Displaying All Posts tagged with distractions

5 Productivity Tools for the Busy Freelancer

Do you struggle for productivity? I, for one, find it hard to stay focused and productive all the time. It is often easy to lose focus with a ton of buzzing social networks all around us. But the good news is there are tricks and tools to overcome distractions and constantly stay on track of productivity.

Here are 5 great apps I am using every day to efficiently manage my time online. They all help me to get tasks done faster than before. What’s more, their interface and design is super slick so finding your way around these tools shouldn’t take long. Read More

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How to Be a Disciplined Freelance Writer

Zahid Javali 1st June Career 3 Comments

Do you know what the First Law of Freelancing is? “It’s all right to have a 9-5 job and slack at the workplace. But if you freelance from home, you can’t afford to.”

Needless to say, if you’re a freelancer, you must adhere to the First Law. Freelance writers must monitor themselves all the time and stay disciplined as they enjoy working on their own terms. But how?

Following are some ways you can combine freelancing with discipline. Read More

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How to Focus with Pomodoro Technique

Ethan Waldman 2nd May Office Life 21 Comments

I showed up at a meeting one year ago and realized that I had four Internet-connected devices. Yes, two laptops, an iPad and an iPhone were at the ready, all beeping and buzzing in synchronization with meeting reminders and new email notifications. The craziest part was that this felt normal to me.

With all of these devices constantly beeping and vibrating, it’s no wonder I was unable to get anything done without constant interruptions. I needed a new way of working. Luckily, I found the Pomodoro Technique. Read More

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5 Simple Tools That Unleash Meaningful Work

Scott Dinsmore 16th February Office Life 23 Comments

I recently watched a TED talk by Jason Fried of 37 Signals entitled Why Work Doesn’t Get Done at Work. The message was right on: The office has become a place of endless distraction; so much so that people seek anywhere but there to get their real work done. What happens is the real work ends up getting handled at home, on the weekends, super-early in the morning or days off.

Office distractions are almost an institution in the workplace. They can come in the form of impromptu meetings, Sharon from accounting stopping by your cube to clarify your latest expense report, or a buddy dropping in to kill some time. It’s endless.

The reality is that we cannot get meaningful work done in 15 or 20 minute increments, and office distractions regularly put us in that position. We must allow space for our minds to create the stuff that matters; we can’t command that to happen at a moment’s notice. Sometimes it can take the first hour just for the juices to start flowing, and then the last thing anyone wants to do (especially your boss) is interrupt that flow. Because once it’s gone, no one knows when it will return.

But it happens constantly. These tiny interruptions keep us from doing what matters. Well, I have a few suggestions that can work wonders in reclaiming our best work. In a word it comes down to focus (something deeply covered in 11 Steps to Insane Focus).
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How To Achieve A State Of Flow

Jen Smith 30th November Productivity 10 Comments

Being in a state of flow is something many of us strive to achieve. It’s a key element in becoming more productive. But what is flow?

Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.

Whatever we are doing seems easier and more enjoyable if we can achieve a state of flow while doing it. It’s more likely that we will achieve this state if we are doing something we enjoy, however I have found that it is possible to achieve a state of flow with tasks that I don’t usually enjoy — like ironing, for example.

I’m really not a fan of ironing.
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Go Home Lassie: Are Pets at Work a Bad Idea?

Janet Martin 28th August Office Life 11 Comments

What if Lassie came to work with you? She’d fetch coffee, protect you from baddies, and of course, let you know when little Timmy is trapped down in corporate accounts payable. But jokes aside, are pets helpful in office environments?

It’s very clear that pets reduce stress and improve health. Many research studies show that pets lower blood pressure and lessen anxiety. So it’s natural that pets have made their way into some offices. Just last month was Take Your Dog to Work Day, and one design agency, Second Story, even lists two dogs as staff members. Read More

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Cubicle Hell: Dealing with Distractions in an Open-Office Environment

Janet Martin 18th July Office Life 4 Comments

Are you in a cube farm or other open-office environment? If so, you know that no amount of snack machines, sofas, or fancy Herman Miller furniture can make up for the constant noise and interruptions.

For many years I worked on a team of introverts sandwiched between two of my company’s most extroverted teams. Sitting out in the open with lots going on around me made it tough to be productive. Read More

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Where Do You Work Best?

Susan Johnston 22nd June Productivity 20 Comments

Some people need absolute, morgue-like silence to get real work done. Others are content to type away amidst chaos like chattering coworkers or screaming kids. As a work-at-home freelancer, I love being able to vary my work environment. It was tough when I had roommates who watched TV in my “office” (also a corner of the living room), but I managed to bang out dozens of articles, blog posts, and copywriting assignments.

Now I alternate between rocking out to show tunes in my home office (blissfully devoid of coworkers or kids) or heading to the library or a coffee shop to change things up and be among other people. I’ve even been known to type on the subway with my netbook, but that’s far from ideal for me.

What about you? What’s your ideal work environment? Does silence make you nervous? Do you need a little background noise? Or do you prefer peace and quiet? Read More

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Self-Initiated Productivity Killers

Jason Finnerty 18th June General 13 Comments

While we clearly discuss ways to be more productive here at WorkAwesome, we don’t often delve too much into the productivity killers that you bring on yourself. I was thinking about this as I was enjoying the 10^th round of solitaire on my iPhone, accidentally-on-purpose avoiding a looming deadline.

It’s not that I didn’t want to do the job; I just didn’t really want to start. The getting paid part of it was really great, and landing the project is always exciting. The project itself…not so much. So I found myself focusing my efforts on winning one more round. And if it’s not solitaire, it’s crib – trying to get that elusive 29. Curse you iPhone apps!

So what do you do to avoid doing what you should be doing, and how do you get yourself back on track?

Or am I the only one that does this? Read More

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3 Ways To Get Unstuck

Mike Vardy 14th June Productivity 2 Comments

Sometimes you just get stuck.

Whether you’re a writer and you…just…can’t…find…the next thought or you catch a glimpse of the sunny skies outside your office window and you start to daydream, it happens. The biggest step to moving ahead is to get “unstuck.” Here are a few quick tips on how to get your mind on track and get back to the task at hand:

1. Indulge

Just go with it. If you can’t stop thinking about next weekend, then don’t. If you can’t get that next sentence on that report, then don’t. Distract yourself, but do it productively. Pick up the phone and make plans for the weekend. If that next sentence won’t come out, then start to write about something else – make plans for what’s to come, perhaps. Sometimes you have to indulge in what’s got you stuck before you can get out of it. It’s like quicksand: the more you fight it, the quicker you’ll sink.

2. Insist

You can go the opposite way of indulging and insist you push through what’s on your plate. It’s not the most pleasant way to go, but the short-term pain leads to long-term gain. Think about what’s beyond the task at hand; that’ll help you get done what you need to now so that you can get to where you need to be next.

3. Inquire

Start asking yourself questions. Does this “getting stuck” happen often? Does it happen with just this type of work, or with a lot of what you do? Sometimes searching for the answers to these initial questions will give you a lot of scope as to what really lies beneath. Sometimes it’ll just get you moving again. Sometimes it’ll get you moving on.

Do you have strategies that you put into practice when you get stuck? What do you do to get unstuck? Let us know in the comments. Read More

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World Cup Productivity Watch

Ana da Silva 14th June Productivity 18 Comments

Except in the United States (for the most part), the World Cup is a huge deal. My brother, for example, works for an American multinational in Brazil and the company had to bring in TV sets for workers to watch games lest half the office be out sick on game days. It’s just the way it is there – we love football – and foreigners doing business with Brazil just need to adjust. But if you’re the person trying to get some information from my brother while he and his co-workers are watching a game, you might get frustrated. Who cares if they’ll make up for the work later, you need the numbers now!

So, is the World Cup affecting your work? If so, how are you dealing with it? Read More

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Keeping Track of Your Tech Devices

Ana da Silva 10th June General 9 Comments

Yesterday I realized that I had 5 portable devices to recharge and a drawer of tangled cables from which to get each of the 5 recharge cables (each device has its own). My TV remote and cordless phone seemed to need new batteries and the hand held vacuum was out of charge, too. It took me a good half hour to get everything all set and plugged in, by which time the cables were starting to tangle again. It’s like I was having a close encounter with clutter of a third kind – a technological kind.

How does everyone handle their technology maintenance? Do you have a routine? Have you found a way to keep devices, cables and batteries organized without spending too much time on it? Read More

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