Get Shit Done isn’t a double meaning for checking email on the toilet.
Are you like this woman? Most people go to the bathroom as soon as they wake up in the morning and right before bed. Are you so busy that within mere minutes of waking up, still bleary-eyed and stumbly, you grab your phone or laptop on the way to the bathroom and start checking your email?
No? Hmm….let’s see.
I like to believe a Bike Fairy will come along and wash my bike, the Papa Spud’s Fairy will wash and prep all of my CSA produce or the Poo Fairy will come and scoop The Pele’s litter box. On more than one occasion I have asked ‘when will the Dishwasher Fairy come and put the dirty dishes from the sink into the dishwasher?
What was super important for me that day? Hangry snacks! We ran about two hours later than we thought we would, but thankfully I had packed my snacks. If I hadn’t, I may have been irritable, tired, and rushed to get the videos done. Do you have your Hangry snacks packed for the week in your car, luggage, purse or laptop case? Don’t rush your time with a client or make a gesture to the car beside you that you aren’t proud of.
Is the first item on your job description ‘Read and answer emails’? Unless you are in customer service, I bet it isn’t, however that’s what most people spend their day doing. Do you suck at the email drip? Do you let your email determine your day? Email is another person’s agenda.
Repeat after me “I will never be able to read everything I want to on the internet and it’s okay.”
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When you are mobile professional your office may be your car, a plane, subway car, hotel, coffee shop, briefcase, laptop bag or even your pockets. It’s important to see it this way so you can be organized and productive where ever you are. Just because you are on a plane and you’re 6’4 and your knees are up to your chin doesn’t mean that you can’t get something done. Maybe you can’t work on your laptop, but if you prioritize to determine what you can do during that three hour flight the time isn’t wasted. If you know that the coffee shop you will be in is loud, schedule your meeting for a time when you will have quiet and work on writing that proposal over a latte.
Are you spending an extra hour hyper-organizing or could you spend it doing something more productive? I think there needs to be a balance. At some point, there are diminishing returns for spending your time organizing and making things ‘just so’.
Underwear workouts? Did that get your attention? I’m not talking about bed business kind of workouts. I’m talking about actual exercise in your unders. I often hear from people who travel that they don’t want to take up any space in their luggage by packing exercise clothes, shoes or equipment.
How many of you come home from travel and get in discussions with your partner/spouse about what should be done while you are away?
Do you ever walk in the door and immediately start cleaning or tasking because stuff isn’t done?
Do you feel like your partner/spouse should have done this while you were away?
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