Day #3 & #4 – Personal Productivity/Distraction Disposal

Not sure personal productivity was a good one for me on a Saturday! It’s usually my day off and detox from the e-world and spend time hiking with the family.

I believe the increase of personal productivity and removing distractions go hand in hand.

There are several wonderful tools out there for productivity. I already use all the Google products for professional work, home life, and hobby blogging and highly recommend them! I really like how they are so user friendly and sync across all my platforms. I can be connected at all times…except of course when I am out of any sort of range which usually happens on Saturdays.

I need to check out the Headspace app for meditation that Natalie recommended. That sounds wonderful!

As for removing distractions, that is a work in progress. I work from home and already have a dedicated space and when necessary put in my headphones with some good music to keep me focused. I have also worked out with my current coworkers that I am available from 8 am to 5 pm each day unless otherwise noted. I actually start work at 7:30 am to work distraction free and at times work after 5 pm but they know not to call after 5 pm. If they do, I let the phone go to voicemail and listen to it to see if there’s a true emergency or if it can wait. I have also expressed if there is something needed immediately to text me what it is and I will jump back online. I am the system administrator for our online accounting software so if it’s a quick item they need access to I am willing to help but as of yet it has only been requested 1 time in a year and a half.

It sounds like I have it all pretty well so far right? Well….today I did some housekeeping in this area. I had a couple work sites I use bookmarked on Internet Explorer which is the browser I predominantly use for personal and blogging. I would find when I would log in to those during work I would see all the other fun things I could be looking at instead of spreadsheets. Now I have them on separate browsers. IE for personal and blogging and Chrome for work. Why this way? Well 90% of my work items are Google based and function better in Chrome.

This is definitely a start to better productivity on both my work and personal life. Now that I am in this mindset I am sure I will find more!

Thanks for the push Natalie!