In this age of constant digital distraction, organizing and focusing on tasks is not always the easiest exercise to accomplish. I, for example, will probably check my Facebook, e-mail and Twitter at least a couple of times before I finish writing this article. Or at least, I would have, were I not using the incredibly useful and productive tools listed below.

Intended to help you organize, remember and execute your tasks as quickly and effectively as possible, these simple tools will serve you well in the battle against procrastination and help you to increase your productivity in the future.

Remember the Milk – http://www.rememberthemilk.com
As the name suggests, Remember the Milk is an online application designed to help you organize the little tasks that you would usually write on post-it notes or scraps of paper, such as remembering that ever-evasive milk.

Offering a minimal and easy-to-use interface, you can categorize tasks by type – such as ‘home’ and ‘work’ – and set individual details such as due date, repeat date and time estimate. Additionally, you can tag each task, a feature which becomes incredibly useful if you need to search through a vast back catalog of already completed assignments.

There is also hope for the forgetful among us and you can easily you can set-up reminders which notify you of your task via mobile phone, instant messaging service or e-mail.

Focus Booster – http://www.focusboosterapp.com

Employing the famous Pomodoro time management technique which breaks down periods of work into 25 minute intervals, Focus Booster is an application which is essentially times these stretches of work. The thinking behind it is that if you work solidly for 25 minutes, have a short break and then continue to work for another 25 minutes, you will get more done than if you just solidly worked through a long period of time. This is because frequent breaks supposedly improve mental agility.

If you can get on board with the Pomodoro theory, Focus Booster is available to download, or if you don’t fancy that, you can use a simple online version right in your browser.

LeechBlock – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock

A Firefox extension which allows you to block time-wasting websites, LeechBlock is the perfect tool for preventing procrastination. Whether your online vice is Facebook, Reddit or simply aimless browsing, you can set LeechBlock to impede your attempts to visit designated websites within a number of versatile time parameters.

At this point, cynics would no doubt hasten to point out the fact that you can disable Firefox extensions at any time and with no-one else to stop you from returning to your time-wasting ways, the tool is largely pointless. In order to combat this, LeechBlock allows you to password protect the application, so if you get a friend or colleague to set the password, then you should be sufficiently deterred from making the effort to disable it.

WriteRoom – http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom

A full screen word processing application, the purpose of WriteRoom is to eliminate the distracting environment of your cluttered desktop and ensconce you in a world where writing is your one and only focus.

Instead of responding to your e-mails and constantly checking to see if your followers have retweeted your latest musings, you can fully concentrate on the task in hand and immerse yourself in the huge, whiteboard sized canvas. Described by Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times as the “ultimate spartan writing utopia”, it takes minimal to a whole new level and will have the same elevation effect for your productivity too.

Buffer App – http://www.bufferapp.com

Rather than swamp your Twitter and Facebook feeds with article and website suggestions during your morning blog check or manually enter posts at regular intervals, BufferApp allows you to automatically update your account periodically throughout the day.

By adding pages to a Buffer queue, you can set them to post at regular time intervals, giving the impression of activity throughout the day and not concentrating updates too heavily in one period, a practice that could certainly lose you followers.

Another useful aspect of BufferApp is its ability to records statistics. In the case of Twitter, for example, you can see how many people your tweets reached, how many clicks it received and how many times it was retweeted. Statistics such as these can help you figure out which time of day is the most effective time to post your updates.

Suggestions?

If you have any suggestions of more tools that will aid your productivity and stave off the woes of procrastination, please let us know in the forum.

Turning your home into your workspace isn’t as daunting of a task as it sounds. Whether you need the space for work or to tackle hobbies, you have many options. The key to making a space in your home an office is creativity and thinking outside of the box…or room.

Stake your claim:

The first step is to find your spot. This may be your hardest task in this process. Search high and low for a space in your home that isn’t being used to its full potential. Four common spaces are: a bedroom, corner of a room, dining room and a closet/pantry.

The spare bedroom down the hall that has become your storage closet for things you ‘may need later’. Face it; it’s just going to sit there another six months. If you want that room for a guest as well, consider a nice pull out sofa or a day bed that can act as a lounge sofa.

Do you have an empty corner in your kitchen or living room? Instead of dust bunnies collecting in the corner, visit stores like IKEA or Home Depot and find/build a desk to fit the ‘L’ shape corner. You will have enough space to work and be out of the way of the hustle and bustle of these rooms.

The dining room is that room most families use twice a year for holiday dinners. Dining rooms are something your mothers and grandmothers needed but this day in age, consider moving your family dinners to the kitchen area.

Even the smallest spaces like a closet or a pantry can be used for home offices. Remove the doors and instant space! With proper lighting and some paint you will forget you are working in your old food pantry.

Organize and assess your needs:

Keep in mind that your new work space is limited and you don’t want it to become the kids’ toy box or the post office. Make it clutter free with bookshelves, rolling file cabinets, wall mounts and drawers. Places like The Container Store and Target have great options. Now get your necessities that best suit your needs: a phone, computer, printer, desk and chair.

Remove all distractions and add privacy:

Screaming kids, day time television and whining pets can take you away from an important moment. Prevent interruptions by adding curtains, wall partitioners or consider creating ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs. If children are a problem make a friendly sign to hang, for example: “Dad is trying to bring home the bacon…please tip toe and whisper”.

Author Bio:

This is a guest post from Laura Backes, she enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet service in my area. You can reach her at: laurabackes8 @ gmail.com.

Ever since the workplace was invented, companies have wrestled with questions caused by a large array of conflicting demands: Should workspaces emphasize openness or privacy? Is employee interaction more important than employee autonomy? Is ease of access among workers worth all the distractions it tends to bring along with it? These are questions that have been asked for years and they are still being asked, even though the business world today looks a whole lot different than it did 100, 50, or even 10 years ago. In recent years, the questions have been re-framed by the latest trend in office design emanating from the European market—open space office planning.

Open Space Design at our own NBF office

The benefits of open space offices are now widely recognized, not only in Europe but on this side of the Atlantic as well. And this recognition becomes crystal clear when you consider the extent to which more and more companies, large and small, are continually embracing the concept in some form or fashion. Yet experience is also showing that open office planning can be a double-edged sword and that there are some pitfalls that go along with the perks. Here are some of the most commonly acknowledged pros and cons of open office space design:

The good:

• More cost effective (studies have shown an average savings of more than 20% in overhead costs)
• Greater collaboration
• Produces an atmosphere that promotes creativity
• Easier access to team members
• Less opportunity for employees to slack off or engage in long aimless phone calls
• Environmentally friendly (heating and cooling is more efficient)
• Builds a strong sense of community within the office space
• More accommodating to modern day business practices (e.g., teleworking and office-sharing)
• Boosts performance (as described in studies like this one).

The bad:

• Lack of privacy
• Health concerns (as pointed out in studies such as this)
• More distractions
• Noise pollution
• Lack of employee wall/shelf space
• Greater potential for theft of proprietary or business-sensitive information
• Over-stimulation by excess sensory input

Firms are beginning to recognize that both the pros and the cons are very real. And while companies want to make the cons go away as much as possible, most of them are being careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The challenge is to somehow forge a win-win—in other words, find a way to retain the benefits that open space design brings, while at the same time mitigating the negative aspects. And some firms have made great strides in this area. Here are just a few examples of how companies have been dealing with common open office problems:

Noise: Probably the most commonly-cited drawback of an open office environment is the noise factor. And it’s not hard to understand why. Excess noise is often pinpointed as a primary cause of low productivity. Many studies have acknowledged that noise (even at fairly low levels) is a strong contributor to stress and some of its ancillary effects such as high blood pressure, headaches, and digestive problems. And it doesn’t take a sophisticated study to point out that noise is distracting. So it’s not surprising that noise mitigation is high on everyone’s problem-solving list. Many companies have taken measures to install simple or elaborate sound masking systems. Others have equipped employees with noise dampening earbuds capable of piping in a wide array of natural “white noises” such as oceans, rivers, storms, etc. A recent article by Earl Vickers describes some other solutions companies have adopted to mitigate excess noise.

Space: Studies as far back as the 1980s have cited the importance of “spatial density” (the average space available to each person) to job performance and employee morale. And many companies have come to realize the added impact of this concept when applied in an open office environment. As pointed out in articles like this one, “people still each need their own space and teamwork will suffer if it’s not provided.” Even in an open setting, many companies are now careful to give each employee not only ample space but also highly personalized space. They recognize that workers need space for their pictures, plants, toys, and other things that help define the turf around them as their own. Many firms are also realizing that space can be “bought” through flexibility. And flexibility is largely achieved by creative choices in office furniture. This article talks about some of the solutions in this area forged by Digg.

Privacy: Smart employers are beginning to understand that employees need their privacy and that there are ways to give it to them even in an open setting. Some firms allow their staffers private spaces to make phone calls or conduct business of a sensitive nature. Others allow their employees to decorate their work spaces in such a fashion that it “caves” them off. This can be done creatively with things like tall potted plants, tables or drawers, or even a stand up coat rack with a coat hanging on it. Here is an article that talks about other creative solutions some modern companies have found to achieve employee privacy in an open office setting.

The concept of open office design is not going to go away, nor should it. Open planning is not only cost effective but in many ways conducive to top performance and enhanced worker collaboration. But companies are recognizing the downside too. And in today’s business climate, most of are not willing to simply accept the bad along with the good but instead are being proactive about coupling their open office designs with creative policy designs that address potential problems. And what often results is an open workplace that harbors a productive workforce.

Dean Stier is Vice President of National Business Furniture, a leading provider of office chairs, office desks, filing cabinets and other office furniture to businesses, government agencies and other institutions.

First, I’d like to give some credit to Austin Kleon for this post on Keeping a Logbook, and then show how you can use a tool like this for yourself. And let’s clarify something here, this “journal” is less of a diary than it is a logbook, or a snapshot of what is hapening right now in your life and work.

Personally I have been using what I call a “Book of Days” since 2008. The first one I created for myself, but as of January 2011 I upgraded to a sturdier version from Levenger:

Womack says that one of the important and useful features of such a journal is that it allows you to look back at “Where you were“, especially at this time last year or even further back, and it can give you a better perspective on where you are right now. While Womack is actually talking about a weekly-calendar-style journal like the one Kleon describes, the Five Year Journal works in a similar way. I typically just write a few lines about how my day went, what I was thinking or feeling, and perhaps a note on the weather. Then later when I need to review I can flip the log open and see what was going on. A weakness of this method is that those events may not sufficiently describe what was happening in my head, in my life, etc. that perhaps had an influence on where I am now, and what I need to do to get where I want to go.

It needs more focus and more detail.

Womack uses the phrase “give yourself the gift of your own attention” and jot down in your log the answers to these three questions:

What did I learn?
What opportunities did I create?
What questions came up or were answered?

These are important questions and the answers to them can be used to analyze and interpret your goals and concerns of the moment. It can be encouraging, says Womack, to look back and see what you were up against and how you have surpassed those challenges. I will admit that looking back over some of my own journal and Book of Days entries recently was somewhat dispiriting because they tended to be repetitive and negative. “Feeling down”, “Feeling stressed”, “Not enough time to get my stuff done” are recurring themes in many of the entries. Often for days at a time. What is missing is context. Why was I down? Why was I stressed out? What was I spending time on instead of my goals? This perspective is missing and frankly, could be very useful to me right now.

I am definitely going to add these pieces of information to my own daily entries, as well as to my Weekly Staff Meeting post I keep at the …words journal.

What will I improve on next week?

What was my biggest accomplishment this week?

What did I learn?

What opportunities did I create?

What questions came up or were answered?

Am I closer to my Life Goals?

What was hard for me this week, and why?

What was the biggest waste of time?

What brought the best return on time invested?

I have found that this exercise is so helpful and essential to maintaining my course and keeping my head on straight. I can surely tell when I skip it or it is delayed, as I tend to get stressed, feel out-of-touch and like I am playing catch-up instead of directing my activities pro-actively. I have a feeling that the addition of these simple, perspective-enhancing questions will make this a much more productive investment of my time.

Please share your thoughts in the forum [link to Personal Time and Productive Journaling].

Here is some additional information:

This is a pic of the updated Kanban board in my home office. I have made a few changes and abandoned some things that were in my Queue at the beginning. Also, I have split the @Tavern contexts out and moved them to the board in my office at the hotel. This was a tremendous improvement in terms of being able to see what I need to work on in my home office when I am not working in the restaurant. Very important to Job/Work/Life balance.

How Tasks Enter the Kanban System

My process for generating Next Action and Project cards remains the same, they usually come to me while I am making my daily Journal/Morning Pages entries, or when I am reading. Each new card then simply goes into the Queue and each morning I can assess the situation, choose the tasks that I feel are most important (or urgent), and move them into the Work In Progress (WIP) column (this post being one of them on the 27th).

I would like to mention an important caveat here – the Kanban board is not a replacement for your calendar when it comes to the time-specific information that you need to manage. Remember that only three things are to be entered into your calendar:

1. Time-specific actions
2. Day-specific actions
3. Day-specific information

That’s it. Because your calendar is a tool that you use to tell you where you need to be and when you need to be there, or when something is scheduled to happen. Your Kanban board is where you manage Tasks.

Use these two tools together for planning your activities. For example, during your Periodic Review you may decide that there are some Most Important Tasks that you would like to assign as time-specific (or set a deadline for completion). Enter these in your calendar, or create a Next Action Card with a due date on it. Put that card in the Queue column.

When the assigned time arrives, and your calendar reminds you of the Task, move that card from Queue to WIP. This method will work whether you use a paper planner or a digital calendar/PDA.

Additional Information

For more reading on being done, see Jim Benson’s post on Training Your Mind for Completion.

Join the discussion in the forum- Kanban.

This month we talk about using Kanban for creativity and productivity. I have been using Kanban boards in my home office and at my job for a while now and they are not only fun (for an OCD & right-brain person like me) but very effective.

Join the discussion in the forum – Using Kanban for creativity and productivity

If you have the choice, should you work from a home office or an outside office?

The always insightful Michael Hess recently wrote a great article, 6 Ways to Make Your Small Business Look Bigger, but I respectfully disagree with his take on a home office: “Unless your business is designed to be run from home,” he says, “get yourself an office of some kind as soon as you can justify and afford it.”

I think that approach is wrong. Of course if you meet with a number of clients a home office may not work, for business and family reasons, but in a number of industries technology makes meeting clients in your office less necessary.

Plus, the words “home office” don’t carry the same negative connotation they once did.

Let’s break down the home office debate into personal and business considerations:

The Business Case

* A home office is much cheaper. For start-up or established business, paying rent, utilities, and other costs for an outside office create a significant monthly revenue threshold. Plus, while tax guidelines are fairly strict, you can deduct some portion of expenses you would have paid personally, prorating utilities, some maintenance, and even depreciating the portion of your home you use for a home office. (Keep in mind taking depreciation can make accounting and tax considerations a little more complicated when you sell your home, so look before you take the depreciation leap.)
* Increased (and convenient) availability. I have clients around the world, so I often adjust my schedule to their time zones. With a home office I don’t mind phone calls during non-office hours since walking down two flights of stairs beats driving to an external office every time.
[...]
* A home office is like an entrepreneurial litmus test. Many people feel they will lack self discipline and focus if they work from home. Sure, you may feel you need the motivation (and validation) that comes from having an outside office… but when your paycheck is based solely on your output motivation shouldn’t be a problem. If it is, owning your own business probably doesn’t make sense.

The Personal Case

* Adds value to your home. Turning your dining room into a home office could negatively impact the value of your home, but if you re-purpose unused space, or better yet add on, you benefit personally. Plus home offices are very popular with home buyers. A local real estate agent told me at least 2/3 of her prospective home buyers list a home office as a “must have,” even if only for personal use[emphasis mine, ed.].

I have to agree with the real estate agent on that. My Lovely Bride is a big fan of the TV program House Hunters and the people on that show are almost always looking for a home that has a space for an office. Obviously, they are not necessarily a representative sample, but it is more anecdotal evidence.

I also agree with Haden, in that a home office can be the best spot for you, depending on what your business consists of. Online freelancers and e-bay retailers certainly don’t need storefronts, and, having lived most of my life in small towns I am used to seeing Dentists and Physical Therapists with offices in the ground floor of their homes.

What do you think? Join the discussion in the Forum [Home Office link].

Here are some of his tips:

1. Color = energy. My last workspace was filled with color; a cool mint green, to be exact. The energy it gave to the room was inspiring and uplifting. Since I recently moved to Portland, I’m diggin’ my clean white walls, but I know it won’t be long before they’re splattered with color again. What colors inspire you, and how can you incorporate them in your space?

2. A daily fire library. I’ve gotten into the habit of starting my day with inspirational, fire-lighting reading. Sometimes it’s cheesy self development (like The Magic of Thinking Big) and sometimes it’s a read to get my creative juices flowing (like Do More Great Work). I have a special area of my desk reserved for quick-access to inspiring reading that keeps my inner fire strong. What books never fail to inspire you?

5. Keep it clean. I can’t work with disorder; it fragments my attention. Though I know some people that thrive on a messy space, I’m not one of them.
8. Get a good chair. Most of us sit for 8+ hours a day. Don’t skimp on the health of the vehicle that helps you do great work (that would be your back). Invest now instead of paying a chiropractor later.
13. Notebooks. I track all of my notes, client calls and projects with good old fashioned notebooks. I like Cambridge notebooks. I have one for coaching, and for projects and planning, and I keep them within easy reach at all times. If you don’t use notebooks, what do you use to keep track of things?

Having a good chair is absolutely essential. You can get a pretty good one at any office superstore for less than $100 and the increase in your productivity will pay for it in short order.

Two More Tips

I would add a couple of things to this list, number one being to create a workspace where you have plenty of room to get your work done. Being in a constricted space will constrict your thinking and your ability to produce. Get a large desk or table for your workspace, it is definitely an investment in your success.

Second, if you do a lot of work on a computer you should invest in a second monitor, and a fairly large one at that. You will be amazed at how much easier it is to do your work with more real estate to do it on. This is the same principle as the large desk-space – it expands your thinking and makes it easier to keep things moving on the screen.

I recommend that you read the whole post, and then feel free to discuss workspace design in the forum.

WorkAwesome is a resource for people who love what they do, and want to become awesome at it. It’s a blog for people who want to be awesome at work. It’s also a blog for people who want to be awesome at what they’re passionate about. Whether it’s the music you’re making in your home studio or the freelance business you’ve always wanted to start, or even (of course) your job, we’ve got it.  We’re going to teach our readers about starting things, completing things and trying new things – and be “awesomely productive” when doing so.

In our conversation we talked about how I got into the “biz” of Productivity, recent projects and activities, and more. You can listen at the WorkAwesome site [link]. It’s pretty exciting, I also recommend you check out the podcast of Michael Sliwinski‘s (of Nozbe fame) interview.

[cross-posted at the In Context Blog]

What is this form all about? Seah describes it on the Concrete Goals Tracker Homepage:

Make Tangible Progress by Focusing on Concrete Results

The Concrete Goals Tracker (or CGT) is a stand-alone weekly focusing aid. Your goal is to amass as many points as you can by framing what you’re doing into a number of pre-defined activities that earn points. The list of activities is carefully structured to support “creating real results over time” by awarding the small support activities frequently for a sense of daily progress. Major activities that result either in attention or revenue are awarded with many more points, to create the carrot-on-a-stick draw.

[...]The idea is to reinforce the mindset needed to recognize what was a productive task and what was not; the list + tracker design helps trigger creativity because people tend to grub for as many points as they can wheedle. Really, in this context, it’s OK!

[...]

It’s a useful form for people who are trying to develop a new business and feel that they are maintaining progress; use the “standard” form, which is designed for people who become more successful the more they can show what they’ve made. The form recognizes a hierarchy of need, from maintaining connections with people to showing people what you’re doing. Music students and solo small business owners like this form for its focus. You can use the “blank” forms to structure your own lists.