Can’t resist a new time management system
It’s true, I just can’t help myself. Whilst looking through the resources section of the site to check that all the links are still current (a job I still have to finish) I got distracted by Mark Forster’s blog on time management and in particular his Autofocus V. 4 system.
Time management is one of my obsessions. I’m always trying to reinvent my approach to time management. I’ve got a couple of cracking books that I use – I see that I haven’t reviewed either of them yet, so will be adding reviews in the coming weeks. However, I’m always interested in trying something new. I find rejigging things occasionally can give me a new lease of life.
So, I’m going to have a go at the autofocus system. Actually, now that I’ve read about it I’m itching to start. Once I’m up and running I should have a list split into two sections – Backlog and Active List. I can then use the system laid out by Mark to work through the list in a focused way. That’s the theory at least – have a look at Mark’s instructions for a step-by-step explanation of how it works.
A more positive start to the year
When I blogged yesterday I think I was feeling a bit disparaged by what I’d discovered in our finances. It’s certainly not all bad but let’s say there’s definitely room for improvement. I often get frustrated by the feeling that we’re not moving forward – I work incredibly hard but the business can feel like it’s just standing still.
However, later on after a bit more thought (and a small glass of whisky which may have helped) my fighting spirit kicked in and I decided that 2009 is going to be the year that we turn things around. So there! I know what I want to achieve and have the beginnings of how I’m going to achieve it, so it’s now just a case of knuckling down and doing it.
I think my motto for the next few months will have to be “don’t be afraid of a bit of hard work”. Is it possible for me to work harder than I was already doing? Let’s see, shall we?
Staying positive
I find myself starting this week with some trepidation. It just feels like there’s so much to get through and with me being out at my course all day tomorrow I’m not sure how I’m going to manage it. Got to stay positive and just work through it all as efficiently as I can.
I managed to polish off my course homework yesterday but not without a great deal of grumbling. I don’t know, it just seems to be asking an awful lot – it’s not that it’s particularly difficult, it’s just that there’s so much of it! I wish the course description had been clearer about what was involved. Oops, there I go grumbling again.
So, positive attitude! I’ve already planned out my day so it’s just a case of knuckling down and getting the work done. I’m sure once I get started I’ll be ticking the various jobs off in no time.
The problem with feeling motivated at the weekend…
… is that it can drain all your energy for the following week. OK, maybe not the whole week, but I’ve been feeling a bit flat today – think I used up too much of my oomph on the business planning yesterday. It’s difficult sometimes because you want to do stuff while you feel inspired, but it’s easy to overdo it and leave you feeling drained when you really need to be getting work done. What’s the answer eh?
A motivated weekend
I’ve got a good dose of motivation this weekend – feeling full of energy and enthusiasm. Maybe not the best thing if I was hoping for a chilled-out relaxed weekend, but great for tackling some business planning. In fact I got up nice and early this morning to have a head-start on it.
What am I planning? What we can do to start bringing in more money. I honestly didn’t go into business to make huge amounts of dosh, I’d be more than happy with a comfortable income that allows us to keep on top of the mortgage, buy the occasional book/dvd/computer game and have an occasional meal out. Not much to ask is it? Well, the truth is we haven’t quite achieved that yet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy with the progress the business has made over the last couple of years – I thought at this point we’d still be relying on part-time jobs but instead both of us are working full time on the business, which is great. However, our financial situation is a bit pathetic. I’d say we’re just about ‘getting by’.
So, the ultimate aim of my business planning is to make more money. We’ve had a few ideas of things we can try out but with the day-to-day running of the business it’s difficult to find the time to focus on them. Well, I guess that’s what evenings and weekends are for… Using the framework set out in Steve Parks’ Start Your Business Week by Week I’m going to set aside one evening a week and one day a weekend to do some ‘business planning’. Although our business is up and running it will be an interesting exercise to treat our plans for business improvement as if it was a new business. Will see how it goes!
Feel-good moment
Isn’t it great when you feel appreciated for what you do? It’s not like I sit around feeling unappreciated by our clients because they don’t tell me they love me every day, but it is rather nice to be told you’ve done a good job, isn’t it? That’s what happened to us today. We’d just gone live with a client website and the client phoned up this afternoon to say ‘it’s bloody good’. Just that, not to ask us to do anything, just to tell us how pleased he was.
Now if I was looking for a boost to my motivation, that would definitely be it!
Are you in the zone?
Whilst doing working today I was listening back through some old podcasts and came across a brilliant one about working from home which I had forgotten about. Actually it’s not that old – only from June this year. It’s one of Mind Your Own Business’s and is called Staying in the Zone. It’s a great listen so if you work from home or are thinking about working from home I would highly recommend it. I particularly enjoyed the different ways of making sure you get work done as practised by Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope – most entertaining.
The podcast contains some really useful advice about making sure you give yourself space to get work done – both physically by having a defined work area and in terms of time by giving yourself set working hours (also one of my tips in 10 tips for staying motivated when working from home).
Off to a good start
Well, I think it’s fair to say that I’m off to a good start with my 90-day plan. I was up at 6am this morning and did my yoga DVD … not very flexible at all so definitely need a bit more of that. Apart from that I’ve got most of the things ticked off my list for today, which is a good feeling. All that’s left is a bit of reading, doing my relaxation cd (brilliant people know how to deal with stress apparently) and to phone my ‘buddy’, which I’ve got booked in for 7pm.
I’m generally feeling motivated and keen to keep going. Well you’d hope so after just one day, wouldn’t you?
Taking my own advice
After feeling a decided lack of oomph when I got up this morning I decided to take my own advice and did Tip 10 from my 10 tips for staying motivated – I gave myself a break. I decided that if I got through as much as I could before lunch time that I could take the afternoon off. That in itself was a great source of motivation and I actually got quite a bit done. Then when I stopped for lunch I turned my pc off and enjoyed a work-free afternoon. What did I do with it? Slept mostly, then watched a DVD and did some reading. Lovely, could get used to that! Of course I won’t though. Tomorrow it will be back to work and hopefully feeling a lot more with-it.
New article: motivation for home-workers
Another article is now in place: 10 tips for how to stay motivated when working from home. This is a particularly relevant one for me today as I haven’t been feeling brilliantly motivated. Will start tomorrow afresh having reminded myself of the techniques that work for me.
Is there anything that you do differently? A brilliant tip that could make all the difference. Leave a comment below, I’d be delighted to hear from you.
