A question that's asked pretty frequently. In my case, the key is simple. Organization. Make every moment count and live by your schedule. Book "work time" into your schedule and be cognizant of your "prime" work times throughout the day.
And believe me, it's not really that simple. It's taken years and years to figure out what works and how to juggle things while staying on-top of what's going on in the marketing industry as well as the global economy while building in time daily for networking.
But also make sure you have family time and down time. That's always been a struggle for me. Whether it's in the middle of the night or playing with Parker in his sandbox, my mind never stops generating ideas and solving challenges. So many times I create strategy's and plans and then it's just a matter of getting them out of my head and in the Mac. It's almost like certain projects "percolate" and then emerge when they're ready. Certain types of creativity cannot be forced.
How do you do it all?
It seems that over the years my work and my hobbies have totally been blurred. Due to a certain "illness" for my love for marketing and branding have totally merged with my leisure time (not all of it). Sometimes it's a blessing and sometimes a curse. A blessing, when I'm rolling on a concept or strategy with the creativity electrifying me. A curse, when I wake up at 3 am with my mind full of ideas and feel the need to quickly get it in the mac before I lose it. This leads to creativity in general. It's something you can learn to channel, but not always. Sometimes it just sparks up and you either need to embrace it and roll with it or squash it. The danger of squashing it though, is that the idea might not come back. And we all know the struggle of "forced creativity." Not always the most efficient or the easiest path to follow.
Off to bed shortly. Wonder if I'll be up at 3 am?
The traditional office is gone.
The new office is the coffee shop, the golf course, the bar, wherever. With wireless access and a cell phone you are good to go. I'm proof. Over the past few days I have conducted business from my car, from a coffee shop, at a client site, at home, at a networking event and while feeding the dog.
A great series of articles on this very topic is from Herman Miller. Visit 9 Ways of Working.
So, where do you work?