These days very few of us leave our projects at the office. Taking work home or working remotely, while giving you the convenience of writing a proposal in your pajamas, is not without its challenges.
When we work remotely our attention can become very fleeting: the call of domestic chores, the cat swiping at the cursor… We only need to gaze out at the yard and our mind wanders from completing the monthly sales report to weekend yard work.
Creating an effective information environment that extends your projects and thinking beyond your physical office is absolutely paramount for home office productivity. Use PersonalBrain to bridge the gaps so you can focus on your tasks wherever you are, and gain a visual network of resources that keeps you at the top of your game.
Create a Focused Context for Action
In the age of distractions context is king for deep, focused, productive work. When you are surrounded by a lot of distractions, whether at home or the office, just activating an area in your Brain will help you concentrate and stay on task. Your Brain gives you an immediate visual briefing regardless of where you are working from.
Get into the RIGHT mental zone… by activating your “Project Thought” from PersonalBrain with all relevant information.
With PersonalBrain you can map out your business and mental landscape so when you need to access a document or work on a project the structure of your information conveys a context for your actions. You can start organizing these areas of your Brain by mapping out all your company departments, projects and teams. This gives you a more intelligent place to put things and think about them. Drag and drop all relevant information sources, key people, related ideas and future implications. Online resources, supporting files and key documents can all be launched from your Brain.
In addition to key projects, intangible to-dos and vaguely defined responsibilities can impede productivity and add an invisible level of stress to your day. Create Thoughts for key areas of your responsibilities. Be sure to link your responsibilities to the relevant departments and company initiatives they fall under.
Task Management Tools Keep Your Head in the Game
For most knowledge workers self-management is critical. Our projects have gotten bigger, and we don’t have a boss hovering over our shoulders. Self-discipline is key, especially when we work remotely. Your digital Brain will help prevent you from falling behind and provide an increased level of awareness on your tasks.
Create Thought Types and tag Thoughts to further organize your projects. I like to use different colored Thought Types to convey priority level and project work tiers.
Thought Types for “Green Lighted Projects” and your “Action Items” convey a visual priority when juggling multiple projects.
Use PersonalBrain to avoid falling behind and forgetting. Set reminder Thoughts for key projects and ideas so you can come back to them well in advance before they are due.
PersonalBrain has a built-in calendar so you can manage your schedule. Microsoft Outlook integration lets you drag and drop calendar items, emails, and more. On Mac OS X, Apple iCal integration lets you link to events in iCal.
PersonalBrain 6 now has Google Calendar synchronization so any meeting set up on Google will automatically appear in your Brain and vice-versa. You can even use the Google Calendar to sync your Brain’s calendar with Outlook and iCal.
Jump Right in Where You Left Off, No Matter Where You Are
The key advantage of having this information context is the ability to be productive anywhere. With PersonalBrain 6 your projects and tasks don’t have to be stuck on your office computer, you can work locally from any machine or online. Synchronize between home and office computers, even if you are using a PC at work and a Mac at home. PersonalBrain gives you secure synchronization across multiple platforms.
To synchronize your PersonalBrain across multiple machines setup a WebBrain account at http://webbrain.com then click synchronize from the File menu to synchronize your Brain across the Web.
For more information on how to synchronize your Brain you can watch our WebBrain tutorial.
PersonalBrain synchronization makes ending your day at the office even easier. When you need to leave, you can take your Brain with you and resume your tasks productivity anytime.