- Image by Gauravonomics via Flickr
How is it going?
As I begin week three using the weekly planning system, I still struggle with the time blocks. Steve designates 45 minute time blocks to his tasks. This makes a lot of sense when you are concerned about having enough time set aside to accomplish your plan. I could work that way in employee mode because of the controlled environment and task orientated work spaces. In my new work-at-home environment, there are distractions and options not present in the work environment and that makes it much harder for me to keep to a schedule. I haven’t been tracking the time as scheduled. I do check off the tasks and my record of accomplishment has been pretty good. Where I am falling short is taking too much time to complete my tasks (or in other words, being inefficient). If more time is necessary for the tasks than I am allocating then there is no problem but if I am wasting time, that is another issue.
Step up the daily planning
Since starting the weekly planning system I have neglected my daily planner. I wasn’t using it regularly before so it stayed on the sideline with the weekly system as well. I think it is time to bring it back and become more accountable for getting things done day to day as well as week to week. I need to pay more attention to the time devoted to each task on a daily basis and track against the plan.
Infrastructure Improvements
One other contributor to a lack of focus is my current office setup. At present there is only a computer work station with no working desk space for writing and other manual tasks and no handy storage for work in progress. This was adequate for recreational activities with a two hour max daily use but totally wrong for a full time work-at-home business. As I write this post, I am sitting on a couch in my office looking at piles of materials (work in progress) arrayed on the rest of the couch and all of the exposed surfaces (file cabinets, bookcases, chairs). This is after I spent a day last week cleaning up; reorganizing files and throwing out unneeded paper. It is very clear that organizing my planning can only go so far without an upgrade to the infrastructure of my office. If I intend to make a go at being a web entrepreneur, I need to invest in a desk and more storage. Maybe even a good office chair.
Thanks again for the mention.
I definitely agree it’s a challenge to balance the daily planner with the weekly planner. And forget about the really long term stuff like yearly goals.
Another thing that works for me is I designate many tasks as “Internet vs. Non-Internet”. My Non-Internet stuff is stuff that requires a high level of concentration like writing.
To make sure I’m not distracted during this process, I grab my laptop and head for a place like the library or a quiet coffeehouse. I purposely don’t answer my phone and sign on to email. My only job there is to write, write, write.
This system came about because I was simply too distracted the lure of checking my email 1000 times a day.
.-= Steve Scott Site´s last blog ..Successful Info Product Creation and Marketing [Part 1] =-.
Steve,
This planning thing certainly becomes personalized. I always think about the idea of working from a coffee shop or library but those turn out to be just as distracting to me as staying home.