Here I am, sitting in the car dealership’s office working (happily) along while my car is being serviced. I almost walked out of the house this morning without my laptop. I didn’t think I’d be away from my (home) office that long and I could do some work when I got back home. I’m glad I re-thought that idea and grabbed all of my work stuff before I left home. It turns out that the service department is slammed today and there’s about a three to four hour wait per person. I’m also glad that I’ve learned the art and importance of multi-tasking so that at the end of this long, expensive car-service episode, I can say that I’ve had a productive day (I hope). So, this whole thing sparked the post idea of sharing with our readers the importance of multi-tasking in your everyday lives…no matter where you are!

As women (and some of us as moms), we know the good, the bad, the pros and cons of being multi-taskers. Some experts agree with the idea of multi-tasking and think it’s a wonderful concept while other experts will warn you that multi-tasking can create other problems and be more of a distraction. This great article that I found on Oprah gives some tips on how to multi-task without “losing your mind.” Although I can’t say that I’ve ever felt that I would lose my mind when I multi-tasked, I have been faced with the problem of trying to decide which tasks I’d work on and which one would be the primary task and which would be the secondary task.

Multi-Mom
When I’m at home and doing the wife-mom thing, I multi-task pretty efficently, cranking out a three-course dinner while washing a load of clothes and helping my first-grader with his homework. It’s not a problem for me at all, mainly because I’ve been doing it for a loooong time and have found some great ways to be productive with a busy life and an active family. But since this blog isn’t about homemaking…

As a freelancer, I absolutely love the flexibility that this career offers. You can work when you want, where you want and as much as you want. Sort of. I still have to organize my day and write out my to-do lists. I still do have to get my work done and meet deadlines and keep clients satisfied. So I really have to multi-task and be pretty good at it, as do some of you. Deb has a great article today on her blog about this very topic of working from home, freelancing and disciplining yourself. A good read! Anyway, whether you’re home-based or in a corporate environment, multi-tasking is easy to do and can be adapted to most any situation.

Home Telecommuter
If most of your work is computer-based, invest in a laptop (if you don’t already have one) and take it with you everywhere you go. This has proved to be invaluable to me. I am at a ball field with at least one of my kids two to three times a week. Since practices can last 1 1/2 to 2 hours, there is a lot of sitting, waiting, and more sitting. (Now that almost made me lose my mind, Oprah!) Anyway, I’d sit there for hours and still have my work to do when I got home and back to my desktop. After a while, I got sick of all that sitting, so I started taking my work with me and cranking out material and still be there for my kids. This helps me to be in a better mood later because I don’t have so much work waiting on me for later. Also, for that laptop, make sure it’s WiFi accessible and with a good connect plan to boot.

Minus a laptop and still with tasks to do, you can still multi-task and be productive. Sometimes, I take my paper-based planner and my PDA planner and sync the both up while I’m, again, at a ball practice ( I DO watch the kids sometimes!). I can plan my week, flesh out an article or write out an outline (PDA’s come with word processing documents too.) Minus the PDA, I can still use my paper-based planner to plan my week or even a couple of weeks out.

Business, etc.
Now if you’re home-based with your business, there are ways that you can multi-task too and still be productive. One thing to note is that multi-tasking doesn’t always have to be done simultaneously. In other words, you don’t have to do two or more things at the same time. For instance: if you’re about to go out and do a beauty product demonstration, you can fire off some contact emails before you leave, fax off your product order or return a few phone calls. Things don’t always have to be done all at once or at the same time. The idea with effective multi-tasking is to complete some things while starting or completing other things and being as productive as can be.

Corporate women take heart! I used to be in corporate America too and believe me, they ARE busier than freelancers! There is very little room for flexibility because of their rigid schedules and most of their responsibilities have to be done on a stringent schedule. However, there are ways. When I worked as a staff accountant, there were monthly reports that I had to have done by month end. During the month, I would compile the figures and plug them into an Excel spreadsheet as the figures became available. By month’s end, not only did I have complete figures, but I was also able to get my reports printed and collated before the other pencil-pushers crowded the print room to get their reports out too.

Another tip that corporate biz-chicker’s can try involves those endless meetings she has to attend on a daily basis. If you have a laptop, this is ideal but paper-based planners work as well. Here you go:

Take meticulous notes during any meeting and transfer them directly into an Excel spreadsheet. Create an action list or a to-do list during the meeting. Make FULL use of your time spent there.

What are some other business multi-tasking skills that you have found that work for you? How do you do multiple things at once as a Biz-Chicker?

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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Frideas: How To Multi-Task With ANY Business