the long run.

Details are much easier. The payoff and turnaround are generally faster, and things are much more obvious. You know what you need to do. There are websites to build, team members to hire, tools and services to research and test, and so on. The list is endless, but with each of these tasks, we have a tendency to slip into perfectionism, procrastination, and avoidance of more important roles and responsibilities within the company. That’s the misstep many small business owners make, which makes it much more likely we’ll flounder or even fail.

Working On What Counts

I’ve been making myself do this exercise fairly often in recent weeks. Businesses are cyclical in some ways, and now is one of those times in my business where things are expanding and growing, so there’s a lot of temptation to forget the forest and concentrate on the trees. Stepping back every once in a while forces me to see if I’ve gotten off track.

I ask myself one simple question, “What counts?” I have a stack of to-dos and ideas I’d like to implement within the company, but when I ask this question, all of a sudden things come into focus and I know where my priorities lie.

Sure, there are still “odds and ends” tasks that need to be done, things like hiring more help and delegating responsibilities that still need to be done by someone; just maybe not by me or the other members on my team who have their own “What Counts” lists.

By doing this exercise, I see that I really have only a handful of responsibilities that count. These are things that have to be done every day, consistently, to move the big vision forward; these are the things I know will have the biggest impact on the success of the company.

Finding Your Own “What Counts” List

If you’re a small business owner, especially, your business is your baby, and it’s hard to let go of the feeling that you have to be the person to tend to it, that things have to be perfect, and that if you don’t obsess about every little detail, something terrible will happen.

Not only is this a good way to run yourself in the ground, it’s also a good way to run your business in the ground, because that kind of intensity will burn you out. You have to be willing to step back and allow some things to be less than perfect and to trust that someone other than yourself can do just as good a job (maybe even a better one) at taking care of certain responsibilities within your business.

As you sit down to make your own “What Counts” list, be willing to let go and be willing to call on outside help, if you need it. Be honest when asking yourself, “What counts?” Really, what counts?

Chances are, your responsibilities will fall into just a few categories: promoting your business; developing products and services; and creating and building relationships with others. Even with those, however, some things will still be handed off to other members of your team, so for instance, you may handle certain aspects of your promotion (writing guest posts, for example), while an assistant handles related aspects of those same tasks (pitching guest posts to bloggers). You have to find those few core activities where you add the greatest value to your business and then fill in the gaps with support staff.

At the end of the day, by ensuring that both you and your team members spend at least 80 percent of your time working only on what counts, you stand a much greater chance of seeing your business to success and building something sustainable for the long term.

What do you think counts most for a small business owner trying to build a successful business?

Photo by Flickr user .curt., licensed under CC 2.0

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

Use “Action Days” to Get Things Done

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 20:00:39 +0000

Stever Robbins, the Get-It-Done Guy, has a great new book out entitled 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More. One of the concepts I love from the book is the idea of “action days,” which he says originally came from Thomas Leonard of the life coaching community.

He explains action days like this. “You and a few friends get a conference line. You agree to check in at a certain time each hour. For example, right on the hour. At each check-in, someone (you?) reads the attendance list. Each person briefly reports what they’ve done in the last hour. Then they promise what they’ll do in the next hour. Once everyone has reported, you get off the phone and go for it!”

The “action days” concept could work even without using a conference line; all the participants could simply post their updates via Twitter, Facebook or email, or you could even host a regular action day on your website and have corresponding blog posts where participants add their updates within the comments.

Overall, it’s just a great, all-around way of getting and staying on track, and here are just a few ideas for ways you might use action days in your business.

Action Days to Overcome Procrastination

Action days are especially helpful for overcoming procrastination, so if you’ve been avoiding certain projects, this might be a good solution for making progress on things like updating your website, organizing your office, or hiring a new assistant.

Some jobs we tend to avoid more than others, but that doesn’t mean they are any less important, and using a “shot-in-the-arm” approach like this might be the perfect cure for procrastination.

Action Days for Accountability

I’m a big advocate for accountability partnerships, but one thing I know for sure is that finding a good and consistent accountability partner might not always be the easiest task. Schedules, working styles, differences in priorities, and even time zones can interfere with even the best of intentions when it comes to forming a reliable partnership, making it hard to stay on track and defeating the purpose of having an accountability partner.

Action days could make for a perfect substitute to a longer term accountability partnership or could at least be a great way to shake things up and add occasional insight and interest to your current accountability system.

Send out Twitter or Facebook posts, or even email a group of colleagues or friends to arrange an action day for the group, and again, this would be the perfect way to encourage everyone to get a jump-start on projects they’ve been avoiding. Set up a specific day and hourly check-in time, and you could even have everyone commit to the projects they plan to tackle. Then, when the day comes around, get to work on your individual commitments to see how much progress you could make on your projects.

Action Days for Weekly Progress

Certainly, having even an occasional (say, monthly) action day could be quite helpful, but imagine if you had one per week! I’ve found in past experiments with my own productivity and schedule that even the shortest and most concentrated blocks of time can have a huge impact on what I’m able to get done. I’ve even seen that I can get way more done working one concentrated day per week on a project than five where I jump from project to project, so action days could actually result in the bulk of the work you get done in a given week.

If you’d like to test the waters with weekly action days, find a few others who might be interested and set a specific day and check-in times (for example, Wednesdays are weekly action days with on-the-hour check-ins). Then send out email, Twitter, or Facebook reminders the day before the action day each week.

However you set them up, whether you work in regular or one-off groups, action days can be a great strategy for getting started on large or less appealing projects, and they can be a good addition to your current system for getting things done and warding off procrastination.

As an added note, Stever Robbins organizes occasional action days through his website if you’d like to experiment with the concept, and you can check also out a podcast episode where he explains how he uses action days.

What other strategies do you use to get started on big projects and avoid procrastination?

Photo by Flickr user wwarby, licensed under CC 2.0

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

4 Easy Ways to Safeguard Your Attention

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:00:49 +0000

Even if you’re good at getting things on track to stay productive and focused, that doesn’t keep distractions from sneaking their way into your days and wreaking havoc on your plans and intentions. Here are a few ways to help you safeguard your attention and get the most important things done each day.

#1 Eliminate “reactive nibblers.”

“Reactive nibblers” (time spent responding to emails, social network updates, and unexpected phone calls and visits) can quickly add up and keep you from applying focused attention to the “big rocks.” Not to mention that by constantly shifting gears and working in reactive mode, you’re a lot more likely to end the day feeling frustrated and like no real progress was made toward your top goals and priorities.

To fix the problem, establish “non-reactive zones” in your day that are reserved for your top projects. It’s better if you put these zones earlier in the day so that no matter what happens in the rest of the day, you’ve at least checked the most important to-dos off your list. Send calls to voicemail (and turn off ringers and notifications), close your email and social network applications, and even ignore the doorbell during these set times.

#2 Be aware of the time.

It’s easy to allow meetings to overrun, to “just check one more thing” when browsing the web, or to make “just one minor change” the minute a client requests it, but just ten minutes out of every hour spent on such things equals nearly an hour and a half out of an eight-hour day.

More than just trying to resist the temptation to let things overrun, always keep your eye on the clock. When you start a meeting, note the time it began at the top of your notepad. Even if you don’t need to take any other notes, you’ll keep seeing that visual reminder of what time the meeting started and how long it’s been going on, which will make you much more likely to stay on point and moving things forward.

#3 Have a plan.

Don’t know what you should be doing right now? Have no clue what you’re going to write for your blog entry today? Not sure where to pick up with that project you worked on yesterday? These are all great places to have a plan in place to help you quickly get on track so that you’re not wasting time trying to figure out what to do next.

Here are three easy tips to help you create a plan. Firstly, always end your day by writing out your top three to-do items for the next day. Secondly, use an editorial calendar to keep you on track with writing and publishing to your blog, or at the very least, have a dedicated notebook for capturing ideas for writing topics so that you’re not staring at a blank screen anytime you sit down to write. Finally, use “start here” markers when wrapping up work on every project, which are simply notes to yourself saying what to do next (for example, “Call client for quick update and then locate designer for logo.”).

#4 Create an ideal environment.

It’s important to set up a working environment that is perfect for you. You might play music to block out other noises, or you might need complete silence and to close your office door to keep you from being distracted by things outside or at home. It might also help to end each day by clearing off the surfaces in your office so that you start the next day clutter-free and feeling organized. Even things like the temperature in your office can impact your ability to focus (I have one setting during the day and then reduce the temperature at night, since I tend to get cold more often during the day, which really distracts me).

Do whatever you need to do to make your environment essentially disappear around you so that you’re able to maintain focus and not get sidetracked by little annoyances and distractions.

No matter how well you’re able to manage projects, goals and priorities, it’s often the little things that get in the way and keep us from getting things done. Be intentional about setting up safeguards to make you less likely to get distracted throughout the day so that you can maintain focus and move the “big rocks” of your day.

What safeguards do you have in place to keep you on track and focused?

Photo by Flickr user NJ.., licensed under CC 2.0

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

Compartmentalize and Get More Done

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:00:08 +0000

Recently, I was talking with a client about how to manage multiple, large-scale projects simultaneously, and still make progress on each of them. While it’s not an easy task, I’ve stumbled on a compartmentalization strategy that is helping me do just that.
About a month ago, I realized I needed a better way to organize my time, not only to help me to got more done, but also so that my mind was clearer and more focused. In the time leading up to this change, I felt like me efforts were scattered as I flitted from project to project, and like I wasn’t making real progress on any of them. Yet I was preparing to add two more to my plate. I knew something had to give.

First Step: Set Days for Set Projects

I had several main projects that were most important to me at the time, so I decided to reserve certain days of the week for each of them. Here’s a rough overview of how I set up my week.

Mondays: Project A
Tuesdays: Projects B and C (since they’re closely related)
Wednesdays: Writing and Project D
Thursdays: Projects B and C
Fridays: Project A

Second Step: One-Stop Organization

It was important that I had one way of tracking what needed to be done, rather than using five different tools to manage bits and pieces of my schedule and to-do list, so I started condensing things down until I was left with just a couple of tools to keep me in line.

I started using Tom’s Planner (which I also use for managing my editorial calendars) for organizing my recurring weekly schedule: those things I have to do every week on a set day (for example, write my WebWorkerDaily article every Wednesday).

At the start of each day, my first stop is Tom’s Planner, which gives me an overview of the “big rocks” that need to be moved that day.

In addition to Tom’s Planner, I use Google Calendar for managing set appointments and events (for example, phone calls and birthdays), and I try to only book phone calls and other set appointments during specific time frames on certain days of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1:30 to 3:30 PM, for example). This makes me far less likely to overlook something or get my days mixed up.

Great News, It’s Working!

Immediately, I can say that my mind is a lot clearer lately, but there are several other advantages I’ve found so far for compartmentalizing my days.

I’m focused and staying true to my priorities. A quick glance lets me know what my top priorities are, as well as the rough percentage of time I’m giving each one. If I want to take on a new project, I quickly think, “What do I have on my plate right now? Well, Mondays I have…, Tuesdays I have…,” which keeps me from over-committing and straying from my top priorities. If I want to take on something new, something else has to go.
I’m not constantly shifting gears. Before I started using this method of organizing my time, I jumped from one project to another and felt like I wasn’t giving enough time to any of them. Now, I don’t worry about not giving enough time to any one project. I know, for example, that I will work on Project A tomorrow, so there’s no rush to take my attention off the project I’m working on today.
I’m getting more done. At first, I was worried that this strategy might leave me working less on my top projects, and while that has proven to be true in terms of the absolute amount of time I spend on them, I’m actually getting more done for each project, since I’m a lot more focused.

I’m also way more particular about the things I do for each one. On a given day, I know I have to pick the top tasks and hustle to get them done, since I’m not going to pick this project up again for a few days. I’m a lot less likely to get distracted by email, lower priority to-dos, or other things vying for my attention.

The proof is in the pudding. In the past three weeks, here’s what I’ve accomplished.

Designed a new logo/banner for a new project
Created a business plan for the new project
Built a website for the new project
Wrote and published 13 articles
Created and published seven audio pieces
Created and published two newsletters

In the three weeks prior to starting this strategy, here’s what I accomplished.

Wrote and published 12 articles

Big difference! Plus, I’m spending far fewer actual hours working on any given project, and I feel like I’m working less, even though I’m getting more done.

So, what’s your strategy? Do you have a set way of working to help you move more rocks in less time?

Photo by Flickr user Helico, licensed under CC 2.0

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

Monday Morning Productivity Jump Start

Amber Singleton Riviere — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:00:06 +0000

Mondays aren’t always the most productive days. Busy weekends leave us lagging, and it’s sometimes hard to find the motivation to get things going, so here’s a quick “jump start” to kick off your week and get you moving closer to achieving your goals.

Realign with your intentio ns. Stop everything. Close the social networks, the news feeds, and your email program, and give yourself a fresh start. Get a notebook and pen or open a Zoho or Google document and list your top priorities in life and business right now. What kind of life and business do you want to lead? What is most important to you? Rather than working in reactive mode over the coming week, commit to living proactively and moving your life and business in the direction you want them to go.
Choose your “Big Three.” Make a list of the three things that would make the biggest difference in your life or business if you could accomplish them. Think about it. What three things, if achieved, would have the biggest impact on your overall success? In your business, maybe you need to do more marketing and lead generation, or maybe you need to hire a coach, and on the personal side, maybe you need to take better care of your health or spend more time with family. We have a tendency to work on things that are easy, don’t take much time, or are lower in priority, instead of focusing on those few things that would cause the biggest change. This week, take an entirely different approach and spend at least half of your time working on the most important things.
Reserve time for your “Big Three.” You’ve listed your absolute top priorities. Now it’s time to adjust your schedule and to-do list to reflect your intentions. Open your calendar and set aside time each day over the coming week to work on each of your top three priorities (see sample calendar below). If possible, reserve the mornings for working on your “Big Three” so that, no matter what happens the rest of the day, you’re sure to make progress on those things that are most important to you.
Choose the tasks you will complete this week. In order to move each of your top priorities forward, you have to take specific action steps to help you achieve them. What could you do this week for each of the items on your list to move them forward as much as possible? List one to three specific tasks, depending on complexity, that you could do to make progress around each priority. Create a to-do list (on paper or within an online tool like Backpack), listing them out by day, if necessary.
Work from the schedule and list. When you start each day, the first thing you need to do is refer to your preset calendar and to-do list. Do not open email, news feeds, or social networks until you’ve completed your reserved time blocks and all of today’s tasks associated with your “Big Three.” Whatever is in your email inbox can wait.
Do a daily recap and setup. At the end of each day, recite your top three priorities so that you stay in alignment with those things that matter most to you. Run through your to-do list to see what you’ve accomplished and what’s left to do over the remainder of the week. Adjust your to-do list to reflect any changes or additions that will help you make even greater progress on your top priorities. Finally, clear your desk and your browser so that you have a clean slate for the next day, and open your calendar and to-do list so that they’ll be the first things you see the next morning.

While it’s not always easy to stay aligned with your priorities and remain proactive when approaching your days, by taking the time to plan ahead and by making a firm commitment to your goals in life and business, you’ll be far more likely to achieve them. Stay focused, remember what’s most important to you, and approach each day with intention and purpose.

What’s your system for staying on track with your goals?

Photo by Flickr user Joe Lanman, licensed under CC 2.0

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

4 Obstacles to Starting and Completing Challenging Projects

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:00:32 +0000

Fear not the obstacles in your path.
- The blind seer, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

I just finished one of several big projects I’ve been working on lately. It was probably one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, and several times throughout the project, I could easily see why most of us:

Don’t take on big challenges at all,
Procrastinate when needing to deal with big challenges, or
Quit halfway through them.

There are tons of obstacles that get in the way and make starting and completing big projects or challenges very hard to do.

Obstacle #1: Fear

Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, fear (of success and failure, of ticking people off, of looking stupid, etc.) is debilitating. A lot of times, it’s easier to just keep our heads down, avoid eye contact, and not raise our hands (even when we know the answer). We ask ourselves:

“What if it doesn’t work?”
“What if it gets me fired?”
“What if I do this, spend a lot of time/money/energy, and it gets me nowhere?”

Fear is always going to be present, but nine times out of ten, the thing we fear doesn’t even eventuate. Yet we still let it hold us back, even though we know it’s not likely to occur.

Obstacle #2: Avoidance

More often than not, we know what we need to do, yet we make excuses about why we can’t or haven’t made progress. Maybe we need to get that new marketing strategy off the ground, maybe we need to start that new business, or maybe we need to write that e-book. Whatever the case, we don’t get it done or don’t even get it started and instead say things, like:

“I would have started it, but I’ve just been so busy at home.”
“I’ve been meaning to finish that, but I’ve been swamped lately.”
“I got sick, then the kids were off a week, then my in-laws came to visit, and I just haven’t had the time.”

We convince ourselves that our complete avoidance of getting things done is caused by legitimate delays and distractions, because they are legitimate. The question is, how badly do we want to complete that big project/challenge? For example, how much do we really want to get our businesses off the ground, or how much do we really want to see them succeed?

Obstacle #3: Motivation (Or Lack of It)

I think a lot of times, we say we want something because maybe we should want it (or think we should want it). Maybe we say, “I want my business to make more money,” but in reality, we’re pretty comfortable where we are, and even if we’re not completely comfortable, the discomfort is not so overwhelming to make us want to put out the extra effort to effect change in our situation.

If there is no real motivation to do something, we have to admit it, own it, and say, “I don’t even want that,” and so, it’s not necessary to put out all that effort to complete some arbitrary project or challenge. If we can’t at least get to the place where we can accept our lack of motivation, then there’s this feeling of obligation or guilt that constantly nags at us.

Obstacle #4: No Map

Sometimes we’d do what we needed to do, if only we knew where to start or how to get it done. Especially in business, there are times when we walk around clueless and have to figure things out as we go, and that leads back to the first obstacle. If we don’t know what we’re doing, how can we get people to believe in us, and how do we avoid looking stupid when people figure out that we don’t know what we’re doing?

Seth Godin talks about working without a map in his book “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?“, and discusses about how we have to be OK with working without a map and just get used to not knowing our way around. If there was a map, everyone else would be following it, and then the journey and destination would probably not be as worthwhile.

It can be hard to take on big projects and challenges and even harder to actually complete them, but by identifying the root cause of our hesitation or procrastination, we’ll be much more likely to tackle those big challenges and get things done.

What are some of the biggest obstacles that hold you back when it comes to big projects and challenges?

Photo by Flickr user The U.S. Army, licensed under CC 2.0

Tackling Big Projects and Getting Things Done

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:00:54 +0000

I was recently interviewed by Betsy Talbot of Married With Luggage, who wanted to know how I managed to bring big projects to completion so quickly. Here are the biggest three steps for me in getting things done.

Step 1: Prioritize.

The first step is to prioritize. This applies to deciding what projects you take on in the first place, as well as prioritizing the tasks you do each day.

You have to first decide what projects will get your attention. As a business owner, you might have a hundred different ideas for creating revenue streams or even new marketing strategies you’d like to implement, but you can’t do them all at once. The way I like to prioritize projects is using a real estate method called “highest and best use.”

In real estate, agents value property based upon its highest and best use. For example, a house might actually be better suited as a commercial property, thereby tripling its value. You can use the same technique to value your time. Not all projects are created equal when it comes to creating the most value or the most return on investment. You have to decide which project will generate the most value at this time.

Once you’ve selected the project with the highest likely return on investment, you have to prioritize your tasks and how you spend your time each day. For that, I like to use the “revenue line” concept of Julie Morgenstern, author of “Never Check E-Mail in the Morning.” You never want to be more than three steps away from the revenue line. For a business owner, the first step away from the revenue line are those tasks that are most likely to generate immediate (or more immediate) income. That includes things like working on client projects, creating new products, and even invoicing, since it will lead to revenue right away. Two and three steps away from the revenue include lead generation activities, those that more directly influence your revenue, as well as those that indirectly influence it.

Step 2: Take care of yourself.

When tackling a really big project, you have to take care of yourself so that you maintain your energy and creativity for peak performance. Although it can be tempting to neglect your health and well-being, this is not the time to cut corners. Be sure to set aside enough time for exercising, eating right, and getting enough sleep. Otherwise, you’ll lose your edge and won’t be bringing your best work to the table. You’ll end up sacrificing quality for quantity.

Another less-than-obvious thing to leave room for are all those nagging distractions. For each person this will be different, but if a dirty house or working in your PJ’s distracts you, then make time to take care of those things. Figure out areas you can tolerate neglecting so that you have time to take care of those that will slow you down or bug you.

Step 3: Focus on forward movement and progress.

For big projects, done is better than perfect. You don’t want to get caught up in details, perfectionism and procrastination, so keep your feet to the fire by enforcing strict deadlines.

By holding yourself to a schedule for rolling out this big project, you’ll be a lot less likely to allow minor things to distract you from making real progress. A trick I like to use is to actually cut down the time I allow myself to work on something, so I’ll either cut my deadline by 25 percent or cut my working hours by 25percent so that I’m more likely to focus on the most important tasks of getting a project to completion. If I know I only have six hours to do a job instead of eight, I’m more concentrated on results, rather than things being perfect or allowing myself a lot of down time to check email or for other distractions.

Moving big projects to completion really comes down to cutting through the fat so that you can concentrate on the real work at hand, and that starts with prioritizing the things on your plate, making sure to take care of yourself while you’re working so hard, and focusing on getting the project out the door.

What tricks do you use to help you get through big projects?

Photo by Flickr user Ivan Walsh, licensed under CC 2.0

7 Sneaky Disruptions That Can Negatively Impact Your Work

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:00:21 +0000

As web workers and small business owners, the personal and business sides of our lives often overlap. While it’s easy to see that relationship when, say, we have to stop work each day to pick up the kids from school, it’s not always so obvious when little changes or disruptions in our personal lives start negatively impacting our ability to work productively. Here are just a few of those sneaky disruptions.

Sneaky Disruption #1: Poor Diet or Changes in Diet

I’m terrible about this. I don’t always eat breakfast and will instead substitute with a cup of coffee. I don’t have a set schedule and will eat at odd times throughout the day, and when I finally do eat, it’s generally something quick and easy (and rarely healthy).

How to beat it: While it’s very tempting and easy to want to eat unhealthy convenience foods, we pay for it in energy and in our ability to concentrate. We feel much better and are way more productive when we maintain a balanced diet.

Sneaky Disruption #2: Lack of Exercise

Exercise often seems like a luxury. Who has time for it? Although we obviously have more energy, can manage stress better, and have increased concentration and stamina when we maintain a good exercise routine, it’s very hard to put it into practice.

How to beat it: With the nice spring weather, my trick for the past month or so has been to have a set time to “leave work” each day and go out for a one-hour walk. When I get back, I generally work another hour or two, but the key for me has been a consistent wrap-up time. At about 3:30 each day, I start making my way out the door.

Sneaky Disruption #3: Poor or Changing Sleep Habits

Sleep is another one of those things that can disrupt our energy and concentration levels, and just like with diet and exercise, it’s easy to slip up in this department. Going to bed at varying times, falling asleep with the television on, eating before bedtime, and a variety of other bad habits can chip away at the amount of time devoted to a good night’s sleep.

How to beat it: This is another place for a good routine. I find that the best solution is a regular bedtime routine that signals to my brain that it’s time to wind down and go to sleep. I generally have to start an hour and a half to two hours ahead of the time I want to be asleep, but it probably varies for each person. Find the routine that works best for you and then do your absolute best to stick to it.

Sneaky Disruption #4: Isolation/Loneliness

Let’s face it. Web working can be very isolating, and while we might interact with people all day through emails, phone calls and social networking online, it’s not quite the same as in-person interaction.

How to beat it: Make it a point to get out into the land of the living sometimes (preferably at regular intervals). I’m finding that simply seeing and being surrounded by people on my daily walks makes me feel more connected, but take it a step further by setting up time out with friends and family and away from the computer screen.

Sneaky Disruption #5: Feeling Crowded or Suffocated

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are times when it’s easy to feel crowded or suffocated. Everyone needs time alone to recharge and get centered. There are times, say when company comes to visit for a few days or so, when you might begin feeling like people are encroaching on your space a bit too much.

How to beat it: Take a walk, a long bath, or go out for a cup of coffee to squeeze in a little time on your own. While it’s fun to have guests around to liven things up a bit, you have to know your own limits and build in that much-needed personal space.

Sneaky Disruption #6: Life Changes

A move, a new baby, a divorce, a death in the family — these are just a few of the life-changing events that can impact our ability to concentrate on work. They often happen unexpectedly and when things are very busy or chaotic within our businesses, making it even harder to manage everything and not become overwhelmed.

How to beat it: During these times, it’s even more important to take care of yourself. Stick to eating healthily, exercising regularly and getting as much sleep as you can. Seek the support of friends and family (both online and off) to help you get through it, and remember that things will get easier with time.

Sneaky Disruption #7: Health Issues

There are times when nagging symptoms can indicate underlying health issues that really need to be addressed. As web workers and solo business owners, the thought of expensive treatments and medications can keep us from taking care of our overall health, and although it’s easy to put our personal needs last more often than not, our health should never take backseat.

How to beat it: Get regular checkups with your doctor. If you’re taking care of yourself in every other way and still feel like something is off, get it checked out. Don’t put it off. Also, check out Georgina’s Web Worker’s Health Care Plan.

Although there are times when big life stresses and underlying health issues can negatively impact our work, it’s often the little things that have the biggest impact on our ability to get things done. We notice a lag in our creativity or that we’re easily frustrated by things that normally don’t affect us, and we start to wonder what’s going on. Many times, if we’ll just step back and think about things that might be a little off kilter in our personal lives, we can pinpoint the likely culprit that’s negatively impacting our work.

What sneaky disruptions impact your ability to work effectively?

Photo by Flickr user Abdullah AL-Naser, licensed under CC 2.0

Get More Done: How to Move the Big Rocks

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:00:54 +0000

As an entrepreneur, you have to be very intentional about how you approach your work. If you jump around from fire to fire, you’ll end up feeling spent and accomplishing nothing.

Last weekend, I set out a few goals to help me get more done this week:

1. Create a better work schedule (one that limits my working time to 36 hours per week).

By limiting my working time, I am much more likely to focus on the most important things that need to be accomplished at any given point. On top of that, I’ll actually leave room in my life for things outside my business, which, let’s face it, is one of the main reasons for working for yourself.

2. Create focus blocks within the schedule that allow me to move bigger rocks.

Paraphrasing from the 3, 6, 9 Time Management System, if you focus on a given task or goal for three hours straight, you’re going to make progress on it. I don’t need to get caught up in menial tasks that simply eat away at my day (see this post about grinding vs. clocking from Chris Brogan).

I need to focus on moving big projects forward. A lot of my work (writing, for instance) takes a lot of concentrated effort to get it done. If I only have an hour here or an hour there, I end up focusing on a lot of junk tasks that are better left undone, rather than getting those big rocks moved.

With a set number of focus blocks each week, I’ll have to be very selective about what gets that prime real estate in my schedule.

3. Create smaller admin blocks within the schedule that allow me to do “have-to” things, like checking email and delegating smaller rocks that still have to get moved somehow.

The reality is that you can’t be 100 percent efficient and only concentrate on profit-making tasks. Email has to be read and responded to, smaller tasks have to be delegated, and phone calls have to be made and returned. If I leave no room for them, then I feel compelled to check my email at random times throughout the day, instead of focusing on what’s right in front of me. By leaving designated windows for it, I know that that task will get done, too, and that it hasn’t been too long since I made sure there were no fires to put out.

Here’s my revised work schedule. You’ll see “dots” and “dashes,” which come from Julie Morgenstern’s book “Never Check E-Mail in the Morning.” She refers to dots as the admin tasks, like checking email and returning phone calls, and dashes as the focused blocks of time where you really get things done.

The great thing is, I can move entire focus blocks rather easily, so if something comes up that isn’t work-related, I can rearrange my schedule without too much interference with the rest of my week. On top of that, I intentionally set up my week by deciding what big rocks will be moved and when, which hopefully will ensure major progress in several areas of my business.

What does your schedule look like? How do you ensure that big rocks get moved on a regular basis?

Image from Flickr by wwarby

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