Be honest with yourself

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Home Office? Start your day with your calendar

Self-employment requires a high level of discipline. Working for someone else in the age of “work from home” requires the same level of discipline.

When working in an office environment, it’s less likely that you will stray to Facebook or peruse your Gmail for anything but a fleeting moment. At your remote location, however, there’s no co-worker passing by or turning around to see what’s on your computer screen. So, the lingering on the non-work website can go on too long. That’s not good for you or your employer.

Here's a tip for maintaining a work focus and maximizing it.

Look at your calendar.

When you hit your office, look at your calendar. Mentally map out the day. I take this a step further and use Clockify, a time tracking software. I log appointments and meetings from that day’s calendar and Clockify adds up those hours. As the day passes, I fill in the blanks and at the end of the week, I can see if I’ve given it my full forty (it’s usually more than forty hours), and I can see how my time was invested: meetings, research, proposal building, client calls.

Is it double work? Maybe,

But I need to connect with my calendar, really look at it, before starting the day, because experience has taught without that habit I miss meetings, or I’m late to them, and forget that most important thing I needed to complete. I’m blissfully unaware of what’s lurking just moments away that I might miss when the calendar pop up occurs when all of a sudden I decide I need to eat something or head for that second cup of coffee. 

Photo by Ben Mysc on Unsplash

What a man does at work, and how women decode it

Early one Monday morning, Carol noticed a male co-worker exhibiting odd behavior - not really working, not really typing, sort of resting. Maybe communicating with a distant star? 

At that moment the team was supposed to be updating their sales progress in Salesforce, the company's customer relationship management (CRM) software.

She used an office messaging app and alerted a teammate to share the head-shaking experience.

He looked something like the cupped chin picture, except imagine a man, not even a hint of a smile.

Here's the private, text conversation.

8:54 AM

Carol: Chin in one hand, the other hand resting on his keyboard or typing with his little finger -- what is he doing???

8:54 AM

Samantha:  HAHAHAHA

i have no idea...................not salesforce

8:55 AM

Carol: I'm going to get a look at his screen - watch this misdirect . . . 

He's STARING at salesforce -- it's communicating with him telepathetically (sic)

9:04 AM

Samantha: omg

no way

it cant 

(pause)

that would mean that his mind works faster than it does