Comments on: Podcast: Work hacks

By: Ellie

Ellie — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 17:15:11 +0000

For me, the hardest is to manage interruptions. Not just e-mails coming in but people walking over to me to pop a question or a phone call, etc. Those, in addition to meetings and scheduled conference calls, makes it very difficult for me to have 2-3 hours free to do deep work. When I have control of the schedule, I try to batch all appointments in the same day / half day. But I often do not have control of most meeting schedules as they involve many people and we can’t all be consulted on when it would suit us best. Any ideas on how to handle interruptions?

By: ARC

ARC — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 20:49:16 +0000

In reply to Cassie. Based on something Laura wrote in her blog ages ago, I tried a new strategy with these. I have a running list of them and each week when I sit down to plan, I select 3-5 of them to work on that week. That sort of compartmentalizes them so that when they're done for the week, they're done. I don't add any more. Otherwise, I could literally fill up all of my free time with these sorts of things.

By: Hilary

Hilary — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 18:48:06 +0000

In reply to Cassie. Agreed, I think this would make a great podcast.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 17:52:16 +0000

Would love to hear how you and Sara juggle life’s annoying todos, car maintainance, passports, taxes, kid specific speciality MD appointments, your own routine MD/ self care related appointments, do you try to batch schedule these types of tasks or any other tips or tricks?

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 12:42:50 +0000

In reply to Anne L.. Same here! I agree—I feel like many of the attributes of millennials don’t apply to me. (Also, most of them seem to negative, even though I’ve met plenty of entitled Baby Boomers...) It was a great time to grow up, though—all the benefits of an analog childhood but also learning about the internet as it grew so we had an easier entry to it than kids today.

By: Krishna

Krishna — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 04:21:00 +0000

In reply to BethC. Yes, am a true fan of this technique. Have been using this for the past 1 month and seeing benefits galore

By: Anne L.

Anne L. — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 19:16:12 +0000

Born in 1984, but still played Oregon Trail in elementary school. I apparently am an “old millenial.”

“Millenial” doesn’t quite feel like the right label for my generation!

By: BethC

BethC — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 16:33:12 +0000

For the “take breaks”, I really like using the Pomodoro method, which is basically chunks of work with short breaks (and a longer one every 3-4 cycles). It works really well for me when I need to knock something out!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 15:56:52 +0000

Can’t wait to listen to this one, since I’m just returning to the world of full-time employment after years of freelancing! I’m not a runner, but I at least try to squeeze in a 30 minute walk most days of the week – if it doesn’t happen by the time my husband gets home from work, I’m trying to get more comfortable with just saying “here, the baby is your responsibility for the next half hour” and doing it then.