Category: rules

Business Hours from store window

Why I Do Laundry During Business Hours

by EvieBurke, posted in rules, Task List

Business Hours from store windowIf you work from home, have you heard this advice: Never ever do housework during your business hours? I have. And usually, anything that tells me it’s okay not to do housework is great in my book! However, I break this rule regularly and usually on Mondays.

The title of this article gives it away. I do laundry during my work day. Why? Because it works out really well for me.

Rules like “Never ever do housework during your business hours” are guidelines. The purpose is to encourage you to treat your business seriously, make time for it and don’t get sidetracked doing other things (things that won’t help you pay bills). So, it makes some sense.

But why do I do laundry on Mondays? Well, my Mondays are usually a day for writing and getting some items checked off my to-do list. And it takes about 45 minutes or so for a load of laundry to finish, which is a nice block of time to get something done. It becomes a game for me – how far can I get on this task or how many of these items can I complete before the buzzer goes off?

Now, I do have a few of my own rules around doing laundry.

  1. It does not get put away during work hours unless it can’t go in the drier.
  2. Work comes before laundry. So, if I’m in the zone working on something, I won’t get up when the buzzer goes off. I’ll finish what I’m working on first.
  3. It does not run when I have calls scheduled (especially if I’m doing calls from the first floor). The buzzer is quite loud.

So, when I’m doing laundry I’m usually very productive, a lot gets done! And it surprised me at first – given that I was breaking a “rule” about working from home. But, like most “rules” they are just guidelines for you to use while determining what works best for you.

What business or productivity “rules” do you regularly break with great success? Let me know in the comments!

photo credit: tengrrl via photopin cc

Are You Waiting For It To Be Perfect?

by EvieBurke, posted in planning, rules

It’s not done yet.

I’m not ready.

It just needs to be tweaked a couple more times.

I need more time.

Tomorrow is a better day to do that.

Ever find yourself saying any of those things over and over again? I know I hear my clients saying these things sometimes and I’m guilty of it too.

Voltaire wrote “Perfect is the enemy of the good.” Don’t wait for the project, speech, presentation, web page, timing or whatever to be perfect. Few things we create go out into the world completely and utterly perfect.

A question I like to ask myself (and clients) when I find myself looking for perfection before I try something or put something new “out there” is “what are you afraid of?” What is it that you’re afraid might happen if you don’t have it perfect? Are you afraid someone won’t like you? Are you afraid of being ridiculed? Ignored? Overlooked? Seen? Known? Maybe it will force you to a higher standard and by keeping it to yourself and perfecting it you don’t have to worry about that.

I heard someone talking about speaking say that the person out there giving an imperfect presentation is always making more money than the person sitting at home continually trying to make their presentation perfect. It’s true right? Anytime you’re putting yourself out there you’re introducing new people to your business and your services. Why wait for it to be perfect? There are people out there who are waiting for your services and honestly, they probably don’t realize that it’s not perfect yet!

Are you waiting for the perfect time in your business to take a vacation? Don’t wait! Plan it, make it happen and set an intention to enjoy your time away!

Are you waiting for the perfect bit of inspiration to hit before you work on that project? Don’t wait! Start working on it! (If I waited for the perfect bit of inspiration before I wrote my weekly articles there would only be about one a month!) Sometimes you need to create the space (physically and mentally) and trust you’ll make exactly what needs to be made in that space.

Are you waiting for things to slow down or speed up or do something else before you sit down and spend some time with yourself to plan your week or your day or commit to making that big goal actually happen?

STOP WAITING. The time is rarely perfect. And when it is, you don’t realize it until afterwards.

I recently re-watched the movie version of The Music Man and this quote popped out at me:

You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to make today worth remembering.
– Meredith Willson, The Music Man (said by Harold Hill)

What will you create today that’s worth remembering?

 

LIFE – The Game Everyone Is Playing

by EvieBurke, posted in rules

Watch at least the first four minutes of this video by Dan Rezler:

Welcome to the Game of LIFE. The game every one is playing where the person with the most money wins.

Have you thought about the rules that you’re playing your life by? Are they the rules that you want to play and live by? Often, I find that I’m playing by rules that have been taught to me without thinking about it.

Someone tells me that they disagree with a decision I’ve made, well, perhaps I’d better rethink it, because they might know more about it than me. I make a mistake at work, well, I’d better be unhappy and frustrated about it all day to show that I understand that I’ve done something wrong and am punishing myself for it.

Those are just two examples of rules that I’ve lived by that I’ve realized I don’t have to. I get to choose the rules that I live by and it’s OK if everyone doesn’t agree with me. I also get to live with the consequences of those rules, whether they’re good or bad (if I decide that the speed limit is just a suggestion and get a ticket, then I get to pay a speeding ticket).

Consciously choosing the rules we want to live by can be scary, but it’s also very empowering.

I found this in the comments of this video:

My sister told me that to describe my strangeness to other people she says “It’s like everyone else is playing LIFE and she’s playing Monopoly, which is why she’s so confused that no one else is following her rules.”

And I told her “Why am I playing Monopoly? I want to play Clue. And why would you play LIFE? That’s a horrible game.”

I love this comment because she’s not only choosing the rules – she’s also choosing the game. And you get to do that too, it’s your life.