How I got to Belgium and more bon mots from my trip and re-entry

Happy Birthday, Uncle Dan edition

The snarky response to “How I got to Belgium” would be “British Airways”.  The more accurate answer is a productivity strategy made famous by President Dwight Eisenhower: the Focus Matrix.

It’s a fairly simple yet straightforward “to do” list that classifies tasks into areas of importance divided by four quadrants or squares. The most important, got-to-get-it-done tasks go into the upper left quadrant. The next level tasks—the want-to-get-it- done’s--are in the upper right. Lower left gets the could-do tasks. The final quadrant hosts the remainder.

The week prior to my trip, I filled out a matrix and loaded the first two quadrants. The lower two had a few things that would be nice to do but could wait. Each day, the quadrants were updated as tasks were completed. It took working on Labor Day, something I had planned to do previously, to complete every task in the first three quadrants.

But I did.

Much like General Eisenhower before D-Day.

Okay, probably not. But since it’s my Uncle Dan’s birthday and he’s a retired US Army Lt. Colonel, we’re going with Ike.

Now, yours truly used paper for my four quadrants. Like everything else, including the tracking of bowel movements, there is an app for that. Check out Focus Matrix – Task Manager 4+.

P.S. I’m still a very strong proponent of the Pomodoro method for productivity. Yet if you’re working a job where 10 minutes of break time per hour would be frowned upon, this might work for you.

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A Whale of a movie

An Academy Award winning film on working from home? Who knew?

Okay, I may be a little late to the game. But I did catch The Whale on my trip across the pond. And the story about Charlie, an obese, housebound online college professor may have had more to do with a few other things beyond working from. Yet it did shine a light on how easy it is to hide from the world when you work from home and live alone.

If you haven’t seen it, check out the trailer.

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Check out the mug on that guy

Thanks to all who responded to Friday’s question about your favorite mug. Here are some of the great responses. [Go to paid version]

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My HOH on Welcome to the Water Trough

The thought behind My Home Office Hacks was to create a virtual water cooler. So, it’s a little ironic that my first podcast appearance will be on a podcast called Welcome to the Water Trough, hosted by the Small Biz Doctor, Ed Drozda. Will share the links as it becomes available.

Do you have a podcast? Need a guest? Yours truly is happy to appear. Just drop a line.

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How did we do this week?

As you may have noticed, we offer a paid version of My Home Office Hacks. Here you get a little more for your money. Yet even with the free edition, we bring readers tips and hacks you can put into play today and see some results. Certainly worth the price of the monthly subscription, $5.

For example, I earn up to $100 per hour as a freelance copywriter and marketing/pr consultant. Using today’s tip helped me earn far more than $5 before leaving on my trip.

If you can employ this tip in your business life, it may help you earn more than $5. Much more. And we deliver that type of wisdom most every single week!

At the very least, is it worth a cup of coffee for whatever you think that’s worth ($.99 at Cumberland Farms; more at Starbucks)?

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Inspiring quote of the week

“Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.”—W. P. Kinsella