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But keeping up your self-discipline away from the office is just a matter of thoughtful planning. Here are seven strategies to consider:
1. Know Yourself (and Your Work Habits)
Consider what makes you more productive: being proactive well in advance or sweating things out under a tight deadline. Knowing what sets your wheels turning can help you establish work patterns and systems that bolster your discipline.
"Are you motivated by feeling good or fear?" asks Jan Jasper, author of "Take Back Your Time: How to Regain Control of Work, Information and Technology." "Some people don't need to plan ahead as much because their discipline comes from adrenaline."
2. Keep a Comprehensive To-Do List
Knowing just what you need to do and when, in comprehensive detail, can keep you focused and motivated. No matter how you do it, be it with a mobile device or day timer, be obsessive about planning out your activities.
3. Set Up a Comfortable Workspace
Ads showing a businessperson sprawled on a hotel bed, cell phone in one hand and calculator in the other, belong in some other world. Discipline away from the office often derives from a setting that singularly represents work. No matter where you are, earmark a particular spot for work.
4. Look At Time in A Different Manner
One of the pitfalls to discipline away from the office is time — or, rather, the lack of a regular schedule of events, be they meetings or business lunches. That can lead to downtime and, conceivably, a lapse in productivity.
Plan ahead to make the most of those few minutes here and there to keep your discipline sharp. Recognising the importance of working when time permits, many airports offer workstations for businesspeople to use between flights.
By the same token, read a business article while your flight is 10th in line for takeoff. Lisa Kanarek, founder of HomeOfficeLife.com, suggests clipping articles of interest rather than hauling along entire magazines. It's less weight and a more expedient way to focus on what's of interest to you.
5. Keep the Paper Moving
Working away from the office often means limited space. That, in turn, makes paper management critical.
File those documents with which you're finished and recycle any and all papers you don't need any more. Just clearing out every bit of paper that's unnecessary can do wonders for your morale.
6. Keep in Touch with the Office, but Thoughtfully
Communicating with the folks in other office locations is not only essential to the mechanics of a workday; talking with colleagues and others can also be a boon to discipline. Even if you can't see them, talking with others in the company is a reminder of people down the line who are counting on you. But tailor your communication accordingly: you have to determine the level of contact that's most helpful to you.
7. Know the Dangers of Procrastination — and Avoid Them
Putting off necessary tasks melts discipline in any setting, but it's particularly destructive when you're away from the office. For one thing, there's no one physically nearby to boot you back into gear.
On top of that, a task that's repeatedly put on the back burner until it becomes a bona fide headache can drain time from other responsibilities — a workload that fosters despair rather than constructive discipline.
Source: Microsoft
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