A sneak peek at the inner workings of Inspired Home Office
Last week on the blog, I mentioned that I’m doing a time analysis for my work.
Before you think I’m obsessed with dry, boring organizy stuff, think about it. When you work alone, it’s easy to go unconscious about what your work flow is really like. I wanted to be at least partly aware – with a chance of productivity.
Last week, I also promised to check in today about how it went and what I discovered.
How it went
The simple act of writing down the time when I switched activities was quite illuminating! After 5 days, I’m more mindful of what I’m doing moment to moment. Sometimes writing things down even helped me stop frittering and get back on task. That wasn’t the intention, but a nice side effect.
Between doing this process and writing the God List this week, I’ve felt really productive and gotten many more things accomplished than I normally do. It’s actually been a banner week – and even my mastermind buds are impressed!
What I discovered
- The cats and turtles are ADD nightmares. They interrupt me at least 3-4x/day. In fact, I’m typing one0handed right now with a kitten in my other arm. I love them, but they’re not productivity allies.
- I go on email, facebook or twitter to get info – and get sidetracked by other grabby things. “Oh, I’ll just check to see who emailed/tweeted/messaged me.” Riiight.
- I think I might over-edit my writing. I might even be a bit perfectionistic (if you are related to me, you’re not allowed to comment on this). ; )
- There are a couple of people I check in with during my day, just to say how I’m doing and find out how they are.
- Wrapping-up after meeting with a client takes longer than I thought.
- I do personal stuff during my work day (like send messages to old friends from high school).
- In 5 days, I worked 48.75 hours.
- I sometimes spend a lot of time/energy trying to force myself to work on something that isn’t flowing, but not actually get much done. Want an example?
The following is an example of me trying to edit a webpage when I really didn’t want to:
10:50 Start working on the web page
10:56 Check calendar
10:57 Snack
11:05 Twitter, read a blog
11:12 Back to working on web page
11:30 Twitter (Argh! Don’t want to work on that page!)
11:33 Back to web page
11:39 Facebook
11:41 Back to web page
12:05 Twitter
12:06 Facebook
12:08 Back to web page
Fortunately, I did actually complete it. You can see for yourself if you like:
In addition to productivity, the analysis yielded some interesting data on my use of Twitter and Facebook.
- In 5 days, I spent 271 minutes on Facebook and Twitter (roughly 54 minutes a day).
- Some-to-most of that time was business-related or networking time.
- On average, I go on Twitter 7 times a day and Facebook 5 times.
- My time on each site is usually 1-4 minutes – with rare 20-30 minute distraction marathons.
- I don’t usually go on either site before 11am (which happens to be my most productive time of day).
- I usually check Twitter before Facebook
The moral of the story
The goal here isn’t to judge what I’ve discovered. As I mentioned in the other post, the goal is simply to be curious – and notice if there are changes I want to make.
Same for you. : ) If you’d like to discover how much time you spend of social networking or what your most productive times of the day are, give this process a whirl. Be gentle with yourself about your discoveries.
Upcoming changes
Based on what I’ve observed so far, there are 3 things I’d like to tweak and see what happens:
- Client appointments: Schedule a half-hour after each client appointment for wrapping up notes and transitioning.
- Work hours: Keep the work day to 9 hours, including breaks, as I get less productive as the day wears on.
- Stuckness: If I’m feeling stuck on a project – instead of twittering – I’ll try walking away from it for a little while, jumping around, or connecting with a bizbud to talk it out.
I’ll play with these for a while and see what happens. How about you? What’s your next step?
Thoughts? Yeah, buts? Me, toos?
742 days ago,
Jeri Dansky said:
Thanks for sharing your time analysis results! That little snippet – with the Twitter and Facebook items – reminded me of this: http://bit.ly/6bDwwW
And a big Me, Too regarding the cats. They are certainly NOT productivity allies – but while having them try to walk on the keyboard is no fun, and typing with a 19-pound cat on your lap is a challenge, having them curl up and sleep in the office, keeping me company, is very nice indeed.
.-= Jeri Dansky´s last blog ..The Latest on Plastic Food Storage – And Alternatives =-.
741 days ago,
Meredith from Penelope Loves Lists said:
Loving this post bc I’ve been thinking a lot about this issue.
I tried something new this week:
Usually, I work in “tabs” in Firefox. So, I’ll open a few tabs related to my regular work, but also have my blog and my personal Twitter page open in two other tabs.
I’d be working away at my day job, but my eye would gravitate to the other tabs and I’d just have to check in with them. That would take 5 minutes, but, more than that, break my mental flow.
So, this week, I kept one window open with tabs that were solely related to my day job. I kept the other stuff in tabs in another window that I visited just twice, once before lunch, once before quitting for the day.
Overall, I was much more focused and productive. I think I’ll keep at this new system.
.-= Meredith from Penelope Loves Lists´s last blog ..Get ready for tax time: I wish this were fun =-.
740 days ago,
Allison Carter said:
Yes for me too! It’s all the “shiny objects” making me look away from the boring tedium. I do best when I can get my coffee, snack, and everything in place… and the kids leave!
And cats can’t type… so they make terrible assistants.
740 days ago,
Mark W. "Extra Crispy" Schumann said:
Hey Jen.
I finally figured out that if it’s morning, and I can’t focus on one thing, I should write.
If it’s midday, and I can’t focus, I should talk to people. Preferably face-to-face or on the phone.
And if it’s late in the day, and I can’t focus, it’s probably time to do some intense problem-solving because I’m really awake then.
It’s a rhythm thing. Gotta go where it goes.
740 days ago,
jennifer said:
Jeri – I love the link! Too funny! At the moment, player #2 on the Feline Team is sleeping on the sweater I want to put on. Sigh. : )
Meredith! Wow! How cool! What a great example of making a tweak that really helps you. And better boundaries while you’re at it. Go you!
Allison – Ooo. Shiiiiny! : )
Crispy – Wow. That is awesome. What a fantastic discovery. I’m not that clear, but it’s where I’m headed. (Keep meaning to mention that I want to interview you sometime!)
740 days ago,
Mark W. "Extra Crispy" Schumann said:
I would be so down with that interview. Except I am not the poster child for a good office.
.-= Mark W. “Extra Crispy” Schumann´s last blog ..On Releasing Early =-.
739 days ago,
Lori Paximadis said:
I played along at home — what a revelation! Last week I was working madly on a rush project, so I was probably a little more focused than most weeks and a little better about not letting the interwebs suck me in too much for too long. And yes, I too found that just paying attention and writing down what I was doing every time I switched activities made me much more mindful of how I was spending my time and less likely to wander off and do something frivolous, because then I’d have to write it down.
I found a very interesting pattern in that every time I start to write something that requires a little thought, I open the (e-mail, web, Word, whatever) window, write a sentence or two, then get up and wander off while I think about how to proceed. Not sure what to do with that info, but there it is.
And I spend waaaaaaaaay too much time composing perfect replies to e-mails that really don’t need to be so perfect. I need to just keep ‘em short and sweet and move on.
I do check e-mail and social media probably more often than most, but I seem to be pretty good about scanning for anything that needs action and leaving the rest to deal with later.
Thanks for letting me play along!
.-= Lori Paximadis´s last blog ..tidbits: avalanche edition =-.
739 days ago,
Sherri said:
I’m really glad to see that your list includes Twitter and Facebook. I found that I am spending way too much time doing those two activities, even if they are business related.
739 days ago,
jennifer said:
Crispy – I’ll call you. Yay!
Lori – I wondered how things went for you – but you know how I don’t like to nag! : ) Thank you for checking in! And YAY for your discoveries!
On your wandering away – my theory is that the creative process is 80% space and 20% production. We do need to ponder, chew, ruminate and dream before the *stuff* happens. Not good or bad – it just is.
Thanks for playing! I’m so glad it was helpful! If you happened to blog about it, please post the link!
Sherri – Yup yup. I may end up making actual time goals for FB and Twitter so I don’t have to chastise the time I am on – and I also have permission to be there and jump in without distraction.
I probably ought to write a post about this, because I think sometimes our “overuse” of tools like these means they’re serving another purpose besides the face-value one… Hmm. (thinking) I better go write that one down. : )