Working While Pregnant

Our staff meeting occurs regularly every other week. As I am currently 35 weeks pregnant, I asked if anyone was sick before committing to sitting in a small meeting room. Two of our five staff members were. I sat close to the door and on the opposite side of the room.

Boss lady pointed out that I shouldn't come to work if it's detrimental to my health. Ah... but there's the rub. She's not a fan of me working from home either so that puts me in a spot where my coworkers' courtesy in taking care of themselves dictates when I take my time off :-p My very valuable time off.

Well, at least I have my job and don't have to quit after 6 months preggo like my aunt and countless other people did "back in the day!"

The Habits of a Freelancer

Many of these habits are also the downfall of effective creatives: in-house designers, agency workers, media folks, or even the pencil pusher with an internet tendency. Wasted time that trickles away can really nag at project deadlines when you're not as motivated as usual. Be it low company/dept morale, pay cuts, hiring freezes, increased workload for less pay, or even lack of feeling valued in this harsh economy, a creative tends to seek inspiration outside of their office, including via the internet. The following 7 Bad Habits are ones that I am trying to stay on top of while battling the list of reasons to mope above. 

So far I've cleared off my desk, altered my morning routine away from checking mail, promised more realistic deadlines, and I've tuned into my jazz channel on Pandora to tune out the din of coworkers. I think progress is being made! - CM

Excerpted by a blog entry of 7 Habits to Kick as a Freelancer  by Samar Owais
1. Excessive Social Networking, Instant Messaging And Internet Browsing
This has been written and told so many times that you’d think it would be engraved in people’s head by now. Even if you’re super careful and watch your time, social networking and browsing have a habit of sneaking up on you and making you ignore the clock.

Stop Stumbling, Digging, or going through your RSS reader for an unscheduled period of time. If there’s work on your desk that’s being ignored in favor of it then you’re wasting time and momentum.

2. Email Obsession
Ah yes. We all have the email bug. Here’s how you ditch the habit.
1. Turn off the notification sound
2. Shut off your inbox
3. Check every two hours or any (reasonable) time period of your choice.
4. Rinse and repeat

You could also check email as a reward. Completed an article? Check email. Met a deadline? Omg, I so deserve to check my email now!

Yes you’ll go crazy, but your work will thank you for it!. Think of the happy clients and stress free pace of work as you’re free from the anxiety of having things added to your to-do list with every email.

3. The “Yes, Right Away” Attitude
A quick clarification: I’m not asking you to ditch the “Yes, I can” attitude. What kind of a freelancer would I be if I told you to ditch the secret behind your success? I’m telling you to ditch the “Yes, right away” attitude. There’s a difference.

As freelancers and web workers, we tend to think that if we don’t act immediately, we’ll lose out. That’s the wrong attitude. Not everything requires your immediate attention.
Prioritize:

Make the distinction between clients who’ll appreciate and reward the quick response and those to whom it wouldn’t make a difference if you replied a few hours later or the next day.

If you’re replying to emails as they come in your inbox, you’ll spend your entire day dealing with them and get no work done. Ever wondered where your day went when you haven’t taken a break all morning?

Nine times out of ten, your day went to your inbox.

4. Information Overload
Sometimes I think ‘freelancer‘ is a synonym for ‘continuous learning‘. We read or at least scan everything that comes in front of our eyes, we bookmark religiously, download e-books like we’re obsessed and research is our middle name.

All this leads to information overload.

I’ll be the first to say that we never know when we’ll need something. However, short circuiting our brain trying to cram everything ruins our work. Not to mention the headache it brings on.

5. Clutter
That desk of yours? It has to be cleaned. Your papers need to be filed, pens need to be set in their holder and you need to pick up the trash. Even your desktop needs to be organized.

And no, dumping everything in your drawer is not called de-cluttering.

Very few people thrive in clutter. Organized chaos is fine but the minute you spend more than 15 seconds looking for something, it’s not organized anymore.

So ditch the clutter and organize.

6. Distractions
Distractions come in many forms. Every freelancer has their own set of distractions. It could be unnecessary phone calls, the neighbor’s noisy dog or even your own children.
Respect your work time and figure out ways to eliminate these distractions. Get a baby sitter for your kids or get them involved in extra-curricular activities. Dealing with your neighbor’s dog could be easy or you may have to be a little uhh… innovative.

Whatever your distractions, they can be eliminated. Turn the force of your “can do” attitude on your distractions and watch them melt away.

7. Extremes
Moderation is the name of the game. Don’t waste your time getting distracted or procrastinating but don’t become obsessed with productivity either.
Set goals and meet them. That’s the definition of a successful and productive day. If you don’t meet them every now and then, it’s ok. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to fail.

Safety on the Commute

After a near miss with a pile up, I home everyone is more vigilant about keeping back the appropriate distance from the car in front of you at ALL TIMES! Stop tailgating, the world will wait for you.

Student Blogs Rock!

Working for a University with student bloggers, there is so much that we can capture because the students are just being themselves! Adults attempting to accomplish the same task would not be given the clear perspective of life on campus RIGHT NOW, unfiltered, slightly censored, and free from the burden of "this is an assignment."

I'm following a handful of blogs on my Google Reader and I bundled them together for easy reference. I welcome you to take a peek and subscribe!

We're close to 2 weeks until the end of the semester wraps up with finals!
Cheers and enjoy the perspectives!
CM

Recipes for Creative Stimulation

Every day, I begin the work day by opening a new browser window with my umpteen tabs. By the time I've worked through them, I know what's going on in the world around me and far away. I've seen some neat creative work from other people and I've checked in with life in general.

Here's my list of links that get me going, in their order- feel free to bookmark!

News and Life
www.CNN.com
www.iGoogle.com (my email, calendar and LIFE)
hootsuite.com/dashboard - to control my social media life (a little)
www.wired.com - there's always something crazy cool I didn't know about
www.wzpl.com - Local Indy morning radio show, stream it!
www.indystar.com - For bigger local news
www.aroundindy.com/today.php - Indy events and free stuff
www.idsnews.com/news/headline.aspx - Student news for the town I work in
woot.com - Deal of the Day, sometimes dumb

Web Comics
xkcd.com - brainy & witty
marriedtothesea.com - witty & obscure
toothpastefordinner.com - wry & obscure but dead on
www.cad-comic.com/cad - for the illustrations & occasional story
www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/default.aspx - hilarious, obscure, rude & produced in Denmark
dilbert.com/strips - classic, fitting, & I understand it more every day

Creativity
freshbump.com - interesting, creative, and user content driven
quotesondesign.com - inspiring, inconsistently deep
www.flickr.com - My photo account to check stats and seek creative inspiration

Enjoy!