8 Ways to Make Your Office Workspace More Organized

This is a guest post by James Adams. If you struggle with staying organized, have heaps of papers on your desk, or you’re simply looking for another way to increase productivity, this article is a must read!

Photo by Niels Heidenreich (flickr)

In the office, organization can mean the difference between a wasted day and a productive one. If you spend an hour or so on really working to organize your workspace, then your initial time investment will reap large dividends in the future as you save a few minutes here and there for weeks to come. These minutes add up, and you’ll eventually find yourself with a lot of extra time on your hands, as well as a newfound efficiency in the office.

Here we’re going to take a look at eight important ways that you can combat clutter and inefficiency in the office. (more…)

What Did You Do Today?

I just wanted to take this time to ask you one simple question.

Photo by David Kadavy (flickr)

What did you do today?

Right now it’s about 3:30pm in the afternoon. In California, it’s 12:30pm. Depending on where you live, it might be sooner or later in the day.

But, wherever you are, pause for a minute to ask yourself this question – because it might shed some light as to how productive (or not very productive) your day was so far. Did you get anything done yet today? If so, what did you do? If not, what held you back?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Because think about this: Depending on whether or not you wasted the precious hours that lead up to this point, what do you plan to do tomorrow? Will it be another repeat of today?

Just something to consider. (more…)

How to Wake Up Early with Enthusiasm: The Ultimate Guide

For the past few weeks I’ve been talking about how I had a surprise for you today. Well, this is it. I’m sorry if it isn’t what you were expecting, but I promise it will be worth your while once you start reading. I also have special guest contributors who were kind enough to share their thoughts.

Update: Want to wake up early but unsure when to go to bed? Well I found an AWESOME (free) tool to help you, and it’s called the Bedtime Calculator. Simply enter what time you want to wake up (or the time you’re going to bed) and it will spit out times in which you should go to bed (or wake up) according to the average human sleeping cycle.

Photo by Vince Alongi (flickr)

Do you struggle to wake up early each morning, only to rise out of bed later in the day – rushing to get things done without enough time to accomplish your goals? By the time the sun sinks down into the earth, you still haven’t gotten everything you set out to do done and the day has turned out to be a total bust.

Believe me, I’ve been there. In fact, it got to the point where I was sleeping 10-11 hours every night, with very little time left during the day to work on what I wanted to do, while also having time left over to truly enjoy myself.

I wanted a change.

If you’ve been following my progress over the past few months, you’ll see my various attempts to create that change by changing up my daily writing routine, with the first one being 4 months ago when I posted Finding Motivation: How to Adapt a Routine. I then expanded on the topic in my post A Confession and Report: How I Developed My Writing Routine a little over a month later. My most recent attempt at analyzing my writing routine and creating a writing schedule that worked for me was just earlier this month when I posted A Writer’s Reflection: My Life as a Writer Revealed.

There’s no secret that, after feeling how it feels to wake up earlier at 7am and getting so much done, my mind has been consumed with the thought of waking up even earlier than I am – 5:30 or even 4:45am.

Well, now I’m doing it again. I’m going to make a change in my life. And so can you.

But let’s start from the beginning. (more…)

Entrepreneurs: How Early Do You Rise Out of Bed?

Photo by Vince Alongi (flickr)

Hey everyone! Within the next few weeks (before the new year), I’ll be writing a guide on how to rise out of bed early and start your day with enthusiasm.

However, this won’t be just a regular guide. I plan to cover the topic in great length and exceed over 3,000 words to provide you all with as much content on the subject as possible to help those of you who want to make a difference in their work routine by starting earlier than they could before.

Now, I know such a guide won’t benefit everyone here. Some of you enjoy working late into the night and would rather sleep late than wake up early. Though I plan to cover how to start your day with enthusiasm and excitement, which will help some of you late sleepers, the main focus will be for those of you who want more hours in your day to write or can’t possibly work nights because of other obligations.

But in order to make this work and to give you as much value as possible, I need your help. (more…)

5 Ways Clutter and Mess Affect Your Concentration

This is a guest post by James Adams.

Photo by Blake Patterson (flickr)

Working in a messy, disorganised room can be distracting. It is difficult to find the papers and materials that you need, while it is nearly impossible to find a clean area in which to work. Clutter and disorganisation generally lead to confusion and low productivity. Many find it tough to concentrate when there are piles of paper, trash, or untidy areas within their lines of vision. This is why it is important to cut the clutter in order to improve one’s ability to complete important tasks in a timely manner. (more…)

10 Ways the iPad Can Boost Office Productivity

This is a guest post by James Adams.

Photo by Yutaka Tsutano (flickr)

The iPad may be Apple’s latest “it” product in the media, but that doesn’t mean office workers and business people are quite ready to get on the bandwagon. And you can’t blame them for being stuck in their ways. With money on the line and deals to be made, productivity is at a premium. But the iPad is actually a big help for cubicle dwellers. Whether at the desk or on the road, you can really get more done when you’re packing an iPad. Don’t believe me? Well here are 5 ways the iPad can help you cut through the clutter and get the job done. (more…)

How Reading without Action Can Make Your Business Suffer

All too often I see this, and yet all too often I fall into the same trap.

A few months ago, I bought about $400 worth of books from the Amazon marketplace. I’m still going through them all, but basically I wanted to fill out my personal office library with relevant books that either someone else recommended or have really good reviews and rankings.

Photo by Nattu (flickr)

However, after curling up on my comfy office sofa next to my aquatic frog aquarium, I made one mistake that would cost me hours of wasted time – time that I couldn’t ever get back.

I didn’t act on what I read.

I would simply read a book and put off any further action until later. Then, later comes and I realize that I completely forgot about what it was that I put off to do. The only way I could resolve this problem was to read what I already read over again, which is not in the least effective and makes me get even less done because of the time wasted in rereading the material.

The thing is, this wouldn’t be a problem if I had unlimited time to waste and didn’t have much going on later during the day. But most of us writers do have a lot going on, and many of us live hectic lifestyles. Each precious minute we waste could make the difference between working late nights to get a project done or finishing the project in plenty of time to leave room for more enjoyable activities. (more…)

A Confession and Report: How I Developed My Writing Routine

For a long time I’ve been trying to develop a writing routine where I’d get into the habit of writing every day. It’s been a constant cycle, yet I didn’t seem to be making any progress.

Photo by Keith Williamson (flickr)

You see, here’s how my writing routine started:

I would promise myself that I would write a certain number of articles each day, a certain number of blog posts each week and spend a certain number of hours writing fiction. In reality, I actually wrote maybe 5 articles for the week, 3 blog posts for the week and spent little or no time writing fiction.

I had really no clear goals.

So, I decided to analyze my work habits and make little changes to become more productive. I talk about this some in my post Finding Motivation: How to Adapt a Routine. (more…)

How Heat Maps Can Double Productivity and How to Use Them

Photo by Kevin Dooley (flickr)

Do you struggle to stay productive day after day? There’s a good possibility that you’re just not working at the right time, when productivity is at its peak.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. How can you possibly tell when you should be working? Simple. Well, sort of simple. By closely monitoring your productivity levels throughout the day. In other words, by creating a productivity heat map.

I first came across the idea of a productivity heat map after reading the article How Heatmapping Your Productivity Can Make You More Productive by Charlie, author of the blog Productive Flourishing. On his blog, Charlie allows readers to download many handy planners that will help increase productivity and keep your work organized. But what really caught my attention was the idea of a productivity heat map. (more…)