Indie Author’s are essentially the boss of our brand, so we
have to meet those last-minute deadlines and can’t blame anyone for our
shortcomings, or passed the buck. As CEO, we take full responsibility of our
brand’s success or failure. So when procrastination, hectic lifestyle, and
old-fashioned writer’s block rear their
heads to challenge even the most productive of us, we have to face those beasts
down.
I know, it's easier
said than done, but what if we weren’t the boss. Let’s say you are the eager
intern who works for your brand, and want
to impress his boss, what then? Would you be able to manage your time more
effectively and perhaps treat your schedule as if it was handed down from a
superior. If this was your job, I think the
speed and quality of your work would improve markedly.
It’s never easy to be your own boss – much less a good one –
however, that doesn’t mean you’re not up to the task of hiring an Intern
Time management is a struggle for any intern in
this digital age. They are constantly interrupted, by news headlines on the
Internet, checking Facebook updates, and watching YouTube videos. However, the eager intern, using time restrictions,
will set time aside every day to check email and social media, and resist the
urge to haphazardly peruse the Internet until they're done with work.
When accessing the web the eager intern could use applications
like StayFocusd, “a time-wasting”
website to self-imposed time constraints on themselves. If he/she finds it hard
to be disciplined, a good intern knows there’s nothing wrong with asking for a
little help sometimes to get ahead.
A great benefit of being the boss is that you get to set
your own work schedule. But this benefit can easily become a burden to the
intern who needs structure. Create
loose, generalized task for the work week, including all your assignments and
the estimated time it takes to complete them keeps the intern happy and health.
Just make sure you leave a cushion for each task just in
case your intern find one especially challenging. And adjust your schedule as
needed during the work week, if you find they’ve checked off a handful of
assignments faster than you thought, just add it to next week’s work.
Know when your intern is most productive, is it during the
early hours of the day, then schedule your difficult assignments during the
morning hours. If it takes the intern a while to get going, then use the
afternoon for the heavy lifting and reserve their mornings for light
brainstorming and finalizing yesterdays work. Everyone has different natural
schedules. Identifying your intern’s and matching their workload accordingly is
essential to a well-managed business.
Allow your intern to take breaks, it's essential for them
staying fresh and producing doing the work day. If they function better after an
hour-long break, allow them to take it. If taking thirty mindless minutes
before their evening assignments help them focus, then let them have that time.
Getting eight productive hours is better that ten hours of spinning your intern
wheels.
Give them a solid
half hour at the end of the day to simply unplug from all things digital, let
them go to the gym, watch a little TV.
It cleanses the mind and recharge the batteries for a more productive
day tomorrow.
While it’s never easy to be your own boss –
much less a good one – that doesn’t mean you’re not up to the task with the
help of a good intern. The sooner you master the roles of both structured boss
and competent employee, the more productive and successful your brand can be.
Copyright © 2013 Glynis Rankin
