Yesterday, I committed to a breeder to buy another KBT.

This time, a female. A puppy. An untrained, 3-month-old bundle of unfocused energy and a thimble-sized bladder that will need emptying (hopefully in the yard) with consistency tending on insanity — or I’ll have to keep paper towels close at hand.

I sense it all slipping away — focus, organization, productivity.

And I volunteered for this job?!

Anyone who’s trained a puppy knows the chaos that awaits. Wake in the morning to an otherwise sleeping household, and its ears perk and it’s ready to play. “Free me from this crate” they say.

And you must comply. For if you don’t the whining will commence, the household will awaken, and you’ll end up freeing the animal anyway — only now, with a houseful of angry humans.

So beginning in about three weeks, we’ll start the training. And the frustration. And the piddle on the floor. And the poop in the corner.

And we’ll know that in three to four months of focused training, it all will come to an end. We’ll have a well trained puppy.

And I’ll have a new companion in my home office.

Stay tuned. And send paper towels, if you have some…

If you’re an overworking work-at-home dad, it’s time to power down the PC, make some breakfast and coffee and focus on the woman in your life.

If you’re a work-at-home mom, it’s a great morning to tell the fam to make it a special morning (and to drag you away from your laptop and spend some time with the family).

Some tips for all:

- Pack a lunch and plan a day to some local site or place of interest - the park, the beach, the mountains (depending on your locale).

- Turn off the phones, rent some movies (chick flicks - defined by whatever your ‘chick’ likes to watch), draw the blinds, pop some popcorn, and do NOTHING but watch movies all day.

- Give her the hall pass to call the shots and do what she’d like to do today (a novel idea for any mom out there).

- Blog, Facebook or Tweet about her greatness as a mom. This is no time for humility.

Most importantly, enjoy the morning. Now, it’s time for me to get back to my wife before her Hall Pass is to banish her overworking hubby to the doghouse.

My desk is for business. My computer is for business. My two-line phone with my Plantronics headset both are for business.

Yep. This place passes the IRS’s litmus test for use “dedicated and exclusive” to the pursuit of business.

But I also work from my bed.

And the kitchen table.

And the softball diamond and hockey rink with my wi-fi laptop or simply my BlackBerry Pearl in hand.

Where is YOUR home office today?

Work is a thing, not a place. It’s not about going to the corporate tower, or a telework center, or to that erstwhile bedroom whose use is “dedicated and exclusive” to plying a trade (NOT a hobby) from home.

So when I’m blogging for business from my bed — with the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on the plasma screen and my son doing homework beside me and my wife knitting beside him — I’m working.

When I’m walking some college campus with my 17-year-old daughter who’s like a kid in a candy store wondering what school she’ll go do, and I answer an email from a New York Times reporter wanting to do a story on how people work remotely in the modern age, I’m working.

When I hold a 30-minute interview with that reporter as we’re driving 450 miles toward home that afternoon, I’m working. When I’m on a cruise and replying via satellite Internet to a client’s request, I’m working

Where is YOUR place of business? The seat of your car, a seat in the bleachers, a perch in your bed?

Work is a task to be done, NOT the place it gets done.

Does it add anything significant, or is it a requisite accessory to the Urban or Suburban milieu? Is it someone whom you care deeply for, or something you feed, bathe, tend to and drop $100 or so each year in vet visits?

Is it a companion for your home office, telework or small business experience (not to mention your and your family’s lives) or just a freeloader?

Our dog, Riley, died recently. And we lost a loving, energetic companion from our home — and from my home office.

That he died at 7 of a irreversible kidney ailment called protein losing nephropathy was bad enough. That I had said only a few weeks prior during one of his nutty Kerry blue terrier outbursts that, “I have another seven years of this behavior” left me feeling guilty like my Jewish mother never could.

That I’m left alone in the home office on days when the family’s at work or school — days when Riley would have been there for and with me — remains saddening, even two weeks later.

I’ve been left to ponder his significance lost in this space. Who was Riley? What did his presence here bring? Companionship, or angst — especially when I was on the phone with a client and the sight of a squirrel would send him into a frenetic, whine-and-bark laced tirade to catch that critter?

Comfort or chaos? Focus or distraction?

Pets in the home office can be all of those. The important role they play in our lives in general is simply transported to the home-based workspace — with equal, if not greater, import. For in the often maddening solitude and isolation of the home office, they are companions who say little, but bring immeasurable friendship.

I’ve written before about bringing “life” in the home office — plants, a fish tank, we’ve had snakes, we own a hamster now. But nothing surpasses the engaging “life” of a canine or feline for try fellowship in the home and home office.

That’s what Riley brought — until his sudden, unexpected and untimely passing.

And that’s what we hope to find as we go hunting for a new pet.

Pets play an important role in the home office, and the home. And five Zbars would attest to that — and are committed to experiencing that companionship again.

]]> http://www.lifeorganizers.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/03/dogs-cats-fish-oh-my-pets-in-the-home-home-office/feed/ http://www.lifeorganizers.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/01/got-a-mess-put-a-label-on-it/ http://www.lifeorganizers.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/01/got-a-mess-put-a-label-on-it/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 09:26:56 +0000 Jeff Zbar http://www.lifeorganizers.com/blog/?p=292 Kids’ projects and corporate files. Home-related documents and client projects.

So much paper and folders in the home and home office — so little organization.

Keeping track of all the stuff in the home office takes organizational finesse. It’s especially true if you have a home office for your home-based business or even your telework / telecommuting job.

Between the files and docs related to running the household, and those required to run a business, stuff gets cluttered.

The solution: File folders and a label maker.

There’s a reason file folders come in boxes of 50 or 100 from the local office supply superstore: Because filing is not about categorizing one, two or even five or 10 projects. It’s about organizing every project or category in the house.

You don’t have HOME files. You have files related to concepts and projects within the home. For example, in our home, we have individual folders for:

- Homeowner’s insurance.

- Home / real estate taxes. And

- Projects (a new fence, and the permits required; the air conditioner we recently replaced; landscaping; roof repair, etc.)

We have files for each child’s medical or health records, our dog, each vehicle, and a catch all called Misc. Docs. (individual receipts from big purchases, rebates, appliances, etc.)

None of these cover home office receipts or files or documents. While I’m increasingly moving toward digital for those receipts and docs, I still have a portion of my file cabinet dedicated to home office needs.

To continue the linear thinking here, each folder gets a label with the name of the category. Instead of using a pen or pencil, a label adds importance to the concept, makes it easier to spot, and increases the likelihood that I’ll adhere to the plan.

They say 21 days makes a habit. So make this a short-term experiment, and see if it sticks. Ask around to see if a friend owns a label maker. Buy a box of folders. And try this process out for three weeks or so. Chances are, once you begin putting labels on your folders, you might label much more - tool trays in the workshop, shelves in the laundry room, kids.

You get the picture.

Got a mess? Label it. You’ll bring order to your life and be able to focus on what’s really important.

Like finding a friend with ‘67 Mustang you want to borrow next…

But it’s quiet, and I’m able to get much done with little distraction.

The Sabbath. The day of rest. NOT the work week. Call Saturday what you will. But it’s a great day for getting stuff done - if you maximize its effectiveness and strive not to let this productive time creep into family time.

Here’s how I make Saturday anything but a day of rest…

1. I tackle a single project. Maybe I’ll clean out my files. Or I’ll clear the inbox. Or I’ll dust the shelves (we have a cleaning woman, but I’m working in my home office on her cleaning days, and don’t want the intrusion).

2. I’ll handle some correspondence. We’re all busy, and it’s sometimes tough to get to all the email that comes in during the week. Much can be accomplished during a slow morning when the phone’s not ringing and no more email is piling atop the correspondence you’re trying to respond to.

3. Organize my closet. As a technology reviewer and blogger, I get LOTS of products to review. Once opened and reviewed, they often get stashed back in the closet - and become the makings of a cluttered mess. So I’ll organize the space. I’ll return what must be returned (not all must - some is too small and the manufacturer doesn’t want it back). I’ll give some to charity. Other pieces I’ll give to friends, or give to my kids to sell for charity fundraisers.

Or, on some Saturdays, I just punt. I grab my car keys, drive to the local coffee shop, grab a newspaper, and enjoy Saturday for what it was intended - a day of rest.

The home office can be one foolish place. And it doesn’t even have to be April 1st.

How do you conquer the chaos?

Simple: Tell them, “Leave Me Alone.”

First, for the family, lay down the lay. You work from home, you’re not a playmate, house cop or errand boy. Keep the ruckus to a minimum. Set ground rules early, and get each member’s understanding. This may include that of your spouse or partner. Between 9a-5p, or whatever the office hours you keep, work is in session. Please respect my space and professionalism.

Second, for the neighbors. You work from home, you’re not there to greet FedEx, walk their dogs, or feed their fish. “Sorry, I cannot (insert task here) until after 5 today.” They don’t like it? They can bug some other home officer - or handle it themselves.

Third, for yourself. Set your own rules. But when enforcing rules upon yourself, you can be flexible. You will not run errands during the day (usually the most productive and profitable part of the 24-hour clock). Save errands for before or after hours. Want to be really productive, do your errands at a 24-hour store that you can hit when your circadian rhythm is best served (I’m an early bird, so hitting the store at 5am suits me best).

There. Home office chaos mastered — in three simple steps.

You (foolishly) hope…

He’s an entrepreneur in his family’s successful business.  And it was refreshing to hear a person say they dig Monday, as opposed to bemoan it.

Whether at home or the home office, the corporate office or the household, Monday can mean different things to different people. I have mixed emotions. The struggle to organize the office, maintain efficiency, boost productivity, and generally stay focused amid all the distractions is a pervasive situation.

Monday morning means we first have to get through Sunday nights. With three kids at home, a house on Sunday night can look like a Federally Declared Disaster Area. Robbie and I will bark out at some point, “Make sure your rooms are cleaning-lady clean” (meaning, when Lilliana arrives on Monday morning, she won’t battle clutter in order to clean). Dirty clothes and wet bath towels have to be picked up off the floor. Electronic gizmos (MP3 players, laptops, iPods, and the like) and their accessories have to be put away.

Ditto for the home office. Lilliana doesn’t clean my space, but if it’s a mess, my head will spin come Monday morning. So I file papers, pay some bills, clear away the clutter and create a more organized space.

This way, we all face Monday with the same enthusiasm Glenn did today. The house and mind are clear. So when curveballs come over the plate — as invariable they will, as they always do — it’s refreshing, and a great way to face the day and begin the week.

Truth be told, Glenn admitted that his week tends to go downhill from there. It would seem that whether at home, in a home office, or in some corporate office (even if it’s family run), the downhill slide always it out there.

But we always have the optimism of Monday…

And seeing as my daughter is 17, a high school junior, and is singularly focused on college matriculation around a corner that’s almost 18 months away, my job has become scheduling school visits and tours.

One of those visits is to a campus that I NEVER thought I’d see myself — or any Zbar, for that matter — stepping foot upon as long as my blood ran orange and blue: Florida State University.

But in tight economic times, we do what we must. Kids’ college accounts have whithered on the vine, leaving families once singularly focused on out-of-state schools, even Ivys, looking in-state by necessity. We always were a Florida-bound family. But the stakes just grew high and tight.

Nicole’s college plan (save her Florida Prepaid) lost significant value. So even if she wanted to go private, it’ll be a tough nut.

But the point is, I scheduled a school visit today to a university equally proud as our own University of Florida. Maybe it will be my daughter’s school. And maybe I’ll go there several times a year to drop her off and pick her up and for parent’s weekend and maybe — just maybe — Seminoles / Gators game.

But for now, this work-at-home dad is left to handle the details. Including telling our friends that I’m making a campus tour visit to Tallahassee.

It’s gonna be a rough 18 months…

Yeah, I wish.

We all do, right about now.

The best you can hope for is to plan, prepare, and persevere.

Plan For Tomorrow. If ever there was a market that called for being a savvy crystal-ball watcher, this is it. Where your market going tomorrow? Not necessarily THE market, but your little sliver of it? You know your market trends, right? You read your trade journals and Websites and know — as best anyone can in these puzzling times — where you need to be tomorrow? Plan to be there.

Prepare. Plan. Save. Build your brand. Execute on your plans and prepare to run your business as streamlined and effectively and profitably as possible.

Persevere. Entrepreneurship, like building a Super Bowl franchise or running a 26.2-mile footrace, is not a sprint, but a marathon. Prepare for the long-slog. Sometimes it will be glorious, with cashflow and successes abounding. And sometimes Fridays will feel like Mondays (in that I-don’t-wanna-get-outta-bed sense). But you have to. It’s the nature of the beast.

I used to say working for yourself is better than the alternative. Problem is that for many, there is NO alternative.

Recession proof? Maybe not. But given the options today, home officing is the best place to ride this economy out.