Productivity @ Home

Who Are Your Colleagues: Where Do You Go for Help?

In yesterday's post, I mentioned the fact that as an "@ home" entrepreneur, many of my colleagues are "virtual". This means that I have close working relationships with co-workers and managers who are spread across a variety of time zones and geographical settings. Therefore, you might find it surprising that I'd list my "co-workers" as one of the greatest benefits of my current work @ home situation.

Part of the reason for this good fortune is the exceptional generosity of the folks with whom I work. Far from being subjected to an environment of competition, we actually tend to frequently collaborate, to share ideas and success strategies and to turn to one another for support and a knowledge base when we're stumped. Here are a few of my "go to" strategies when I need help: 

• If I need "geek" help, I turn almost reflexively to my circles at Google+. I have trusted friends and co-workers there who are responsive, creative and incredibly knowledgeable.
• If I'm writing and require a quick quote for an article, I know that in most circumstances I can get help within five minutes from my networks at Twitter and Facebook.
• For more long range collaborative efforts, I have been using both Skype and Google+ hangouts to hold planning meetings, conference calls and even just "hangouts". These opportunities to connect "face to face" with virtual co-workers often yield phenomenal results.

Remember that in order for these online collaborative relationships to be effective, you must try to be on the giving end of help more frequently that you're asking for it. This means adapting a "listening strategy" and acting quickly and generously when you see the opportunity to help a virtual co-worker. 

Your turn: Who are your colleagues and where do you go to learn or get help?

Related articles

Family on Board: Why It Matters When You Work @ Home

Taming Twitter

Using Google+ Hangouts for Internal Team Communication

Use Google+ Hangouts for a Virtual Scavenger Hunt in the Palace of Versailles

Giving Thanks for Productivity Tools

As we pause today to give thanks for the blessings that fill our lives, I thought I'd share a few words of gratitude for some of the resources that help me to give my best where it matters most:

• All things Apple -- for my iPhone, my Macbook Pro, my iPad and a multitude of apps, I am eternally thankful
• Abundant Free Wifi -- for the many places where I find a place to work and free, reliable wifi connections, thank you! And double thanks if -- like Panera -- you offer free refills!
• Alternatives to Paper -- for email receipts, Evernote, boarding passes on my smartphone, online banking, and other ways I've been able to eradicate paper in my life, a big "hooray!"
• eBooks - for my Kindle, for iBooks, and even for free pdf versions, thanks to those publishers who let me take my books with me wherever I go

What productivity tools are you thankful for this year?

Evernote 5 for Mac Improves Upon One of My Favorite Productivity Tools

If you're an Evernote User and a Mac, be sure to check out the awesome new update, Evernote 5 for Mac. I've been an Evernote devotee for the past few months, but I tend to use the online version of the tool.

But not anymore.

The Evernote 5 update is clearly popular. As I type this, it's currently topping the App Store's free listings. After playing around with the upgrade, I can say my favorite new features include:

• Shortcuts -- I can easily stash my frequently used templates at the top right sidebar for quick access
• Tags - Organized by both name and note count
• Atlas - Because I travel frequently, I actually love seeing where my notes originated
• Views - I love the variety of note views -- my current favorite is the "card" view, but that will likely change depending upon which notebook I'm using

If you've never checked out Evernote - now's the perfect time to fall in love with an awesome new productivity tool. Happy organizing!

 

Taming Twitter

I've been pondering a new approach to my favorite social media tool -- Twitter -- for the past few weeks. For the bulk of my time tweeting, I had a "reciprocal" friending method, which meant that I "followed back" anyone who followed me.

The result now is a huge mess that's pretty unproductive and unworkable. I've been pondering a major "unfollowing" but hesitate to do so becuase I don't want to alienate my online friends. So I'm looking at tools like JustUnfollow.com that identify non-reciprocal Twitter relationships.

What's your strategy for using Twitter or adding friends across your social networks?

Combatting Cyberbullying

If you have kids and computers, you simply must hightale it over to YourSphere.com and check out the terrific article by my friend Mary Kay Hoal entitled, "Cyberbullying: 5 Steps to Combatting and Documenting". It features an informative infographic, as well as terrific, practical measures we parents can take in our homes to protect our loved ones.

In the article, Mary Kay shares that the following:

According to the Teen Internet Behavior study that was conducted by McAfee, “Almost one in four teens claimed to be a target of cyberbullying and two-thirds of all teens have witnessed cruel behavior online”.

With our kids more wired than ever, the time to discuss issues of cyberbullying -- but also cheating and avoiding adult content -- is now. In our home, the rule is that screens stay in common rooms for protection as well as oversight.

Does your family have policies in place about use of the Internet and social networking? While you're at YourSphere, but sure to check out all of Mary Kay's terrific information for safe computing for your family.

 

Need a Nest?

Have you heard the buzz about the "Nest", the new "learning" thermostat? Designed to track and emulate your heating and cooling habits, this eye-friendly device is now selling in stores like Lowes and the Apple Store. 

As someone who completely steers clear of my husband's fancy thermostats (which seem to require an advanced degree in engineering to operate) in our home, the simplicity of the Nest appeals to me, but I wonder if this isn't just another slick gadget appealing to my "it's new" nature...

I doubt we'll be installing the Nest in our home any time soon, but I'd love to hear from readers who have seen one firsthand. And kudos to those using design skills and a sense of style to make energy efficiency both stylish and simple!

What I Learned at High School Graduation: Lesson 4 -- Deciding to Make a Difference

Today, I continue my weeklong series on lessons learned by attending our high school's graduation last weekend. This weekend, I had the joy of attending the graduation ceremonies for my son's high school. Adam is only a Junior this year, but we were on hand to celebrate with several of his senior friends. Perhaps since my own son wasn't graduating, I did a better job of listening to each of the five individuals who spoke. I found that I took away a lesson from each of their speeches. This week, I will be highlighting one of those lessons each day.

The second student speaker at Saturday's commencement, nationally-ranked forensics competitor Shaun Lichti, set the stage by inviting us to imagine ourselves at the foot of the steps of the Great Library of Alexandria. 

"Awesome," I thought to myself, "I love libraries! Let's go!"

Then Shaun shared the catch -- you are an impoverished man with no access to the building that holds the collective sum of all the world's knowledge. You can stand on the steps and contemplate the core of all learning, but your station in life prohibits you from embracing it. Even if you could enter the building, your illiteracy would prevent you from making any sense of the tomes surrounding you.

My, how our world has changed. Shaun rightly reminded me how prolific information is in our world today. We lack former civilizations barriers of access to education. 

But so too do we lack that desire, the burning pattion to learn, to grow, and to share our knowledge with others. The prevalance of so much data, so much information, and so much noise around us has dulled the part of us that is desperate to climb those library steps and take it all in.

Quitting Facebook? Not Me.

Facebook buzz has reached a fever pitch this week as everyone's favorite (or most detested) social network launches its initial public offering tomorrow. Some have questioned the skyrocketing value of Facebook, and plenty of others have questioned whether it has any merit at all and is not simply a collossal time dump. This article at CNN today discusses why one tech columnist won't be ditching Facebook any time soon. I thought I'd chime in with my own take on that topic:

Pinterest: A Productivity Tool or a Massive Time Dump?

For the past few weeks, I have been having an awesome time experimenting with the popular new social networking tool Pinterest. Some call Pinterest nothing more than a passing phase or a place for chicks to post photos of new purses. I think they are missing the boat...

As a webmaster and blogger, I have already seen the huge capability of Pinterest to drive traffic to my sites. As with any social networking site, there is a learning curve to figuring out how much is too much, and how to use the tool effectively without becoming "that guy" -- you know him. He's the one you end up blocking or hiding because his stuff is constantly in your face. You wonder how he can even get any work done because he's always on that site, "sharing".

So here are a few rules of thumb I have set for myself when it comes to using Pinterest:

• Limit my time on the site to a few regular check ins per day. Close the Pinterest tab in my browser when it's not one of those times.
• Establish a separate Twitter presence for my Pinterest tweets. Allow friends who are interested in Pinterest to follow me there without forcing the rest of my Twitter buddies to be overwhelmed by tweets about pins.
• Be a good neighbor by liking, commenting or tweeting about other people's items as much as I do my own.
• Establish a limited number of boards that are directly related to my work and interests, but don't branch into to many additional, extraneous boards.
• Don't "follow all" when connecting with other Pinterest users, but rather study their boards when invited to connect and make careful selections to avoid being overwhelmed with information.
• Educate myself about Pinterest's terms of service and the current copyright information that is buzzing around the web. Only pin items that do not infringe on others' rights.

I'd love to hear from you if you are enjoying using Pinterest for work or pleasure. Do you have any tips or techniques that seem to be working well? What have you learned from your use of Pinterest.

Connect with me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/lisahendey/

Making Your Messages Work for (Not Against) You

 

This morning, I had an interesting consulting conversation with a non-profit organization which is looking to better optimize its social media initiatives. During the course of our chat, the topic of direct mail arose. I shared my somewhat "dim" view of what I termed "holy junk mail" -- that is, direct mail pieces from wonderful organizations that contain heart-felt pleas for support, but also "free" items that are often religious or spiritual in nature.

Readers here probably know that my faith means a great deal to me. So perhaps you won't be surprised when I share that I have a hard time "tossing" holy junk mail. It sits in a stack on my desk, often unsorted -- and always unresponded to -- until the situation gets out of hand. 

Then it gets recycled.

The conversation has me thinking about the other types of "junk mail" messages I hoard and later trash these days:

• Social media notifications
• Email group messages
• "To do someday" items
• Press releases

Entire books have been written on the topic of dealing with the influx of information that now prevails in our society. I've read a few, and still struggle with my "message hoarding" tendancies, especially in my inbox. Filters help, but what I really need is a different mindset that helps me attend immediately to what matters most, deal with it and move on.

I've also been pondering the message I send -- am I contributing to the clutter with my posts, tweets and pins? Or am I adding value for those I serve?

The jury is still out...