Hello.

When I first got the job to blog for Pimp Your Work, it was a dream come true for me.  It was work that I really wanted to do, and I knew that I would learn so much from the smart and welcoming folks over at the b5 Business Channel - and I did.  The joy and personal fulfillment of working here far exceeded my expectations.

But even good things draw to a close.  Lately, I found myself wanting to pursue other projects and seeking new learning experiences.  Since I can’t get more than 24 hours each day, I need to sacrifice some tasks that will allow me to have the time and attention for these new projects.  Pimp Your Work has to be one of those sacrifices.  Starting October, I will no longer be blogging here.

Of course, no power on this earth could make me stop writing about productivity and time management.  Instead of posting at least 6 times each week in this blog, I will be writing once or twice a week at CelineRoque.com, my new home for productivity discussions.  It’s a young blog, with hardly an audience for now, but I intend to make it grow and make it a repository for some of my best ideas on productivity and creative work.

No, that site won’t be making money.  It will be strictly non-profit for me, probably for several years, if not forever.  I want to keep my work on that site as pure as possible.

Thank you for coming along with me on this ride.  If you’re interested in what I’ll be up to, you can always follow me via Twitter.  Writing for you has been an unforgettable experience.  I appreciate the attention you guys gave to my posts, and I apologize if it didn’t seem like they were worth it sometimes.  May all of you live a productive, noise-free life, creating the work of your dreams.

All the best,

Celine Roque

Photo Credit: Image from Daniel Tan  from stock.xchng

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In his book, On Writing, Stephen King wrote: “… put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room.  Life isn’t a support-system for art.  It’s the other way around”.

Sometimes I feel the same way about work, whether I’m doing something artistic or not.

But before we explore “working to live” versus “living to work”, it’s important to define both ‘work’ and ‘life’.

For the purposes of this article, when I talk about work, I’m talking about the thing you do that allows you to make money - whether you love it or not.  Life, on the other hand, are the other activities you do that don’t necessarily make any/much money.

It’s possible that you spend your time doing things that seem like they belong to both categories since dichotomies aren’t as simple as we make them out to be.  For example, I love working on fiction even if it doesn’t usually make me money, but when I get paid for a fictional piece, is that work?  If something isn’t clear cut, don’t force yourself to categorize it.  We’re only discussing the balance between the things we regularly do to ensure financial survival, and the other not-so-profitable things we need to do with our time such as hobbies, time with family, or taking care of your health.  Face it - even if you love your work as much as I love mine, there are other things in life that you have to pay attention to.

So how do we pay attention to them?

“Working to live”

This phrase means that your work is just a factor in your life.  It is not the only thing that defines you, and you spend (or want to spend) your time on other things as well.  Your main reasons for working may include one or more of the following:

• To earn money from your work so you can survive
• To feel a sense of fulfillment because of the work you do
• To feel happier in life because you’re working on your passion

Symptoms of this lifestyle:

• When office hours are over, you generally put work out of your mind and don’t allow your colleagues to contact you about something work-related when you’re at home.
• You love your work, and if you never needed money again for the rest of your life, you’d do your work for free.
• Yo make time for hobbies, passion projects, and your other priorities in life.

“Living to work”

Living to work means that you prioritize your work so much over other things in your life.  This could be rephrased as living for work.  When you live to work, your main reasons to work can be one of the following:

• To do all it takes to get higher up on the corporate ladder - just because it’s there.
• To make a lot of money, and prioritize that goal over other things.
• To spend most of your time working because what else are you going to do?

Symptoms of the “living to work” lifestyle:

• You schedule your life and other activities based on your work schedule
• You would pick your Blackberry over your spouse or family (I’m surprised that 35% of people surveyed said they would do this).
• You neglect your health because you’re too focused on working.

Making the decision, finding the balance

A better work/life balance was the driving force behind my 9-hour workweek experiment. It’s true that I love my work, but there are other aspects of my life that I want to explore.  I couldn’t do that if I was working for almost all of my waking hours.  I wanted to make more decisions that allowed me to lean more towards the “work to live” group.

Working to live versus living to work is not a decision you make once and expect that it will be carried out consistently from the moment you’ve decided.  It is something you decide everyday, perhaps several times, and every situation you face each time will be different.

In what situations do you find yourself working to live?  When do you find yourself living to work?

Photo Credit: Image from Tim Meijer  from stock.xchng

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If you’ve done your research and discovered that online collaboration will increase your team’s productivity, what do you do if your team is reluctant to adapt? More importantly, how do you make it a less bumpy transition for everyone involved?

One way to start is by showing them your research. It helps to produce estimated numbers on how much time or money online collaboration will save you. Don’t use any Web 2.0 jargon as this might intimidate them further. After all, you’re supposed to make them comfortable with the idea of online collaboration. If you can find some case studies of actual teams that already reaped the benefits of online collaboration, include and refer to them in your proposal.

Make the transition slowly. Instead of moving all collaboration online in one giant step, take small steps with your team by starting with the smallest tasks or projects first. A step-by-step move to web collaboration allows your team to adapt better, and even to give suggestions along the way to improve the workflow. This helps you work out small kinks in your system as you go along, which is preferable to making corrections only when all of your projects have moved online.

Look for collaboration tools that aren’t too different from current software you’re using. People are less hesitant to accept new things if there’s some amount of familiarity. Choose collaboration tools that have a similar interface with software that they’re used to working with. This way, using the new tools will feel more intuitive for your team. If it’s possible, find ways for their new and old tools to sync, but lessen your team’s dependency on these syncing features as time progresses.

Offer your team some training resources that show them how to use their new tools. Whether it’s a video tutorial or a one-on-one teaching session, take the time to show them the features of their collaboration tools. While you’re taking the tools for a spin, tell them the actual benefits of each feature. For example, don’t just say “Google Docs allows you to share files with your other teammates.” Try adding something like “This means that there will be less emailing back-and-forth from everyone when we’re editing a report. There will be less clutter on your email inbox and hard drive.” This shows your team what a particular feature means for them. It’s very specific and it shows that you had their best interests in mind when proposing the switch to online collaboration.

It also helps if you let your team know that the switch to online collaboration is reversible. Tell them “Let’s try it for a month, and if it doesn’t work out we can go back to the way we were doing things.” You’ll find that when they see the benefits of online collaboration themselves, it’s much easier to convince them to integrate it with their regular work process. Just make sure you can quantify when something doesn’t work out - whether it’s an efficiency rating, or money and time savings. Your basis of what works and what doesn’t has to be measurable, not just based on perception.

By implementing the tips above, it will be easier for your team to accept online collaboration as part of their working lives. If it’s done right, they’ll probably even wonder how they were able to work without these tools in the past.

Image by Mark Robinson  from sxc.hu

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Our minds must have relaxation: rested, they will rise up better and keener. Just as we must not force fertile fields (for uninterrupted production will quickly exhaust them), so continual labor will break the power of our minds. They will recover their strength, however, after they have had a little freedom and relaxation.
Seneca

Image by Leszek Nowak from sxc.hu

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Organizations have polarized attitudes to Web 2.0. Generally, businesses either embrace Web 2.0 tools completely or consider them distractions or security risks. Both reactions are, of course, justified. Web 2.0 afficionados are disappointed when they are working with a team who isn’t as tool-savvy as they are. On the other hand, evangelists of traditional communication stick to familiar ground, rolling their eyes when they see coworkers spend hours on instant messaging or social networking. If there’s no proper dialogue established, this makes the workplace seem like a battlefield of Technology versus Tradition.

There’s a struggle to combine old tools with new ones. Workers who are eager to try a Web 2.0 approach to collaboration find themselves awkwardly stuck halfway, usually because of the steep learning curve of new technologies, being caught up in an undeserved hype, or because of the resilience of time-tested processes.

The important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t ditch one system for the other. Instead, find a way for them to work together and slowly integrate them until you find a seamless, more efficient workflow. There is no such thing as the perfect tool or process - it’s all about what your business needs. Don’t fix what’s not broken, but if something can be improved, don’t let it stagnate. What are the pros and cons of each approach and how do you strike a good balance?

The lines between ‘personal’ and ‘business’ are blurred. Look through an average professional’s MySpace or Facebook page. Usually, you’ll find that they’ve added both personal and business contacts to their friend lists. Web 2.0 has made it possible for our supervisors to view our family photos, and our friends to see what we’re up to at work. True, you can create a different account for each of your worlds, but doing so is hardly worth the trouble.

There are some bonuses that come along with having your personal and professional life mix. Establishing a tighter rapport with your colleagues and supervisors can help improve your standing in the company. However, there are times when personal can get too personal, creating awkward situations that are detrimental to your team’s work. Take advantage of the customizable privacy settings of the social networks you belong to. This ensures that your colleagues won’t view items that were intended for friends or family.

If we want Web 2.0 to work within our businesses, we need to be aware of these changes and how to deal with them accordingly. Since technology changes so rapidly, we should also make room for the changes that will arrive as a result of Web 3.0.

 How have Web 2.0 tools changed things in your workplace?  Were these changes welcome or not?

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Which of the featured tools do I actually use?

MindManager.  I love this mind mapping program so much that I wrote a love letter to it. The interface is intuitive, it’s easy to use, and has all the features I need.

Invisibility Cloak.  This Firefox plug-in prevents you from visiting time-wasting sites until a given time in the day.

ReadItLater.  For those blog posts and websites I can’t read on the spot, I use ReadItLater. But I haven’t gotten to using the online version yet, which would help a lot since I frequently switch between the laptop and a desktop.

PushPin.  I find that this handy little app is indispensable.  When I’m using the Windows calculator or copy-pasting text from one program window to another, having PushPin around allows me to add an “Always on Top” option for almost any window.

Piky Basket.  I often use Piky Basket to move mp3s from my hard drive to my mp3 player, since my music files are contained in several, separate folders.  It took me a while to get used to the menu, though.

Rescue Time.  Lets me know where my computer time goes, Rescue Time runs silently int he background.  Helped me curb that Spider Solitaire addiction.

Rocket Dock.  I’ve completely done away with the Windows task bar and use Rocket Dock instead.  It’s easier to hide and is less cluttered, so I get more screen real estate.

Tools I previously used:

Taskbar Shuffle.  I depended a lot on this program when I still used the Windows task bar.  Although it’s still installed, I don’t use it anymore since I use Rocket Dock.

Dark Room.  While Dark Room is a great program, I’ve replaced it with Google Docs, since I tend to switch computers and it’s a hassle saving Dark Room files and transferring them from computer to computer.

What tools do you have in your productivity tool box?  How important are they in your work process?

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Dreaminder is a free online tool that reminds you of your dream. Using Dreaminder is a cinch. Simply go to their site, and fill up a form.

Once the day of your choosing arrives, Dreaminder automatically sends you an e-mail containing the dream that you have given. You are then reminded of your goal in life and you can start assessing just how much of it you have accomplished.

If you are the leader of an organization or group and you think you can take advantage of Dreaminder, you can sign-up for an account in Dreaminder. With this account, you can monitor the progress of each of your members on their goals.

One small flaw with the system is that once you have provided a delivery e-mail address, you cannot change it. However, because it’s all about one goal, you can’t exactly make milestones or steps for each goal - you’ll need to set up each milestone as individual goals.  Despite this minor imperfection, Dreaminder works if you want something minimalist.

Dreaminder is compatible with most web browsers.

Screencapture by Celine Roque from Blue Rabbit Media

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