Balancing PLay and wORK: Leveraging Time, Part 2

In this article we suggest some ways to "work smarter",
or achieve more by multi-tasking - multiplying our
productive time so we have more time to PLAY!

For example, we may choose to drive the car, listen to
music or an audio book, or talk on our hands-free cell
phone.

Our brain is certainly equipped to assist us achieve
this efficiency. How many times have you been driving
in your car and found yourself thinking about
something other than your driving -- you have no
recollection of the last 5 miles of road, yet you weren't
in an accident?

Confused? Don't be. The playful use of time changes
from situation to situation. This is just one more
example of PLORK being a continuing life theme!

Multitasking Examples:

1. Work another file on your PC while downloading a
large file or document from the Internet or local
network.

2. Sign letters while conversing on the phone.

3. Listen to language tapes or music or audio books
while getting ready in the morning or driving the car.

4. Use a hand-held digital recorder to dictate notes,
thoughts, memos, sales calls, business plans while
driving. [Later you can use software to download your
notes directly into the computer without retyping].

5. Hate to exercise? Build exercise into your daily routine.
Examples: Walk to lunch, climb the stairs, park the car
further away and walk, do isometric or stretching exercises
at your desk, move your phone off your desk so you have to
stand and move every time it rings (you'll also sound better
and feel more powerful if you're standing rather than
sitting).

6. Take thinking or processing work to a meeting,
seminar or conference.

7. Use different color or different style hats to indicate
when you're changing roles. A small project team I
worked on recently did this so everyone knew what
"hat" (role) we were wearing (performing) at any given
time during the day.

8. Think, plan your day, etc. in the shower, or if you
take mass transit, on the trolley or bus. I know this will
sound compulsive to some of you, but I have an acrylic
board in my shower & a grease pen available to jot
down ideas when they come to me. (Why do the best
ideas seem to come when it's least convenient to
capture them?)

9. Get co-workers to send you audio rather than
written reports, and friends to send cassette "letters"
so you can listen to them while driving. Many email
programs now make it possible to record messages that
you can download to digital recorders for replay later.