Tips for the self-employed have been done to death by every lifehack geek, GTD addict and smart living blogger, but everyone develops their own little system so I thought I’d share mine.

Over the years, I’ve tried every GTD app under the sun, only to discover that the tool/software I used to get stuff done was irrelevant, so I kept it simple this time around. It turns out that the best organisation tools are a single sheet of paper and a calm brain. Ok, I’m oversimplifying a little but here’s my system nowadays.

The writing on the wall

On the wall by my desk, I have a small index card with reminders. It reads:

Simple, unh?

1. Today’s Three Most Important Tasks

Self-employed or not, we all have an awful lot of responsibilities and tasks in our daily life, and it’s easy to forget which are most important and go for the most urgent one, the one backed by the pushiest client or the easiest one.

Start the day with a defined list of 3 must-do tasks and focus on them first. If you finish all 3, you can either skip off early or get on with some other bits of work feeling saintly for having done your most important work for the day.

2. Distraction-Free Time

In the same vein as the tip above, setting a few hours in the day which are sacred and during which you can focus on the most mentally demanding tasks. For me, it’ll be writing time where I can dive in without distractions.

Mid-morning 9 to 11am works well for me, because it gives me the 8-9am slot to check emails, have a coffee and schedule anything else for the day/week. However, when 9am rolls around, the phone goes onto silent (or out of the room), email, IM and Twitter get closed down and aren’t (usually) reopened til 11am, or later if I find I’m really zoned in.

Everyone’s got a different time of day where they’re most productive - a friend of mine is a night owl and gets that time after the kids are in bed and up until well after midnight!

3. Take a break for lunch before 2pm

I used to think I’d have no problem stopping around 1pm, trotting down to the kitchen and making something healthy to fuel me for the afternoon. As it turns out, I start sitting on the corner of my chair at 1pm thinking I should eat, but found that at 4pm I was still working and the sounds of my stomach were loud enough to scare the cats!

Having food suitable for lunches in the fridge and cupboard like healthy sandwich fillings, salads and soups makes it easier to break for lunch, because I know I won’t have to fiddle around or go out to find something to eat.

4. End of day review

In order to close up shop at the end of the day without that uneasy feeling that there’s more to do, I end the day by double-checking that the Most Important Tasks are done, have a look in Things and picking the next day’s tasks - which may change in the morning, but at least will be there as priority reminders.

5. Evening meditation time

I’ve not done a great job keeping up with this one, but after a long day running at full steam, I find the only way to really wind down and enjoy my evening is to have 10-15 minutes of complete relaxation. Sitting in silence with one of the cats on my lap purring away for a few minutes does wonders to chill me out.

Whatever your trick may be, it’s worth taking those few moments to get out of work mode and into home/family mode, especially if you don’t have the drive/walk home to serve as a forced downtime.

Great posts elsewhere on keeping your sanity when self-employed:

• 21 Easy Hacks to Simplify Your Life from Zen Habits
• 5 Techniques for Guarding the Sanctity of the Home Office from FreelanceSwitch
• 12 Ideas for Establishing a Calming Routine from Zen Habits
• Now Do This, and The Single- Tasking Philosophy from Zen Habits
• Time & Attention Presentation “Who Moved My Brain?” from 43 Folders
• 101 Essential Freelancing Resources from FreelanceSwitch

Nearly a year ago, I wrote about my #themeword for 2008, which was exploration. My objectives were to explore in four key areas; travel, business opportunities, new or unused skills and friendships/ relationships.

In reflection, it was a good year. In fact, it was an amazing year. I could have done better in terms of travel; I did an awful job of going to new destinations to which I’d promised myself a visit! But I did well in balancing work and fun, with plenty of dinner parties and get togethers with friends throughout the year.

When I wrote about business opportunities exploration, in the back of my mind, I knew I would work for myself before the year was out, it was just a question of having the cojones to jump, so the latter part of 2008 has offered me a taster of what 2009 will bring.

So on with this year’s themeword. I’ve opted for one overarching theme, divided into three key goals, reflecting what Chris Brogan and many others have done.

In 2009

I hope that in 2009, I can use the knowledge I’ve acquired to make a difference. If I can help one business make a lasting impact on their customers, or help someone learn the true value of the communication tools I’m so grateful for, I’ll be a happy gal.

To put it into action, I want to create, lead and focus.

Create by pushing ideas beyond replicas of what’s been done elsewhere by someone else and produce something remarkable.

Lead by example in doing marketing work that is graceful, ethical and genuinely valuable to its participants.

Focus on the right things. With rivers of news and infinite numbers of social networks, with masses of potential projects, clients and events, in 2009 I will need to focus my attention, energy and abilities on the most important ones. After all, there’s only one of me!

Beyond this big picture, I’ve also got a few simple things I’ve promised myself this year, most more personal than the above.

• Backup my digital life regularly and reliably
• Host or go out for dinner with (non-business) friends at least once a month
• Call my mom more regularly and book a trip to Canada before summer
• Visit my sister in Paris when she heads there to study for a few months
• Take (and publish) more photos on Flickr to remember important life events
• Keep making homemade stuff like cards, liqueurs and tons of fresh cooking. It’s good for the mental health.

What’s your themeword for the year? Need inspiration? Try searching for #themeword on Twitter Search.

[Image: Owl photo by Aussie Flickr user Aaardvaark under Creative Commons]

Yesterday, I asked fellow Twitter users what Christmas happiness was to them. I got a fun range of answers, so I thought I’d post them uncensored and as-is…

• sherrilynne: Happiness at Christmas is knowing there are no deadlines for two whole weeks!
• matthewpennell: Happiness at Christmas is a non-sequitur.
• davidcushman: time with your family
• pascalw: is … letting your brain switch off, kick back & enjoy whatever comes your way. Avoiding clichés about kids (but that’s what I mean!)
• JamesPearce: Happiness at Christmas is… packing everything into boxes and *undecorating* the tree. Oh. Wait.
• TrudyYS: Happiness at Christmas is not knowing when it ends…
• MelKirk: Happiness at xmas is seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces
• mrjaba: Happiness at Christmas is family, booze and food, oh and racing grannies.
• jodrell: Happiness at Christmas is… 2 cats, 1 wife and dinner starting at 1 and finishing at midnight
• lwarren17: Happi @ Xmas = knowing that leonelyn my sponsored little girl in philipines gets education thro http://www.p-c-f.org/
• MartinSFP: happiness at Christmas is feeling like a kid again for a day or two; albeit a drunk kid…
• pidpoid: …flaming buttcheeks
• edent: Happiness at Christmas is pizza off paper plates (no washing up) pink champagne from the bottle (ditto). All spent with my new *WIFE*!
• sookio: “Happiness at Christmas is…” giving my impossible-to-buy-for brother-in-law Two Ronnies cufflinks - my favourite gift this xmas
• weaverluke: Happiness at Christmas is the spirit of family, blood or otherwise.
• whatleydude - “happiness at christmas is ‘compulsory, signed: Whatleydude…” - LMAO
• jopkins: …taking timeout to think about the past, present and future; realising what’s important and that you’re there with them
• daryldarko: i’m sorry - “Happiness at Christmas is understanding that it is just another day.”
• danielhunt: Happiness at Christmas is having more alcohol than you can shake a stick at, along with a suitably festive house party
• mattlambert: Happiness at Christmas is having a sword fight with my Mum using the innards of left over rolls of wrapping paper…
• lirontocker: “… celebrating Hanukkah”
• purplekitten: …knowing you’ve tried not to make other people’s lives worse

And on this bombshell, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, a relaxing time with family and friends. Enjoy yourselves, take it easy for a while, and then get ready to kick ass for 2009!

The weeks preceding Christmas are bloody awful. I hate going into Cambridge and finding myself attacked by people with a dozen shopping bags in each hand, looking haggard and miles from the supposed Christmas spirit we’re meant to be in.

My favourite bit about shopping centres is usually people-watching; everyone is so self-absorbed when shopping, it’s comedy to try to understand the thought process that leads to buying those god awful mustard yellow boots or that garish tie.

But this year, I’m amazed how many times I’ve heard “But what do you buy for someone who’s already pretty much got everything?” There are the obvious options; a new jumper, the latest video game, a scarf… or surfing Amazon to find some stocking fillers (at the expense of some exhausted Amazon elves)

So what about the alternatives to spending on tat that will disappear into the cupboard as soon as the holidays are over?

Give them something handmade or unique

Make it yourself if you’re crafty or skilled in something they aren’t. If you aren’t feeling up to the challenge, buy something that’s been handmade.

• Make a batch of Christmas cookies, wrap them in parchment paper and a nice ribbon
• Make homemade liqueurs (for next year!) and bottle them nicely with a handmade label
• Create a photo album or a book with Lulu or your own photo editing software
• Get handmade jewellery: Unique pieces are so much more interesting! (More on this one later, but I love Ostara for handmade stuff) You’ll also be supporting small businesses rather than line the pockets of multinationals!
• Give the gift of time: Make vouchers good for a day out together, a Sunday lunch or a night at the movies. It’ll remind you both how important it is to spend time together over the course of the year

Give to charity instead

Some may say it’s a cliché suggestion and unoriginal of me, but it’s a perfectly valid one. I asked fellow Twitterers what charities they supported and I received some very powerful answers.

• Niall Harbison, Irish foodie, put together a charity campaign Twitter-style by donating the proceeds of the auction of a brand new Nokia E63 to Crumlin Children’s Hospital. See Niall’s post to take part by donating €5.
• Bango, who provide mobile analytics & billing services, put together a Christmas campaign called “All I want for Xmas!” where you contribute content (jokes, images, mobile games) and any money made from the content will be doubled and donated to Save The Children.
• @reyes supports The Multiple Sclerosis Charity and Every Child who are committed to protecting the rights of vulnerable children and are always looking for our help
• Teemu told the story of a friend who committed suicide last week, leading me to seek more information on SupportLine who provide emotional support for people of all ages.
• If you can’t contribute financially, give time. Speak to your local charities to find out how you can help, as Dale (@dalelane) will be doing with Crisis Open Christmas, who open their doors to the homeless over the holiday season to ensure everyone can have a warm meal and some company.

So tell me, this year, would you rather spend less and take the time to make something personal as a gift? Or prefer to treat them to a luscious gift even though it may be breaking the bank a little bit more than you’d hoped because it’s that one time of the year?

I don’t think either answer is wrong, but in my eyes, there has to be a balance: If you’ve had a nice Christmas bonus and you’re feeling generous, then it’s fun to get friends and family a few goodies they may not otherwise treat themselves to, there’s no denying that. But meaningful handmade gifts can be more heartwarming and personal than anything bought from a store shelf.

It’s Friday, you’ve been giving it the beans all week, working that little brain of yours to the bone (figuratively, let’s hope). You need a boost for that last mile before this evening’s G&T while watching mindless TV (or maybe your evening is more exciting than mine…)

Don’t tell everyone, but I’ve found one of the best sources of creative juices out there…

Alright, fine, it’s a campaign for the South West Regional Development Agency, created by Rubber Republic. It arrived in my inbox last week, with a subject line containing “Viral Campaign”*, so it was within an inch of getting deleted without a second look. Being the end of the day, I was looking for distraction, so I had a look at the video, to find myself delighted by how silly it turned out to be. I love organisations with a sense of humour, and this one’s just wonderfully twisted.

I wonder what would happen if you squeezed Silicon Fen/Cambridge creatives? You’d probably get a CAMRA-approved fermented beverage that knocks your socks off.

[* On the "Viral Campaign" note, I hope agencies will realise that, while it's fine to call it a viral campaign on your marketing strategy plan internally, a video doesn't go viral until the viewers make it so. Create something fantastic, give people the tools to share it easily, but don't tell us it's a viral. That's for us to decide.]

I won’t be blowing you away with this observation, but the world has gone bonkers. Completely, utterly bonkers. Beyond political correctness, I think the world’s cojones have well and truly decided to retract all the way inside the body, and given up altogether.

What makes me say that? Three stories in the past week have shown me how remarkably PC-minded we can be.

First, this morning, YouTube announced on its blog that mature content and profanity will be more heavily moderated. In order words, a quick cuss word can cause your video to disappear into oblivion. Now, as Robert Llewellyn points out this morning in his Llewtube video, I’ll be happy to see less mature content crop up randomly when I’m looking for videos of kittens. But profanity? Who sets the blacklist of what swear words are inappropriate? If religious America gets its word in, we’ll have to say “Oh sh…ugar!” as we do in front of 3 year olds? To the best of my knowledge, 3 year olds shouldn’t be left to their own devices when navigating the web.

Second story. Last week, Channel 4 decided to take the entire 4mations site down, after it got cold feet following what’s now been dubbed as “Sachsgate” - otherwise known as Brand & Ross behaving like idiots on air. (For the non-UK folks, two radio hosts made a few immature and somewhat inappropriate “I screwed your granddaughter!” calls to a guest, Andrew Sachs. He’s best known for his role as Manuel in Fawlty Towers back in the 70’s. The story snowballed from two complaints when the show was aired to nearly half a million complaints in the week that followed.)

For a project that intended to push the boundaries of creativity, I’m amazed that a pixelated gimp mask and some cartoon boobies were grounds for taking the entire site down. Clearly, a moment of panic because of some slightly bizarre content. And you know what, that’s one of the great things about the weird and wonderful world of the Internet. There’s weird material being added all the time that forces us to re-evaluate where we stand.

Finally, in the real physical world, the Terrorism Act is becoming a real pain in the proverbial. A 15 year old schoolboy was arrested near Wimbledon for taking photos of the stadium on his mobile phone. He said he was working on his GCSE project, and shoo’ed away from the site. This kind of situation was repeated time and time again.

Before anyone jumps at my throat, I by no means condone humour in bad taste or lewd content on the web. But you wouldn’t chuck out an entire bushel of apples for a single bruised one, right? So why stop everyone else from having fun because of a few bad apples?

My issue here is with the knee-jerk reaction we seem to have towards everything these days. Rather than to get a screwdriver to fix the one slightly loose screw, we just get the sledgehammer out and annihilate the whole lot!

I’m not suggesting sticking your fingers in your ears going “La la la I can’t hear you!” when you face a problem, but the reaction should be proportional to the problem. So put the sledgehammer away, will you?

The past few weeks have been very spotty in terms of blogging, with so much of my time being focused on getting stuck in to new projects and flirting with a few more potential ones.

Yesterday, however, was an insightful (and social) day for me, spent at Future of Mobile in London. Future of Mobile is in its second year, organised by the great team at Carsonified. I did a dreadful job of tweeting or blogging the event, being far too busy buzzing around chatting to new people, but many others did a stellar job of documenting what turned out to be a very interesting day.

During my presentation at FOM, photo by Rudy de Waele

The very lovely Tom Hume (who’s excellent presentation teased us all with colourful macaroons right before lunch) posted his review of the event earlier today. Helen Keegan, fellow blogger and geek gal, shocked the crowd with her “There is no future to mobile” (your faces were all priceless when she stated that), James Whatley was (as usual) the most energetic body in the room and - at the risk of potentially getting an ass-kicking for saying this - the younger share of the speakers did a rather stellar job at keeping the audience awake and interested.

I was asked for the slides to my 6 minutes presentation on Why Community Matters throughout the day, so as promised, here they are. (And thanks to Carsonified for being mad enough to let me loose on stage)

In summary, I think we all agreed that we’re looking at a fragmented, young and constantly evolving industry and there’s a whole lot of work to do in order to get to a stage where normobs can really make the most of the technology that’s racing ahead, in terms of accessibility, simplicity, pricing and education. But without a challenge, what fun would it be!?

Some more coverage of the event:

• Andrew Grill’s “The Future of Mobile is…”
• Jonathan MacDonald’s “Every Single One of Us” was an excellent thought-provoking presentation
• Dale Zak’s coverage of the event on Ideas 2.0
• I hear official footage of the event will be released soon, but in the meantime, you can catch Tom’s presentation thanks to the Vimeo video Ribot captured from his front row seat.

One of my latest posts was about reducing your consumption and making Christmas cards, and this one’s about making fruit liqueurs. I can hear my mom laughing from here, thinking I’m turning into Suzie Homemaker. But don’t panic, I’m still the same old me. I’m just… trying to be resourceful these days!

Last year, in September, we went for a long Autumn walk locally to pick up berries. We came home with a nice harvest of sloe berries, crabapples, rosehips and a handful of tasty little apples. There were also wild blackberries but I ate those on the way home…

I had my heart set on making homemade liqueurs for the first time, and was curious to see whether they’d be as good (or better?) than the ones we buy in shops. It’s only once the fruit and sugar was dropped in the large glass jars and that I’d clipped the lids shut that it sank in - I’d have to wait many months before finding out whether they were any good.

Now, a year later, I’m thrilled with my homemade liqueurs crop and can’t wait to give them away in beautiful little bottles as Christmas presents. And the best part of it? It was really easy to do!

Making your own fruit liqueurs

You will need:

• Fruit or flavourings
• Base liquors
• Sugar or simple syrup
• Large, clean glass jars

Choosing the fruits or flavourings

First, pick or buy fruits you’d like to use to make your liqueurs. Berries, plums, peaches, apples work very well, but if you’re feeling creative, try herbs, vanilla, espresso coffee beans or even chilli peppers.

Clean the fruits or flavourings to get rid of any grit or residue that will be unwelcome to the liqueur.

• For apples and peaches, cut the fruit in pieces, removing the core or pit.
• For berries like sloes or blueberries, put them in the freezer for a few hours. This will cause the fruit’s skin to burst open, letting out more flavour once it is steeping in the liquor of your choice.
• For rosehips, top and tail them and slice them in two.
• For herbs, vanilla and chilli peppers, they can be left whole, as they’ll look prettier in the glass jar. However, if you intend to strain the flavourings out before giving them away, it’s possible to cut them into pieces to allow them to steep quicker.

Choosing the base liquor

You may want to experiment with the base liquor to use, but vodka and gin are the most popular ones. Vodka adds very little flavour to the mix, giving the fruit the whole spotlight.

Others, like gin, are the staple alcohol to use with sloes to make the traditional sloe gin.

Preparing the mix

Once your fruit or flavouring is clean, chopped or partially frozen as necessary, it’s time to mix it up!

First, clean your glass jars in very hot water or put through a hot dishwasher cycle. Any residue could add unwelcome bacteria to the mix and ruin your liqueur.

Then put the fruit and sugar in equal parts in the jar. The rule of thumb for berries and apples is one part fruit, one part sugar to 3 parts base liquor. Of course, this will vary depending on the flavour and ripeness of the fruit you’re using, and the flavour you want to achieve.

Caring for the liqueurs while they steep

Keep the jars in a dark, cool cupboard. For the first few weeks, you will need to shake the jars every 2-3 days to ensure the sugar is completely dissolved.

From there onwards, it’s a waiting game. After 2-3 weeks, the base liquor will have changed colour and be sweetened by the fruit. With chilli peppers, now is a good time to begin tasting the liquor to test the flavour.

With berries, 3-4 months will give a rich flavour, but I’ve waited as long as a year to bottle some of them.

Bottling the liqueurs

If you’re intending to drink them yourself, the liqueur can stay in its original glass jar along with the fruit or flavouring. If you want to give them away as gifts, filter the contents out using a muslin cloth, coffee filter or strainer.

You can buy decorative glass bottles or reuse wine bottles and decorate them with a homemade label.

Using the steeped fruit

If you’re feeling brave, you can use the steeped fruit in a recipe like a trifle, but be careful, the fruit will be flavoured by the alcohol and be quite strong. As my friend Simon says, “you’ll need to have the constitution of a goat” to ingest the steeped fruit without using it in a recipe.

Enjoying your homemade berry liqueurs

Drink the liqueurs straight, on ice or drizzle over fruits or ice cream. Substitute your own fruit liqueurs when recipes call for similar liqueurs when making cocktails. Most of all, enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Resources

• Glass jars & decorative bottles from Colouredbottles.co.uk
• Make your own base liquor using this alcohol-making kit if you feel brave

Desperate as ever to get a rise out of bloggers, Paul Boutin, of Valleywag fame (or shame, your choice), has been writing in Wired’s Entertainment section that “Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004″.

He says “Thinking about launching your own blog? Here’s some friendly advice: Don’t. And if you’ve already got one, pull the plug.” Boutin’s argument is so flawed, when he mentions Jason Calacanis’ decision to stop blogging last summer and refers to Technorati as though it’s the sole reason for a blog’s existence.

Hello? McFly!? Being a Top 100 Technorati blog isn’t the be all and end all of blogging. Thousands of bloggers make a living from their trade, directly or indirectly, and it’ll take more than one bitter blogger to stop them from writing about their passion.

Millions of bloggers, big and small, write for completely non-financial reasons. It can help someone find focus, in the way a personal diary may have done a few years ago. Some find like-minded people to discuss hobbies, habits and interests with, from GTD to crocheting.

Others have found the longest lasting value of a blog; indirect revenue. Advertising is a fickle friend when revenue from your blog is dependent on traffic. A bumpy ride on the Googlecoaster and revenue can be eclipsed quicker than you can say “Google AdSense”. So the indirect revenue can be a longer-lasting, slow-burn solution, whether it’s in selling homemade jams and liqueurs after having detailed on your blog how you make them, in selling your band’s music where you’ve been actively blogging about the evolution of rock in the modern day or, like myself, providing services that are in line with the knowledge you’ve been sharing on your blog.

In this instance, blogging is about reputation building, finding a community that feels like home.

Technorati’s algorithm and Boutin’s thinking are both relics from blogging’s first life. Now, like a snake shedding its skin, we are seeing blogs evolve into something more organic. They’re more three-dimensional, showing people’s Flickr photos, their tweets in the sidebar and contain a link to their Dopplr profiles outlining their next few trips. But in all reality, they still are the home and heart of many passionate bloggers, money-earning or not.

For a number of reasons, recently, I’ve made an effort to think about my consumption habits a bit more lately. Becoming my own boss has encouraged me to become a bit more frugal with my spending. By putting a recycling box in my office, I’ve realised how much paperwork I either piled up in folders unnecessarily or threw out without thinking.

That was recycling tackled, but clearing out some cupboards and boxes made me realise just how many birthday, Christmas, house move, anniversary and other cards we accumulate.

So this is my call to friends and family to reuse, or let me reuse, old cards this Christmas. If you live nearby, I’ll happily take them off your hands. If you’re further away, drop me a line. I want to try to give magazines, cards, photos and material a new life, however it ends up being used. It also hopefully means I can avoid buying tacky cards, pre-filled with a meaningless Hallmark holiday greetings and write the cards myself. (Oh boy, I’m going to be annoyed I said this when I run out of time and ideas for the cards three days before Xmas…)

There are so many feel-good reasons to reuse stuff wherever possible. It’s less stuff to throw away, and occasionally, there’s the sentimental value of reusing something that otherwise would have had a short-lived lifespan. So that’s the “Reuse” element (sort of) ticked off.

And then there’s the “Reduce” factor. Well, I’ve curbed my buying-of-random-stuff to an extent, but developing an addiction to crafts means that while I’m buying less expensive gadgets, I’m spending on new crafts material like a Cuttlebug and a bunch of embossing goodies. (As an aside, there’s a definite trend in arts & crafts websites being utterly horrible and unusable. I would love to help them make their sites fun to use, and as good looking as the products they sell!)

So I’m not doing well at reducing the amount of stuff I own, but soon, I’ll write about someone who was more successful at not buying stuff (for a whole year!) than I was.

[Card on the right not by me, but by Paperminiskirt on Etsy.com, one of the best sites for cute handmade stuff. Like eBay for hippies and artists.]