Balancing PLay and wORK
In this article we suggest some ways to "work smarter", or achieve more by multi-tasking - multiplying our productive time so we have more time to PLAY!
For example, we may choose to drive the car, listen to music or an audio book, or talk on our hands-free cell phone.
Our brain is certainly equipped to assist us achieve this efficiency. How many times have you been driving in your car and found yourself thinking about something other than your driving -- you have no recollection of the last 5 miles of road, yet you weren't in an accident?
Confused? Don't be. The playful use of time changes from situation to situation. This is just one more example of PLORK being a continuing life theme!
Multitasking Examples:
1. Work another file on your PC while downloading a large file or document from the Internet or local network.
2. Sign letters while conversing on the phone.
3. Listen to language tapes or music or audio books while getting ready in the morning or driving the car.
4. Use a hand-held digital recorder to dictate notes, thoughts, memos, sales calls, business plans while driving. [Later you can use software to download your notes directly into the computer without retyping].
5. Hate to exercise? Build exercise into your daily routine. Examples: Walk to lunch, climb the stairs, park the car further away and walk, do isometric or stretching exercises at your desk, move your phone off your desk so you have to stand and move every time it rings (you'll also sound better and feel more powerful if you're standing rather than sitting).
6. Take thinking or processing work to a meeting, seminar or conference.
7. Use different color or different style hats to indicate when you're changing roles. A small project team I worked on recently did this so everyone knew what "hat" (role) we were wearing (performing) at any given time during the day.
8. Think, plan your day, etc. in the shower, or if you take mass transit, on the trolley or bus. I know this will sound compulsive to some of you, but I have an acrylic board in my shower & a grease pen available to jot down ideas when they come to me. (Why do the best ideas seem to come when it's least convenient to capture them?)
9. Get co-workers to send you audio rather than written reports, and friends to send cassette "letters" so you can listen to them while driving. Many email programs now make it possible to record messages that you can download to digital recorders for replay later.
About the author: Best Regards, Robert Brents, "The 80/20 Guy" http://www.RobertBrents.com For your free four-lesson e-seminar, How To Write, Publish, Market & Promote Profitable How-To Manuals, email mailto:freehowtoeseminar@sendfree.com Copyright 2001 Robert Brents and Blue Gecko Press.
