Work-Style Preference and Productivity
As part of my series looking at how various home-based professionals structure their time, I asked Jacqui D. Barrett of Career Trend to describe her typical workday. Here’s what she told me:
I generally schedule client interviews in the mornings between 7 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. (these are my 1-hour deep consultations that complement the career branding intake worksheet to capture the essence of my client’s voice and clarify worksheet assertions). I’ve found that clients (and I) are more articulate and focused on such a targeted, critical conversation early in the day (thus, netting more quality-focused results).
The balance of the morning generally is spent managing email correspondence, scheduling or placing sales calls / consultations, scheduling and assigning projects with partner writers and performing other time-sensitive communications. Afternoons often are reserved for writing and editing and occasional sales consultations, and many evenings are absorbed conducting resume reviews for partner affiliates and performing other marketing-related initiatives.
This ‘typical workday’ clearly is a ‘rule of thumb,’ but truly does reflect my work-style preference. On days where more intense writing/thinking is required – true ‘manual labor of the mind,’ if you will — I will carve out time in the early morning.
It is clear to see that Jacqui is well in tune with what works best for her and has learned to schedule her work around her energy cycles whenever possible. One of the great things about working from home is having the flexibility to do this. If you’re not, you owe it to yourself to take some time to explore the best time for you to engage in various types of activities, so you don’t miss out on your peak productive times.
*This post was featured in the Virtual Assistant/Home Business Blog Carnival #5
