The Productivity Pro® Blog by Laura Stack - Time Management, Getting Things Done, How to Be More Productive

As a general tip, use your down time productively while traveling, especially on planes.  Most travelers waste hours of productive time on the airplane sleeping, watching movies, or listening to music. You, however, are going to work. Unless you’re exhausted and need to take a nap, take advantage of the uninterrupted time and get some work done.  The more you get done while you’re traveling, the more time you’ll have available to be with your family you return. Before you leave, do some planning and determine what you can complete while you’re away from home. Read business journals and trade magazines, answer emails, write thank-you letters, complete routine paperwork, review large reports and board materials, or do project and advance planning. If you feel good about what you’ve accomplished, pull out your pleasure reading. In the hotel, don’t watch television! If you’re a television person at home, discipline yourself to say, “This is my time. There’s no one else to take care of but myself. I’m going to use it to get ahead.”

At home, having a Virtual Private Network (VPN) will allow you to work at home a day or two a week from your home computer and have full access to the corporate intranet, shared files, as well as your email and calendar.  Remote Desktop technology will allow you to access files from your work computer while at home, exactly as if you were sitting at your desk.

When traveling out of town, keep up with phone calls, email, and clients, so you won’t have a pile of correspondence waiting for you when you return. To be truly productive, you’ll need the latest tools and technologies to stay connected and keep in touch with colleagues and family. Without a good cell phone plan, for example, you’ll hesitate to make long-distance calls. If you don’t have a wireless Internet connection at your hotel or a hot-spot subscription, you can’t stay on top of your email. It’s worth paying the $10.00 (or whatever the hotel charges) to get wireless access in your room! You’ll need Outlook Web Access to keep up with email and appointments or access to Web Mail on your ISP’s server.

Windows SmartPhones and Pocket PCs enable you to send and receive email when you’re on the go and can’t access the Internet from your laptop.  I carry a Treo SmartPhone and use my taxi time between the airport and hotel to check email, respond to important messages, and return phone calls.

My husband, John, and I traveled to

Singapore

, where I was to speak at several conferences and events.  We wanted to keep in touch with our three children while we were out of the country but didn’t want to pay a lot for phone charges.  So we used www.Skype.com to make free phone calls back home via the Internet and hooked up a USB Webcam on both ends, so we could hear and see each other.  It was a wonderful way to stay connected and gave us a personal touch we couldn’t get over the phone.  Webcams are also helpful for professionals working frequently from home who want to see their co-workers during phone or video conferences.

I’ve worked from home for sixteen years now.  Whether you have a home office or telecommute frequently, here are the tools of the trade you’ll need efficiently work from home:

1.            A supercomputer with lots of RAM and a large hard drive

2.            External back-up system (Zip drive, network, CD, etc.)

3.            Off-site backup of irreplaceable files (www.atbackup.com, www.godaddy.com, www.handybackup.com)

4.            Spam filter

5.            Internet security

6.            Anti-virus software

7.            DSL or cable

8.            Email accessible via Internet

9.            High-security access to your company’s computer network (intranet)

10.        Log into your home computer while traveling (www.GoToMyPC.com)

11.        Wireless headset

12.        Cell phone and/or pager

13.        PDA/SmartPhone with email access (like Blackberry or Treo)

14.        Laptop with wireless Internet and T-Mobile account

15.        Time management system (Outlook or paper planner)

16.        A printer/scanner/fax/copy machine—together or separate

17.        Sturdy filing cabinets and drawers

18.        Ergonomically correct chair

19.        Home Receptionist telephone with router and/or voice mail

20.        Integrated contact management (ACT), fax (WinFax), accounting (QuickBooks), and email (Outlook) software

21.        Searchable database (Access) for electronic information

22.        www.eSpeakers.com or other on-line calendaring software for remote client, bureau, website, and employee access

23.        www.Skype.com for instant messaging

24.        Sending large files to clients (www.dropload.com or www.yousendit.com).

25.        Shortcut “hot” keys automatically type a string or paragraph of text (www.shortkeys.com).

26.        Capture Express software allows you to easily “grab” a portion of your screen (screen shot) to add to workbooks, save as a picture, or email in lots of cool shapes besides a rectangle (http://www.wintools.com/automation.htm).

27.        Automated gifts; schedule delivery for future dates once a month.  (www.cookiepots.com or www.popcornfactory.com).

28.        Quick registration on Web sites that ask you to register (www.bugmenot.com); gives you a username and password that will work on that site.

I remember reading some of the citations about "Blackberry Thumb," http://www.wordspy.com/words/BlackBerrythumb.asp years/months ago and thinking, “How ridiculous.  You mean to tell me they actually have a definition of this condition?”  Yep!  It’s "A repetitive stress injury characterized by swelling and pain at the base of the thumb and caused by prolonged use of the thumb while operating a BlackBerry or other personal digital assistant." 

Well, now I’m not laughing so loud.  I went to the hand surgeon today with a severe, stabbing pain at the base of my thumb and wrist.  I left after a diagnosis for tendonitis, a cortisone shot in the joint, a wrist brace to sleep in for one month, and a strict admonishment to not hold my phone and type with the same hand.  How rude!  How am I possibly supposed to drive and type at the same time?

It’s truly amazing how easy it is to ignore our own physical symptoms of overuse or overwork and let the pain become “normal” or dull.  Take it from me — use your pain as a signal to guide you that something’s wrong and listen to your body — before it becomes a repetitive motion injury!

I found a nifty little portable keyboard on the Internet I bought that pops open and plugs into the Treo, allowing me to type my messages as usual rather than typing with my thumbs.  In the last few hours, I’ve also become fairly adept at using a pencil eraser and poking the buttons with my pointer fingers.  Desperate times call for desperate measures!

Karen Hoffman asks http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/business-business-connections/2006/03/never-check-e-mail-in-the-morning-follow-up/

“Okay, readers… on the 17th I said I had bought Julie Morgenstern’s latest book, “Never Check E-Mail in the Morning and Other Unexpected Strategies for Making Your Work Life Work.“  …on page 97… she suggests we resist e-mail for the first hour of the day… why? She states that e-mail is the world’s most convenient procrastination device. She says the most dramatic, effective way to boost your productivity is to completely avoid e-mail the first hour and instead devote that first hour every day to your most critical task. According to Julie, by concentrating on a critical task the day starts with you in charge of it, rather then the other way around. Thoughts? Comments? “

Answer: whether you should check email in the morning depends on a myriad of factors, so it’s not possible to simply issue a blanket command to never check email in the morning. If you are a support person, you may largely be tasked through email. Your most important task may have been delivered to you via email the night before, after you left, from your boss. You must create routines and systems to help you plan your day, depending on your role, information flow in your organization, and your energy level. Planning first thing in the morning can be effective for many people, although I personally prefer to plan the night before. If you determine that checking email in the morning is productive for you, not simply your favorite way to procrastinate, then HAVE AT IT!