Q&A Round 1 :: The Answers
Andrew B. Clark asks:
ALSO… where do you get your inspiration? Your posts are diverse and entertaining. Is it a case of you being more “in tune” with your surroundings? Do you cary a notebook full of ideas?!?
And from one working dad to another, thanks for the continuous advice AND support. It’s nice to know there are more of us out there…
A few weeks ago I discussed a little bit about my day when I confessed to being somewhat lazy with my posting. Basically it boils down to the fact that I am very much a night-owl and thrive late at night. So my days are consumed at work, although I do squeeze in some time over lunch, and my early evenings are consumed with family time. Then once everyone is settled into bed for the night, I get to work on the blogs. Unfortunately this usually results in an average of roughly 4-5 hours sleep on a good night but that works for me.
As for the inspiration, I have to say it really just comes from my day to day life. I’m always thinking about my blogs and what might make for interesting reading. This is an area that I really feel that I feel needs improvement though and am continuously trying to become more efficient. I do have a notebook with me most of the time that has a list of post ideas for each blog and that helps tremendously. Another tool I use is the voice recorder on my cell phone to capture quick ideas when I don’t have my notebook handy.
From this working dad to you (and all the other dads), thank you for your support and feedback!
Karen Putz | Deaf Mom asks:
Since you’re out having fun, I’ll ask a fun question: what’s your family’s favorite meal that you whip up while working from home?
Regarding my family’s favorite meal, I have to confess that my wife does most of the cooking but my kids claim that I make the absolutely best macaroni and cheese – I like to make a batch of noodles and then mix in a variety of different cheeses. Very cheesy! Other than that, most of my meals are cooked on the grill.
Not too long ago I cooked up some brown sugar rubbed chicken that went over well, although note the last thing I had to say on that post!
Greg asks:
You hold down a job, you have a wife and two kids, AND you run multiple blogs. My burning question is: how do you do it? In other words, what are some of your best time management tips?
Looking forward to your answer!
If I had to give you a few tips to improve your time management, I would say the following things have helped me the most:
- Cut out the majority of television watching. My routine used to be that I would get home from work, spend time with the kids, and then waste a few hours watching nonsense on TV. I’ve really cut back on how much I watch and that has given me much more time.
- Decide what is truly important and spend your time on that. It is far too easy to spend way too much time on sites like YouTube, digg, etc. and generally speaking, that is time that can be better spent on other tasks. Eliminate as much fluff as possible and spend your time where it counts.
- Lists, lists, lists. I’m a big fan of making lists to organize and structure your day. I’ve got a list of tasks to accomplish at work, a list of tasks that need to be addressed at home, and a list of post ideas for my blogs. It helps me keep things straight and I feel it really helps me use my time efficiently.