I have an office at home for the first time since our last house. I had an office space for a number of years that I sort of took for granted. It wasn’t an “official” on Google Maps office. What is it about having a “physical storefront” that seems so “official”?! Do you see how I keep using quotes on each of these words? Perceptions play a big role in our lives even if we try to talk them down…

Ok, I was going somewhere with this thought process.🙂 So my new office space, we have taken what was our garage and put an office inside it, not to mention we haven’t exactly gotten rid of all of our stuff.

So that means that I have a space to work which I’m very happy about. But that doesn’t change the fact that I have 3 storage containers of stuff that has to be gone through and mostly thrown out. Other than relevant receipts, that need put away. Guess what I haven’t made time for? I haven’t made time to get things organized. I could probably use a couple of areas to put things. i.e. baseball cards from a relative that has passed away that have been on my desk for about 3 months. I was given the duty of trying to sell them online but being that baseball cards can be fickle and hard to sell at times…I don’t think I’ve sold any of them yet.

Again, I digress. One of the hardest things I find to do is to make time to do things. If you don’t make time, priorities tend to shift too much. Exterior sources have a way of spurring on. To fight this urge and set up systems to work for you, help you keep from only moving when your hair is on fire.

“Exterior sources have a way of spurring on.
To fight this urge and set up systems to work for you.”

So with that in mind, I wanted to share a couple of habits that I’ve picked up as well as a couple tools that I use to keep on task. Habits that help me to, A.) Not go crazy, and B.) Stay focused on what needs done next.

When work ends, it ends.

1. EARLY TO RISE
   I’ve personally been working a lot of early mornings over the last couple months. I find I am dramatically more productive early in the day when there’s less distractions, especially creatively.
2. FOCUS FIRST, TALK LATER
   Since I’ve been starting earlier, I find that by the time 4pm comes, I only have so much focus left. I tend to leave meetings and calls for the afternoon. Things that don’t need as much focus.
3. DETACH TO RECHARGE
   So if I’m done at 4pm, I’m done at 4pm. Do I always communicate that to my team, not always. (another discussion) But to put the work down is vital to my sanity. No matter what anyone anywhere tells you, you can only be on call or available for so many hours and days. We all have to detach and the sooner you can, realistically, the better you will find the rest of your life.

Have an app or program that helps you keep track of your projects.

1. STRONG TASK LIST TRACKING
   For us the program is called ClickUp (if you go through this link, we both get rewarded.🙂 ) It keeps all of our projects in one place and helps us stay on task an focused towards the same goals. We’ve gone back and forth with a number of applications and right now, this is a great one!
2. KEEP EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAGE
   We use Slack every day to keep communication flowing.

Well, these couple habits and pieces of software have helped us dramatically. What are some habits or apps that helped you and your team to stay on task and get work done? I’d love to hear suggestions in each of these realms.