When you’re at work, what kind of an environment do you work in? Is it noisy, quite, or somewhere in between? No matter how you answered that question, the more-important question is this; do your work surroundings work for you or against you? No matter what line of work you’re in, your work environment plays a large part in how you work and how productive you can be.
My “9 to 5” work environment and my home-office environment couldn’t be any more different if they tried. By day I’m in my office where I have a good amount of quiet and solitude, which matches up fairly well with my work style. There are times I wish I could make some drastic changes to that space, or just crank my music up once and awhile, but that wouldn’t end up well. For those times, I rely on my home office to pick up the slack.
There’s no place like home.
My home office has taken on many shapes and forms over the years. After graduating college I turned a guest bedroom of my apartment into my office but my actual desk space was relegated to One corner of the room. Not ideal, by any means, but it worked.
After moving into a condo I, once again, got a guest room as my office but this time I was able to absorb the entire area and make it my own. All of the decorating may not have been exactly the way I’d wanted it, but it was close. When we bought our house after three years of condo-living, I was hopeful that I’d have an opportunity to get even closer to my “perfect” office.
Organized chaos.
Back in college I vividly remember my roommate and I being at odds regarding the physical and aesthetic state of our dorm room. My side of the room looked like a bomb went off, followed by a series of natural disasters that only affected my living quarters. His side, however, was organized. Very organized (at least when compared to me). While my area was a constant clutter, it worked. I knew where things were (most of the time) and I was able to get done what I needed to do. That said, married life has changed me (slightly) as I now follow my two boys around picking up their clutter and wishing things were more tidy. That leads us to my current home-office/studio.
When we bought our current house, I fell in love with the basement as soon as I saw it. A finished basement with mint-green walls, it had enough room for our desk, bookshelves and my other workstation necessities plus it would let our kids have some space to play as well.
As we’ve settled into our house, the basement (my office/man-cave/studio) has gone through some transitions and received a coat of paint (goodbye green, hello burgundy). While I do have to dance around children’s toys from time-to-time, the more I think about it, the happier I am with my current setup. I have multiple locations that I can set up shop and work, either at my desk, at a standing project table, or at a very nice ( and dangerously-comfortable) couch. When I need a break from work I can fire up the Wii or shoot Nerf guns across the room or crank music up as loud as I’d like. It’s a dream office that keeps improving. It works with me rather than against me.
How about your workspace, does it work with your style or against it?
I’ve been toting my iPad around in a full-size computer bag for the past year and after getting some flak for it (namely the gross misuse of space) and encountering some instances of social awkwardness (lunch line bumping and airplane head-knocking) I’ve made a move to something a bit smaller.
Google Voice is a great service that can help streamline and unclutter your phone communication. Here are 5 ways it can act as your own personal assistant.
1 - One number to rule them all
Your Google Voice number is great for many reasons, but one of the best uses for it is to connect all of your phones to one number. Instead of people going on a wild goose chase to get in touch with you by calling every phone you have, you can have them call your Google Voice number and let it ring all of your phones. You can also set up your account to ring specific phones, based on who is calling.
2 - Call screening
Have you ever wished there were spam settings for phone calls? Your Google Voice number can act as a buffer between you and unwanted calls. Simply mark any unwanted caller as spam or add them to an unwanted caller group.
3 - Voicemail transcription
While it’s not 100% perfect, Google Voice does offer voicemail transcription that can be emailed to you (which also acts as another layer of voicemail notification. A great feature for checking voicemail with only a quick glance.
4 - Custom greetings for different people and groups
Similar to the call screening groups, you can create different greetings for various groups of people. Want to greet your wife with a more personal message, or tell your clients when you’ll be out of town on travel, you can do that.
5 - Find your phone
Rushing out the door and can’t find your phone? Log into your Google Voice account and set up a call by dialing your cell phone. Hopefully it’ll be close enough for you to hear it ring.
I believe my search for the perfect project tracker is finally over thanks, in large part to Wunderlist from 6wunderkinder.
As I'd mentioned in an earlier post, I've been on a long search for the perfect project and task tracker. While the word perfect is subjective, I needed a solution that worked on multiple devices and would sync over the air rather than via cables. I was about to give up until I stumbled across an app in the iOS app store called Wunderlist. At first, I didn't give the app much thought but something made me take a look at it. I'm not sure why I clicked on the app description, but I'm glad I did. It was as if this app was written by angels that wanted tortured, hopelessly-unorganized souls to have a free app that did everything they could ever imagine. While I don't fit that exact demographic, I was drawn to some key points of Wunderlist.
Available for the iPhone, iPad, and Android
Seamless syncing across all devices
Desktop versions available for Windows and Mac
Free and no subscription costs
Beautiful design + beautiful functionality
Whether or not I'll stick with an app or a service is heavily-based on how I like the UI and overall UX and Wunderlist had me hooked from their preview screenshots. This app is as elegant as is is intuitive and each channel provides an optimized workflow based on the device you're using.
