How to be effective
About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to see Karol Rose of Flexpaths speak. This burgeoning company, and Karol along with it, is changing the way we think about work, workstyle flexibility and life in general….and I’m thrilled to be writing for them. After I saw Karol speak, I wrote about her theory of work/life balance – which basically states that the quest for ‘balance’ is a myth and a recipe for heartache and stress.
Karol maintains that we should reach for work/life effectiveness instead, and this weekend I was the poster child for her theory.
Take a two year-old boy + a three year-old girl + a Blackberry/Mac/Writing/Blogging/Twitter obsessed mom and subtract my wife (you know, the reigning Mother of the Year champ) and put them together for 53 hours with no outside help whatsoever.
The perfect storm?
It could have been, but I took Karol’s advice to heart. I needed to be effective at home this weekend. So, I turned off my computer, ignored my Blackberry’s charming gong that tells me I have yet another email and sunk deeply and contentedly into my role as Mom…And I had the time of my life.
Sure, some writing ideas popped into my head and I scribbled them down. Once or twice I checked Twitter to see what was happening. But my mindset was all about home. I can assure you that if I had had the goal of getting a few work things done this weekend, we all might have imploded.
In this case, ‘balance’ was found by tipping the scales profoundly and completely in the direction of home.
Apply this lesson where you will. If you’d like to be effective anywhere, anyhow, anytime – Just. Do. IT.
Image courtesy of Zen
Filed under Critical Copywriting, The Business | Tags: Facebook, Julie Roads, mom, parenting, social media, time management, Twitter, work flexibility, worklife balance, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (9)scheduling the freelance writer’s day
My family is currently marinating in an incredibly structured schedule. It includes meals, naps, errands, cleaning, dates – the whole shebang all carefully mapped out. At first it freaked me out, whatever happened to just letting things happen, right? Not really…
We’ve been at it now for about 2 weeks, and I can’t begin to tell you what a difference it has made in our lives. All four of us have entered some sort of rhythmically syncopated, ulterior universe that is lulling us all into, well, a happy place.
So, all of this order and ease, got me thinking – the daily life of a Freelancer is somewhat similar to the daily life of a house with two 2 year-olds and two 85lb. dogs. They both include:
- an extraordinary amount of work
- frequent distractions
- multi-tasking
- incessant demands from needy customers
- messes
- successes
- things that beep, whir, bark, whine and blink at you
- undulating energy levels
- and, total exhaustion.
So, why shouldn’t a structured calendar also transform my life as a freelancer? Think of all the time that will not be wasted because I’m efficiently shuffled from one task to the next. I already succeeded in turning off my social media while I was writing a project, this seems like the logical next step.
I’m going to make my calendar now…and then I’m thinking about a one week challenge – to really see if this raises the bar on my productivity. Yes, I will schedule Twitter breaks throughout the day. And, yes, I’m hoping I don’t have to hire an office mom to make this work.
Anyone want to join me in this endeavor?
UPDATE: I’ve had a fantastic response to this challenge, brave souls, each and every one of you! I’m away for the long weekend, so here’s what I propose: take the weekend to work on your calendar. I’ll post mine here by Tuesday and we’ll begin on Wednesday morning. I’ll also send you all an email to remind you, bust on you, and even, possibly inspire you. Thanks for your patience on the start date, I have to go to Vermont, my family is making me take a vacation.
Can’t wait to see how we all do and what we find…
Filed under Critical Copywriting, How To, The Business | Tags: copywriter, freelance writer, marketing writer, mom, parenting, scheduling, toddlers | Comments (21)
