I decided to jump into the WordPress world with both feet and combine  our blog and traditional  web site into one self-hosted site.  Previously the workloadmaster.com domain (our blog) landed here.

The Gory Details if You’re Interested

Until last weekend our blog was hosted at wordpress.com.  Although our domain workloaddmaster.com it actually pointed to an account hosted by wordpress.com (this location). In reality it’s real address is workloadmaster.wordpress.com.  I see from our traffic reports that many loyal readers are using the wordpress address which means you are arriving at a vacant address so to speak.

It was my understanding that our RSS subscribers would still receive their feeds after the move.  However that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Sorry about that, but I’m no web wizard by any means.

See you at our new location.

The recent changes in our economy have been devastating for some and liberating for others. While some who have been given the lead parachute have been shell shocked, others have found new freedom and are striving for new opportunity in the solo world. I’ve often said that if we were able to provide affordable health care to the self-employed that we would see an explosion soloprenures, new ideas, innovation and opportunity.

From the ashes of the collapse of our financial system a new crop of soloists is emerging. Some by choice, others not. Some will survive, thrive and drive new innovation. Others will peel off back to the corporate world when things get better or try and fail. Both are fine. But the landscape will never be the same.

Many of us have dreamed of going solo, the 21st century version of the wild west…riding off into the sunset to stake your claim on your 40 acres. Just like those early settlers the new soloists will find it’s not all rosy out there. Aside from the obvious financial difficulties, the new soloist will find a host of bear traps, varmints and quicksand waiting to spoil their dream.

That new found liberty comes the need to do things differently. The office environment created order or structure that whether you liked it or not helped keep you focused. But as a soloist that structure no longer exists. The good news is as a soloist you can impose whatever structure you like…it’s also the bad news.

Some of us are able to easily create this structure (maybe I’m using the wrong word here) and move forward. For others (actually the vast majority of us) creating a self imposed structure is a new skill that has to be learned. Those of you in the first category read no further, the rest may want to keep reading.

What are some of the bear traps that soloists face regularly. By bear traps I mean those things that pull our attention or even physical self away from doing our job (whatever it is that brings home the bacon). Here’s my list which is by no means exhaustive:

• Not starting – doing nothing – being stuck in neutral(worse yet Park)
• Distractions (What’s yours?)
• Jumping from one thing to another
• Hyper attention – being sucked into something with diminishing returns
• Getting caught in the E-mail trap
• Screesucking (as coined by Edward Hallowell) – being hypnotized by the computer
• Your favorite goes here______________

Here’s a personal confession. I’ve been working solo for over nine years. My profession is teaching people how to be more focused and organized and I am just as apt to fall prey to these traps as anyone else. Working successfully on your own is a skill and a discipline.

I bring this up because I’m beginning to see a trend. Since our recent meltdown I’ve heard from dozens of former corporate clients (nice to hear from you again folks) who have gone solo by choice or not. Most were able to stay on task in the corporate world but have lost that focus in their new, less unstructured environment. I think these are the observant ones. My guess is there are 10 times that number who are struggling and don’t even know it. I feel a need here and am just exploring how to help.

So I’m writing this to start a dialogue. What bear traps are catching you? You don’t have to be a soloist, heck the recent round of layoffs haven’t been pretty for the survivors either. Please post a comment, send me an e-mail or give me a call to share your situation.

This will be the first part of a series. I’ll use this forum to share solutions by pulling from my resources, sharing the experience of readers and provide links to other web sites and resources that look good. If it’s as big an issue as it appears maybe I’ll start a separate blog. You tell me.

I’ve decided to jump into the WordPress world (if you don’t know what that is, don’t worry about it) with both feet and combine the two sites into one. The new web site will launch within the next two weeks.

Either of our domain names will land in the same place, so whichever one you are using will continue to work. And if you’re subscribing to the RSS feed, it should continue to work. If not you may have to re-subscribe.

My plan is to make the new site a more dynamic content management system to serve our clients and friends. Over time we leverage the “new media” to help you be more productive and focused in new and different ways.

Many people feel they are great ‘multi-taskers’, but in reality they are sacrificing productivity when they try working on more than one thing at a time.

Stay focused on the task at hand before starting to work on something new and you’ll be far more productive in the long run.

Most of our great ideas and plans never get acted upon because we fail to take that very important first step.

The next time you have one of those ‘genius moments’, pause a moment to decide when would be a good time to begin action, and then ‘date-activate’ that first task to your to-do list for that day.

By turning your wonderful intentions into specific action, you’ll become considerably more productive and successful.

Mistakes are simply the result of poor decisions.

While it is important to keep time to a minimum when making simple choices, it’s valuable to use a proven systematic process when faced with important and more complex decisions.

The first step is to define the issue; what needs to be decided and why.

Second, identify all possible alternatives.

Third, collect all the necessary data and information needed to make an informed choice.

Fourth, analyze the data carefully, identifying all-important factors such as cost and other implications for each alternative.

And finally, make your decision based on the systematic analysis you’ve created.

One way to increase your productivity is by practicing the art of “intelligent neglect”. Eliminate from your life trivial tasks or those tasks that do not have long-term consequences for you. Look at your Task List. Can any of those items be delegated or eliminated all together?

You’ll achieve much greater success by focusing your time and energies on those things which have long-term benefit, and which only you alone can or must do.

Mistakes are simply the result of poor decisions.

While it is important to keep time to a minimum when making simple choices, it’s valuable to use a proven systematic process when faced with important and more complex decisions.

The first step is to define the issue; what needs to be decided and why.

Second, identify all possible alternatives.

Third, collect all the necessary data and information needed to make an informed choice.

Fourth, analyze the data carefully, identifying all-important factors such as cost and other implications for each alternative.

And finally, make your decision based on the systematic analysis you’ve created.

One way to learn to love what you do is to put your own personal ‘signature’ on it.

Author Barbara Glanz (Care Packages for the Workplace), writes about a bag boy with Down syndrome who had attended one of her workshops. He had taken her suggestion of putting your own signature on your work to heart, and began slipping a “thought for the day” into customers’ grocery bags.

Soon customers were waiting in line just to get one of his slips of paper.

What personal signature could you put on the work that you do?

You can invest your time and effort into three types of work.

(1) Things that are beyond your range of effectiveness. (Ambition is great, but attempting the impossible is a waste of your time.)

(2) Things that are easily accomplished but don’t really lead toward your goals and objectives. (All that ‘busy work’ you do everyday.)

(3) Things that you CAN accomplish, and that DO lead you toward your goals. (These are the important activities to which you want to devote the major portion of your day.)

Your ultimate success is directly proportionate to how wisely you spend your time each day.