Karen wrote a really interesting article this week about Time Management, outlining what’s important, urgent, both, or neither. It got me thinking though, because a lot of the time, I feel like my personal time management gets so much more complicated than that.
For example, I’m terrible in the mornings, I don’t like other people (that I vaguely pay attention to, like family, friends, etc) to be around me, but I like background noise (so coffeeshops and libraries are good), and in the afternoons, I can power through for about three hours without raising my head, but at other times in the day it’s about 20 minutes before my attention span is up and I have to check Facebook, Twitter, or play me some Lexulous.
Then there is another layer to productivity that isn’t just your environmental surroundings, but your ability to get into the work. I find starting things to be really obnoxious, and once I’m in, I hit my stride. I’m not an outliner; I just need a cohesive thought and then I can hit the ground running. So for me, when I’m stuck starting an article, word association really helps. If I were to write an article about Toyotas, I could start spitballing with cars, trucks, reliable, old, sturdy, love them, etc. Mesh that with an article about Toyotas for, say, a fact sheet, I’d start writing down, interior, exterior, details, sound system, experience, feel, and whatever else I could write down until I came up with an article idea.
Now it’s your turn.
Let’s talk about environment.
1. Do you like more people or fewer people around you?
2. Lots of noise, or total silence?
3. Constant supply of drinks and snacks, or dry and food free?
4. Lots of natural or artificial light? How bright or how dark?
5. If you’re not sure whether your best time of day is morning, noon or night, keep a sheet of paper beside your desk/computer and put down a tally mark every time you go off task, be it to talk to friends, check Facebook, Twitter, or otherwise network. It will soon become apparent.
And now let’s talk about diving into the work itself. Whether your an idea girl or a structure girl, try these tips:
1. Google search your keywords; you might be inspired by what comes up. Especially if you hit “I feel lucky”…
2. Outline. Personally it’s not my favorite, but I know a lot of people this is a great idea for.
3. Word association. Like a keyword cloud, word association helps you to get a feel for the heart of your subject and the surrounding, less important factors.
4. Do something else. For some reason this video always makes me want to work more (the song, not the Gap commercial)
Anyone else have any favorite tips?
