Featured Posts in Work

How Do You Stay Productive After Work?

In Ask The Readers, Productivity, Projects, Hobbies, Personal, Motivation, Energy, Personal Projects, Side Jobs, Passions, After Work, Work, Jobs, Free Time, / 29 May 2012 / 0 comments

You've worked a long hard day at the office, and you're finally free. It's tempting to go home, stuff some food in your mouth, and do nothing for the rest of the night, but after work is prime time to get started on your side project, learn a new skill or language, or do something else that you have a passion for. So how do you resist the urge to fall down on the couch after work every day? How do you find the motivation to stay productive after leaving work?

It's difficult enough to leave a long day of work and take care of your household chores and other responsibilities, but how do you stay motivated to be productive at your side projects? Sure, it helps to work on things that you're passionate about, or don't have the opportunity to work on during the day, but how do you commit and make sure you stay committed, even on those days where you feel like you really don't feel like it?

This thread at Hacker News inspired us to ask you the question, and find out what techniques you use to make sure you make headway on your pet projects once you've made the decision to get started. Do you get up early and work on your side gig in the early morning, or do you lock yourself in the basement until you've made progress? Maybe you're like our editor-in-chief, Adam Pash, who promises to give his project 10 minutes each day, no more (unless he wants to), no less. However you do it, share some of your tips for staying personally productive after the workday is over in the comments below.

Photo by StockLite (Shutterstock).
Outline Your "Definition Of Done" to Avoid the Perfection Bug

In Mind Hacks, Productivity, Definition Of Done, Work, Brain, Hacks, Energy, Personal Projects, Side Jobs, Passions, After Work, Work, Jobs, Free Time, / 28 May 2012 / 0 comments

No matter your profession, it can be easy to work yourself into a frenzy by perfecting every single detail. Luckily, defining a specific "definition of done" from the outset of the project can help you move on to the next task.

The term comes from a software development strategy called Scrum, but it can be applied to almost any situation. Stepcase Lifehack describes the technique.

Definition of Done describes clearly and explicitly what needs to be achieved until a task can be declared as done. And when you define your "done", you can get rid of your perfection bug.

For example, if your task is to create a marketing plan, you would create a checklist with items like "determine budget," "identify performance metrics," and "check work for grammar." Once every item on this list has been crossed off, you stop working. No more tweaking, no more double checking. If you trust you definition of done, you won't need to let perfectionist tendencies bog you down and keep you from starting your next project.

Photo via OakleyOriginals

What Can Software Developers Teach us About Crushing the ‘Perfection Bug'? | Stepcase Lifehack
Be More Productive with Your Side Projects by Saving Your Work in a State of Suspended Animation

In Productivity, Side Projects, Work, Projects, Motivation, Procrastination, Hobbies, Getting Things Done, Side Jobs, Passions, After Work, Work, Jobs, Free Time, / 25 May 2012 / 0 comments

There's the job you go to during the day and the projects you come home to when you're finished. If you've got more your want to accomplish after a long day of work but are finding yourself lacking the productivity to get going on a regular basis, it can help to spend your work in the middle and pick it up right where you left off the next day. Kah Keng Tay, an engineer over at Quora, uses this technique to easily pick up his side projects:

I leave all my editors, browser windows, etc. exactly the way they are so I can pick up and resume where I left off. This means I usually never shut down my computer, preferring to put it to sleep or standby where possible.

When you leave your work in the middle, you get the added benefit of knowing exactly where you need to start back up again. If you end your work day by finishing a task, it'll often be difficult to start again because you have to figure out what to tackle next. Stopping in the middle of your work gives you one less reason to procrastinate when you start again. This is a trick you can use in nearly any kind of work, but if you're on a computer it's very simple to just leave things as they are. If you can't do that because you're sharing a machine or use the same one for your daytime job, consider making a separate user account for your side projects so it can be left in a state of suspended animation and resumed again when you're ready.

This is just one of a few tips Kah Keng offers. Hit up the full response on Quora for more. Got any side project productivity tips of your own? Share 'em in the comments!

How can I increase my productivity on my side projects at the end of the day when I'm tired from work? | Quora

Photo by Alex Staroseltsev (Shutterstock).
What to Do When "Doing What You Love" Isn’t an Option

In Careers, Jobs, Job, Job Satisfaction, Work, Work Culture, Happiness, Money, Side Jobs, Passions, After Work, Work, Jobs, Free Time, / 24 May 2012 / 0 comments
We've always said that you should do what you love—so much that if you wouldn't do your job for free, you should quit. When that isn't an option, though, writer Patty Azzarello recommends a slight change in philosophy.

While we don't necessarily agree with her that "doing what you love" is bad advice, we do understand that it isn't always ideal—especially in a bad economy. Maybe your ideal job market is oversaturated, or maybe it just doesn't pay enough for the lifestyle you want. In those situations, it helps to look at your job as a means to do what you love.
Consider thinking about your work/life strategy like this:

Do what you love for free.

Work for money.

Change how you do your job to feel less tortured about it-and maybe even feel pretty good about it.

Spend the money you make on doing the things you love when you're not at work.

End of insight: Please read it again.
Azzarello uses her own life as an example: she was stuck in a technology job that paid well, but that she hated doing. Instead of griping through her hatred of technology, she reassessed her job to focus on things she was good at—she used her hatred of technology to make the product better for similarly-minded people. That way, while she may not be doing something she loved, she was at least doing something she liked, and could spend more time and money on the things she did love. Hit the link below to read more, and for our own insight on the subject, check out our top 10 tips for improving your work life.

"Do What You Love" Is Bad Advice | Free Money Finance

Photo by Blend Images.