- Evaluating your work style - Not sure just how you work? Do you get to the end of the day without a clear sense of what you’ve accomplished? Get a better sense of your work style and productivity by doing a little self-evaluation experiment. Every day for the next week, keep your daily planner open for your desk (or use a legal pad or your computer), and set an alarm clock or timer to go off every hour.
When it does, stop what you’re doing briefly, and jot down the time and what you’ve done in the past hour. At the end of the day, take a look at what you’ve done, and how you’ve done it. Did you focus on one task for most of the day? Or did you go from project to project? After a week or so, you’ll not only get a better sense of your work style but also be able to more accurately estimate the amount of time you’ll need to devote to certain projects and tasks, which will make planning future projects easier.
- Old Office, New Office -
Think back to the many workspaces you’ve had during the course of your career and decide which one worked best for you. Within your first cubicle, was everything within arm’s reach? Or perhaps you found that being able to lean back in your office chair and put your feet up really got your creative juices flowing? Did you work better with your desk facing the doorway, window, or wall? Remember to consider what tasks you handled in the space: that little cubicle might have been great when you were a young sales assistant whose tasks were limited to typing correspondence and making phone calls, but as a work-at-home sales rep, you might find that you need more space to spread out.
- Time-Saver Tip -
Stock up. Make room in your office for stamps, registered and certified mail receipts, and Priority and Express Mail forms as well as packaging in various sizes for the overnight delivery service you use. The same goes for banking supplies. Always have a supply of filled-out deposit slips on hand. You’ll cut the time you spend in the bank or post office in half. Also keep a few of these supplies in your car so if you’re on the road and need to send something off in a hurry, you’ll be prepared.
