80 Ways to Steal Valuable Minutes for Your Work Day from the American Express OPEN Forum, shares a collection of ideas from the best small business and productivity bloggers and consultants. There are tons of time-saving lists out there, but here are a few ideas I’ve found helpful:

Step away from the desk

I’ve tried the “exercise” tip from Jonathan Fields a few times this week. When I hit a total mental standstill, I got up and moved around – either picking up clutter throughout my workspace or taking a quick walk to the 7-Eleven for an afternoon pick-me-up. When I sat back down to work, my mind was quieter, and the rest of the afternoon was far more productive.

Block time for tasks

I’ve also been trying to block my schedule into “X hrs on Task A” or “X minutes on Task B” – and aiming to complete certain things before and after lunch. I use Office TIme (available for Mac and Windows) to track my hours on a variety of things. I like that the timer is up at the top of my screen, making it easy to see how much time I have left to work. It is really easy to use, and has helped keep me accountable.

Immediately plan your day

When I arrive in the morning, I spend 15-30 minutes reviewing email, my calendar and jotting down my list for the day. I try to create the list in order of importance, and I leave off anything that doesn’t have to be done today. I reference the list all day, instead of wasting time reassessing my to-do list throughout the day.

Turn off email alerts (seriously)

It’s amazing how distracting that little “ping!” and pop-up balloon can be. Again, even if it only distracts you for 30 seconds, think about how many times the alert pops up throughout the day. I read this tip at least 30 times on various sources before I finally did it myself. Trust me, you won’t “forget” to check your email.

I’ve also stayed off Adium my collective instant messaging client (for Mac), for the last week or so, and seen my productivity greatly increase. Again, it wasn’t necessarily that I was spending all day chatting, but I was distracted by people signing on/off and the alerts that popped up.

Use the simplest tool available

Right now, I’m composing this blog entry in TextEdit, adding in the basic HTML tags as I go along. I’ve found that it takes me much, much longer to write and format the post if I do it all in the WordPress interface. [I've researched/written all this in about 20 minutes] If the extra bells and whistles are available, I use them. By using the simplest tool available, you can minimize the distractions and focus on the true task at hand.

I hope these tips help you find some extra minutes throughout your day. Please share your own tips in the comments.

Photo credit: brandoncwarren/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

I’m one of those people that gets sick. Often. I eat pretty well, drink plenty of water, and I get at least 7 hours of sleep most nights. I wash my hands and I dress warmly during these winter months. I still get sick the most out of anyone in my family.

I made it through the first few months of flu season with zero problems — I attributed it to my recent change of scenery. I used to be on-site in a corporate office 4 days a week, where someone was always coughing and sneezing. Now, I’m by myself, and I make sure to keep my desk clean. However, yesterday I got smacked with a pretty nasty case of the stomach flu. (I blame it on the 30 people we had over for Christmas…all those germs!)

Thankfully, it only lasted about 12-15 hours, and it didn’t really start until after work. I was back in the office today by noon. But, as I was lying in my bed in utter agony, I couldn’t help but wonder … what would happen if this lasted a week? or if I was on a huge deadline?

In an office, a co-worker can always pick up your slack, but what happens when you’re a one-man show?

Freelance Folder recommends finding someone that could fill in checking email and answering phone calls while you’re out. Or someone that could pick up your work  for a few days. This all sounds well and good, but if you’re really so down and out that you can’t work … will you be able to bring someone totally out of the loop up to speed? This seems like it would be just as hard as doing the work yourself.

It seems like my laptop was the best business investment I’ve made thus far, because I could still check and respond to email and read some blog posts while I was curled up in the fetal position. I’m not sure I could do any hard-core design work, but it was way better than having to sit at a desk.

Colleen Wainwright, aka the Communicatrix, wrote a post in May about what happened when her chronic illness flared up. She writes 6 blog posts a week, and realized (only when she was too ill to do anything about it) that she didn’t have any extra “evergreen” material hanging around for just such emergencies. She also advises finding a buddy that can help cover for you in a time of need, and being sure to take care of yourself — aka not working 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes about the other side of illness — what about when you’re not on your deathbed with the flu, but you just don’t feel “good” ? When you’re your own boss, it can be too easy to take a day off. She writes about how a quick fictitious conversation with an imaginary boss can be a good barometer about whether or not you really need to take some time off.

Honestly, I didn’t get much of anything accomplished yesterday. I sat and stared at my computer screen all day, trying to remember what the hell I was supposed to be working on. I should have taken that time to do some mindless (but necessary) work — sorting tax receipts, filing, clearing off my desk, cleaning out my inbox(es), etc. I could have been productive, even though I wasn’t feeling my best.

What do you do when illness (serious or otherwise) strikes?