All of these quotes gave me food for thought. If you’ve got a favorite quote about the seasons, please share it in the comments below.

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#1: “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”

- William Blake

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#2: “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

- Anne Bradstreet

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#3: “Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”

- Yoko Ono

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#4: “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”

- Hal Borland

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#5: “Every season has its peaks and valleys. What you have to try to do is eliminate the Grand Canyon.”

- Andy Van Slyke

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#6: You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

- Jim Rohn

Post image by Flickr user mcdlttx

Our projects go through different stages. Our natural energy levels also wax and wane – not just over the course of a day, but over weeks or months.

Your personal “seasons” may not follow the calendar ones at all … but it can be useful to think of your productivity in terms of these:

Spring

Spring is the season for new life and growth. Your “spring” might be a time where you’re getting several projects up and running. Perhaps you’ve got lots of energy and enthusiasm for your ideas, and everything seems exciting and new.

This is probably my favorite “season” to be in – but it can’t last forever. Projects need to not only sprout but grow…

Summer

Summer is the season for continued growth – and consolidation of what’s already taken place. Your “summer” might be a time when you need to work steadily and consistently on your projects, resisting the urge to start new ones.

You might face difficulties here: perhaps you’re losing your spring-time enthusiasm, or you feel like lazing around and being unproductive. You may need to push on through some resistance.

Fall

Fall (or Autumn to my fellow Brits!) is when we take in the harvest. Your “autumn” is when projects reach fruition: they’re either ticking along happily without too much input from you, or they’re coming to an end.

If, like me, you’re tempted to live in an eternal spring, you need to keep your autumn focus on finishing off projects and gathering your gains.

Winter

Winter can be a tough season for productive types – but a necessary one. Your “winter” is a time where you can stop, take stock, rest and plan for the next spring. It’s a chance to get a zoomed-out view of your work and your life – and to make decisions about what to keep and what to discard.

Times like this may feel unproductive because they lack the energy of spring, the busyness of summer and the obvious gains of fall. But the time you take to rest, recharge and reflect may be some of the most productive time you invest all year.

Do you have a favorite “season” of productivity? Let us know your thoughts in the comments…

Post image by Flickr user jojomzz

During December, we’re going to be running posts on the theme seasons make the world go round.

Different seasons suit different activities. It’s winter for us, which means it’s a good time to stop, take stock, recharge and rest in preparation for new growth in the spring.

We (that’s Thursday and Ali) will be writing posts, and as usual, we hope to welcome some fantastic guest authors to share their thoughts. Of course, we’d also love to have your ideas, tips and suggestions in the comments.

To make sure you get all the great content that we’ve got in store for you, grab our RSS feed, or get the Email Edition of the blog (in the sidebar). It’s totally free, and you won’t miss a thing.

Post image by Flickr user hello-julie

This is a guest post by Kirsten Simmons.

All right, hands up, who loves Hyperbole and a Half?

We’ve all had those system failure days, where the pressures of being an adult are just too much. Everywhere we look there’s something we need to do, all these boring, routine tasks like dishes and laundry and groceries. And let’s not even get started on the things we’re supposed to do at work…

So what’s a pseudo-adult to do?

Make it into a game.

The theme this month at Constructively Productive is productivity at home, and home is exactly where you’ll want to center your productivity game.

Pick a wall with lots of space and buy a few pieces of poster board. Or clear off your refrigerator and freezer door for the cause.

Get a lot of really cool little magnets, or stickers, or draw on your boards with colorful markers. Maybe you can create an intricate design with pieces to color in later, or do something simpler and create a bunch of circles to color in or cross out.

Then make a list of your tasks. Include every little one that you can possibly think of. Brushing your teeth. Feeding the dogs. Feeding yourself. Taking out the trash. Assign each one a point value based on your colorful shapes.

Now come up with a prize. Make it something fun, something you want. That will be your reward for getting all of your points.

Now, go forth and do your tasks! At the end of each day, color in/cross out/move your magnets from the fridge to the freezer. When you’ve gotten through the entire point supply, congratulations, it’s time for your reward! Go enjoy it, then start the process over again.

With this little game, you can go out and face the world like an adult. No one need ever know that you’re playing a game the entire time.

Kirsten is the unconventional guru behind Personalized Productivity, the system that uses your personality type to create your perfect productivity framework.

Post image by Allie from Hyperbole and a Half and taken from This is Why I’ll Never be an Adult

One of the key advantages to working from home is that, often, you can set your own hours.

Even if you’re telecommuting to a regular 9 – 5 job, you probably have a bit of flexibility over the exact hours you work. And as a freelancer, you might well be able to work at any time of the day – or night.

So, should you have fixed “work” hours, or should your work simply fit into the ebb and flow of your life? Freelancers often have different opinions on this – so here’s a look at the pros and cons of set hours.

The Pros

Here’s what’s great about having set hours:

#1: Clients (and Friends/Family) Know When They Can Contact You

If you work with clients in traditional businesses, they probably want to reach you during office hours. You don’t necessarily have to be at your desk from 9 – 5, but you might want to have specific hours when you can always be reached (e.g. 1pm – 4pm).

On the flip side, friends and family might need to know when they should avoid contacting you. If you always work from 8am – 12 noon, you can (hopefully) encourage them not to call you during your most productive hours.

#2: You’ve Got Clear Boundaries Around Your Work

One big struggle for new freelancers is creating dividing lines between “work” and “leisure”. Sometimes, it’s nice to be able to blur the boundaries – but too much overlap can lead to you being tied to your desk, checking emails at 10pm.

Working during set hours gives you boundaries. It helps you to avoid goofing off when you should be working and allows you to relax and unwind when work’s done for the day.

#3: You Won’t Over-Pack Your Schedule

When you have set hours, it’s easy to see whether a new project will fit … or not! Set hours can prevent you from overloading yourself with too much work.

Of course, this means having a good sense of how much work you can complete per hour – so get into the habit of tracking time spent on projects, even if you’re not billing by the hour.

The Cons

Sometimes, set hours aren’t such a great thing:

#1: “Flexibility” Might Be Why You Started Freelancing

One of the things that I love about my work and my lifestyle is being able to take time out in the middle of the day. I might visit my Granny, go shopping while the stores aren’t too busy, or watch a movie with my husband.

If you get too rigid about your work-hours, you might feel like freelancing has become “just another job”. Some of us thrive on routine but others love freedom and spontaneity. It’s up to you to figure out a good balance.

#2: Your Set Hours May Not Suit Your Clients

Unfortunately, your perfect work hours might not match up with your clients’. I prefer to work mornings and afternoons, but I’m in the UK and time-zone issues mean that I sometimes have to do evening calls in order to connect with US and Australian clients.

Being at least a little flexible about your hours can make things easier for your clients. I’m not suggesting that you get trapped working at 7am on a Sunday – but you might want to have, say, one weekend day each month when you’ll be available for business calls if needed.

#3: Your Business Growth Might Slow Down

If you absolutely refuse to work weekends and holidays, it’s possible that you’ll lose out on clients, especially those who can’t easily contact you during their working day (perhaps you’re a life coach or personal trainer, for instance).

Some potential clients would be willing to pay a premium for a rush-job on a Sunday: you might feel that this money is worth the inconvenience of working at the weekend.

As you’ve probably gathered, the scales are pretty balanced! There are advantages to having set hours – but there are disadvantages too. Most freelancers will find themselves somewhere in between “rigidly set hours” and “no schedule at all”. It’s a good idea to experiment a bit to find out what works best for you.

I’d love to hear what you think about this – do you work set hours? Are you happy with your current pattern of work? The comments are open…

 Post image by Flickr user blue2likeyou

Maybe you’ve got the option to work from home for your employer. Maybe you’re a freelancer, business owner or a student. Whatever the exact circumstances, you’ve got to get productive work done … while at home.

You might think that being at home will make you more productive. For instance:

• You don’t have colleagues stopping by at your desk and interrupting you
• You can listen to whatever music you want, set up your workstation however you like, light candles, burn incense … whatever helps you focus
• You don’t have to head out to buy lunch – you can just turn to the fridge
• You won’t waste time commuting

… I’m sure you can come up with a few more!

While all of these are definitely benefits, there’s also a darker side to working at home. If you’ve ever ended up watching TV in your pyjamas in the middle of the day, you’ll know that the lack of a boss and colleagues isn’t always great for your productivity.

Here’s how to stay on track:

#1: Have a Designated Work Space

We moved into a bigger place last year, which has given me the luxury of a whole (albeit small!) room for my work. I’ve got enough desk space for two monitors – which definitely helps with my productivity – and when I’m in my room, my husband knows not to disturb me.

You might not be able to find a whole room, but can you at least have a permanent desk set up in a quiet area of your home?

#2: Figure Out Your Peak Hours

One of the lovely things about working from home is that you don’t have to work 9 – 5. You can work at 6am or 11pm – whatever suits you. So pay attention to when you’re most productive: for me, it’s the morning (around 8am – 11am) but you might be totally different.

If you can fit your most energy-demanding work into your peak hours, you’ll find that you get much more done.

#3: Write a To Do List

When you work in a regular office job, you might not need a to-do list. After all, there’s not much to do other than work – and your manager or team probably lets you know what tasks need to be completed urgently.

At home, it’s up to you to come up with your task list. If you find yourself procrastinating or slacking off, make a clear to-do list and get started on it.

#4: Get Out of the House

Some people really struggle to work in the home environment. Perhaps they’ve conditioned themselves to see it purely as a place of leisure, or maybe they have too many distractions going on (noisy kids or housemates).

If you struggle to work at home, then go somewhere else. Take your laptop to a cafe, library, or co-working space. Even if you can only manage this for a few hours a week, it can make a huge difference.

Do you work from home, some or all of the time? What tips would you add to this list?

Post image by Flickr user VeloBusDriver.

During November, we’re going to be running posts on a productivity at home theme.

Whether you work from home, or simply want to get more done in your personal life, we’ll have posts to help you out.

We (that’s Thursday and Ali) will be writing posts, and as usual, we hope to welcome some fantastic guest authors to share their thoughts. Of course, we’d also love to have your ideas, tips and suggestions in the comments.

To make sure you get all the great content that we’ve got in store for you, grab our RSS feed, or get the Email Edition of the blog (in the sidebar). It’s totally free, and you won’t miss a thing.

Post image by Flickr user james.thompson

Gina Trapani, of GinaTrapani.org

Founding editor of Lifehacker and author of four tech books.

I work at home, and the most common advice I hear about managing that is to do everything you can to separate work from your personal life. In one way I absolutely do: my office is a separate room in my home with a door that closes, and in it, all I do is work.

In every other way, I integrate the professional and personal. I have one todo list, one calendar, one email inbox, one phone, one phone number, and one computer where I both work and play. If I were to try to split things up, the lines wouldn’t be clear. Sometimes work is play (I see friends and family when I travel for business), and sometimes play is work (weekend projects often turn into income generators).

I always feel bad for friends who have to carry, charge, update, and check two mobile phones, one for work and one for personal use. For me, that would be way too much overhead.

Michelle Nickolaisen, of Let’s Radiate

Creative organizer, great at making ideas actionable.

I don’t really separate my personal vs. professional productivity. I have one planner, one to-do list, and one set of goals; the only times they’re separated are at the beginning of the year or maybe if I’m doing a deeper quarterly review than I usually do, in which case I’ll ask myself, “What do I want this area of my life to look like in a year?” But after that? It all ends up in the same place.

The way I view it is that I have one life and I’m bad at compartmentalizing, so why would I do it?

Joanna Penn, of The Creative Penn

Author of the thriller novel Pentecost and three non-fiction books.

My life changed when I gave up TV and moved to 4 days a week in the day job.

I was trying to write my first book and blog, social network and build a platform online, but it was overwhelming and I never had enough time. The little chunks of time I could carve out weren’t enabling me to achieve my goals fast enough. So I looked at what I need to sacrifice.

First, we got rid of the TV which meant we only watched shows from iTunes/Hulu. That cut out adverts and meant we could schedule downtime for when brain-dead watching was really necessary. But that wasn’t enough. So I asked my boss if I could move to 4 days a week work at 80% of my income. I would put in more hours and do the same amount of work but I needed Fridays off.

The trial period worked out and that day enabled me to make massive progress in my writing, blogging and marketing. It gave me 10 hours of hardcore focus, productive time working on my business and not in someone else’s. Four years later, I have left my day job to work as an author-entrepreneur fulltime. I couldn’t have made the jump without those 2 things that freed me up to work productively.

Rob Lawrence, of Get Noticed 

Musician, creativity coach and co-author of Get Noticed.

One of the biggest threats to our personal and professional productivity is the handling of expectations with people that fall in to either of these categories. For example, our professional colleagues may not fully appreciate our personal commitments whilst our friends and family may not understand our work commitments. So how do we overcome such challenges?

First we need to be clear about our own personal and professional objectives and boundaries. We then need to communicate our objectives to people in terms they can easily understand. We can check that we have been clearly understood by asking questions such as, “Can you tell me, in your own terms, what you understand about my goals and commitments right now?” These questions can prove insightful as they lead to deeper conversations which help us to re-shape our communications with others appropriately.

The process of clarifying ourselves with others can help us to gain support from them as they begin to understand our objectives in terms that make sense to them. This process can also provide us with valuable feedback we often don’t get an opportunity to experience, giving us clues to where our personal and professional boundaries can be improved upon. The result of then acting upon such feedback is greater productivity in both our personal and professional lives through improved boundary function and clear expectations set with others. 

Have you got a great tip to add to the list? We’d love to hear your thoughts too: just drop a comment below!

When you’re putting together your résumé or applying for a job with a daunting list of requirements, it’s often easy to undersell yourself.

Perhaps you’re fresh out of college and you haven’t had a full-time job before, or you’ve been a stay-at-home parent for a few years and you feel like you’ve fallen behind in the marketplace. Alternatively, you might have plenty of experience – just not in the career that you’re trying to transition to.

When you’re working on your résumé, don’t just think of your professional qualifications and roles – think about your personal life as well.

Volunteer Roles Count Too

If you have a volunteer role, put that on your résumé (or your “hire me” page on your website). Your role might be:

• With a community organization
• In your place of worship
• Focused on an online community

Think about the skills you’ve developed: perhaps communication skills in dealing with lots of different people, presentation skills, administrative skills … all of these will be valued by employers and clients.

Groups and Organizations Show Your Teamwork

Many employers will want evidence that you’re a good team player. If you belong to any sort of group or club, you’ve probably developed teamwork skills:

• As a member of an evening class
• On a sports team
• In a music group or band

Don’t dismiss these as being unimportant. You’ve probably developed your ability to negotiate, to lead and train others, and to follow instructions.

Even Home Life Develops New Skills

Perhaps you’ve got a number of responsibilities at home, leaving you with little time to volunteer or join groups. Your home life is valuable too. For instance, you might have learnt to:

• Follow recipes carefully and meticulously
• Create and stick to a budget
• Clean / cook / drive / garden …

Depending on your career, you might be able to use some of these skills directly: if you’re a writer, for instance, you could specialize in writing about homemaking. In other roles, these skills can still come into play: if you can follow a new recipe without getting fazed, you might be great at picking up new systems and techniques at work.

What have you done in your personal life that could give your résumé a boost, or lead you into a new area of work? Give it some thought today.

Post image by Flickr user CharlotWest

If I say the word “productivity”, you probably have a few associations. Things like:

• Getting things done (or even Getting Things Done, the book/time management system…)
• Creating to-do lists or checklists
• Focusing on measurable metrics

Much of this works well in the professional domain. I work as a writer and writing coach, and I tend to have a list of specific work tasks to accomplish each day. My pay comes from doing things – not simply contemplating them.

The same holds true for you. Perhaps you’re working in a traditional 9 – 5, or as a contractor or freelancer – or you might be a full-time student. Whatever the exact structure of your professional life, you’ve got specific things to get done and goals to achieve in order to keep moving forwards.

In your personal life, though, things aren’t generally so clear-cut. Sure, you can make to-do lists (“clean the kitchen” or “do the laundry”). You can measure certain things (like your weight, or your bank balance). But often, personal productivity looks a bit different.

It Isn’t All About Numbers

If you’ve been a long-time Constructively Productive reader, you’ll know that Thursday and I have always been keen to get away from a numbers-focused approach to productivity. And when it comes to your personal life, this is particularly crucial – especially when friends or family are involved.

As Stephen Covey puts it in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:

You simply can’t think efficiency with people. You think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things.

Sometimes, you might face a seemingly “unproductive” personal situation: perhaps you’re spending time looking after small children or an elderly relative, or you’re struggling with a difficult situation in an important relationship. The situation may well take up a lot of time and energy – but it’s important to remember that this is not wasted.

In your personal life, don’t think about numbers – think about the quality of what you’re doing:

• The number of friends you have doesn’t really matter – but the strength of those friendships does
• The exact figure in your bank account isn’t too important – instead, focus on whether you’re spending your money well

Switching From “Should” to “Want”

In your professional life, there’s a fair chance that you have to do certain things in order to reach your goals. For instance, you might require a particular qualification – which involves taking certain classes, whether you want them or not.

It’s easy for us to get caught up in a “doing things” mentality in our personal lives. Perhaps you’ve got a whole list of improving books that you want to read, or you feel that you “should” keep your house spotless. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that a lot of these “should” tasks keep getting put off – and when you do struggle through them, they drain your energy.

Instead, look for things that you really want to do in your personal life. By all means make them into a specific goal, if this helps you stay focused and feel good about what you’re doing. (One of the goals that my husband and I have is to see every Shakespeare play live – nerdy, I know, but we’re excited about it!)

We’d love to hear about your personal or professional goals and dreams – in particular, how they interact with one another. Drop us a comment below!

Post image from Flickr by Acutance