From the Desk of Janet Barclay

People often ask me how I stay focused on my work without getting distracted by housework and other personal matters. I’m such a workoholic that for me, this isn’t really an issue. It’s more a question of "how do I remember to have a personal life when I live at work?" But I realize that for other people, this is a real challenge. I’ve even met people who rented office space, even though they work alone and don’t meet with clients in their office, simply because they need to go through the process of leaving home and going to work before they can get in the proper mindset.

If you’re one of the people who faces this challenge, there’s a great article on Career Journal.com which outlines Five Tips for Staying Productive When You Work Where You Live.

Once upon a time, anybody who was anybody in the business world had a Rolodex. The more important the person, the bigger the Rolodex. Now the only time I see a Rolodex is when I’m organizing an office, and I find one tucked away in a storage room, long forgotten.

Nowadays, people are more likely to store their contact information electronically. The advantages are many:

• electronic information doesn’t use up valuable space on your desk
• you don’t have to figure out whether the card is filed under the business name or your contact’s name
• it’s easier to keep an electronic system up-to-date

I could probably go on and on, but I suspect that you either agree with me already and don’t need to be convinced, or that you’re a luddite and nothing I say will persuade you to change your ways.

I was pretty surprised to read today that many executives continue to use the Rolodex, sometimes along with their Blackberry and/or computer-based address book. According to an article on Career Journal, A Look at Why Some Pros Still Cling to Their Rolodexes, Sanford Brands, who manufacture the Rolodex, now sells business card scanning products, but they hope that people will put the cards into a Rolodex after they’ve scanned them into their computer. It’s a very interesting article - be sure to read it if you’re interested in this topic, and don’t miss the accompanying podcast.