Photo credit Sheila VooDoo

I had surgery last week (doing fine, thank you), so I prepared ahead of time not knowing how much time I would miss work and blogging. I had no desire or energy to work for three days. By the fourth day, I could do a little work. Yesterday (one week after the surgery), I worked all morning and wore myself out by lunch time.

Here are the tasks I did to prepare my business for a little hiatus. It’d work for vacation and other times off from working. Unexpected time off is a different story (you can prepare for the unexpected with a contingency plan).

1. Notify clients: I emailed all of my regular clients about three to four weeks ahead of time.
2. Get ahead: Wherever possible, I wrote extra articles and completed assignments that would be due during the week of the surgery and after. I also found time to do work on the weekend before the surgery.
3. Finish projects: I had a couple of projects that had an end. I finished both before surgery.
4. Schedule a blog post: Christina Katz saved me on this one. We had an interview that I entered in my blog before the surgery and scheduled it to go live while I was in recovery. It’s OK to publish one time during the week, which is what I have done for the past month or so.
5. Use a laptop: My laptop plays a regular role in my business even though I rarely travel or work in coffee shops. It allows me to work in in bed, on the sofa or elsewhere in the house where I can be comfortable.
6. Send email with a cell phone: I couldn’t decide between a BlackBerry or iPhone. I’m glad I went with the BlackBerry because it handles email better. I am rarely too sick to send a short email message. Although I didn’t have a BlackBerry at the time, I used a cell phone to send an email to clients when I unexpectedly went in the hospital. If your cell phone’s email app isn’t great, try mail2web.com’s mobile app. Google also offers mobile Gmail for different phones.
7. Do administrative tasks: Are your invoices due? Do you need to balance your bank account? Do you need to submit time sheets? Do all of this beforehand.
8. Transfer assignments: I always have an editing assignment around the first of the month. I told the writer to send the articles to another editor since I would be out. I’m grateful that some clients I work for have teams so we can back each other up.
9. Delete less important emails: I deleted email newsletters and other informational emails before, during and after to take the pressure off of me in keeping up. I also read some newsletters in bed with my phone or laptop when I couldn’t do much else. You might consider changing some of your subscriptions to “vacation” status, but I never do this as I have too many.
10. Remember it’s OK not to work: Avoid putting so much pressure on yourself to get things done, blog or participate in social networking. You need to take care of you! It doesn’t matter if it’s recovery from illness or catching up after vacation. It’s easier to get your groove back when you keep it low key.

What other tasks did you do to prepare for time off?

Tags: health, surgery, vacation

This post will show you what I said and what this stuff where code [Line spoken should be, "the software heard"]. I strike out the software’s mistakes and picked [put] the correct version in practice [brackets]. Here we go…

For those of you not familiar with beast to pick up where [speech to text software], you begin by planting the stuff where [training the software] with your voice [for]. I completed a puce shim at this Nilan my guess asked them to wood made the top then the average user. [I completed a few sessions of this knowing my deaf accent would need more help than the average user].

Victim … err… product is Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred. I opted to go with v9 instead of 10 to save cash and not worry about crashing problems it supposedly has.

Needless to say, I’m not to let that [I'm off to a bad start].

I’m trying the speech recognition software. Unhorsed for get a pass when I say [I'm hopeful it'll catch what I say]. Starla far [so far] it’s not perfect. It looks like it needs blood twanging [more training]. IM into this to write auto close [I'm anxious to write articles].

I have not been able to write because to [of] have my hand touchingly [surgery]. I have t will [it typed "two," so I said "backspace backspace" and "o"] may [lay] off use and [using] my hand because of Salonika [swelling].

Let’s go back to planning [training].

(Conducted more training… another attempt…)

Comeau nutcake [communicate]

I talk to my clients regularly and ensure they are happy with my luck [work]. I’ve gone [learned] from mistakes and client platform things [preferences]. I aim for high quality and provide personal sofas [service].

Bill pays not to worry [Build A Lot 3 review (awesome game, by the way)]

Linked [I couldn't wait] to play this game. The previous two games Laden [captivated] me. I could not imagine it could get better. That [but] it did.

We talked a to Gravenhurst and you [Return to Ravenhearst review (another superb game)].

To blame for is it that it’s week he is as gay yeah [Return to Ravenhearst is the best Mystery Case Files game yet]. If you compare at the first list week he file game to the latest [the first game to the latest...]

That’s still the see at clout a.m. it [cursing here. No translation as this is a family friendly blog].

MP3 of the above script (opens in new window so you can follow script). I talked slower than usual for the software’s stake.

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” –Winston Churchill

“Failure is an event, never a person.” –William D. Brown

It’s been too easy for me to fall into a pity party and woe is me situation. OK, maybe I did that for three minutes. I consider myself lucky to have a spouse, three healthy kids (for the most part, one does have a couple of challenges), a comfortable home, and a home office business that I love.

The first part of this story is over at Bionic Ear Blog because it talks about what not having an MRI due to a cochlear implant.

Several people inspired me. The first being Daphne Gray-Grant. She had her second stroke in six years! My dad, who died on 24 December 2007, died from complications of his April 2007 stroke. I knew her story was incredible and her attitude most impressive. She wrote, “Life is a gift. Use it. Write with it.”

Right before my surgery, my friends mentioned, Stuff Happens (and then you fix it!): 9 Reality Rules to Steer Your Life Back in the Right Direction. I don’t usually order books right away as I’ve got plenty to read. But it struck me and I felt like I needed to read it. Another inspiration comes from Karen’s “Deaf and Thankful,” which published right after the surgery.

It only took a day to read the book, if that. It contains stories of people getting pass roadblocks in their lives. One person had a lot of money from the dot com days only to lose the money and everything. He rebuilt his life.

Our failures are not failures. They tell us what doesn’t work and we keep on trying. This alleged quote, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Notice these were events, not a reflection upon him as a person.

Although I can’t do as much work for my clients as I can or do much laundry (both of which puts heavy duty guilt on this gal), I remember that I have my life and family.

My clients all understand the situation and that’s why I put high value on being personable and building relationships with my clients most of whom are friends. In fact, one of my first clients and I met in person when he flew to Texas from Minnesota for a family celebration.

In this ultra-vain country of mine, we’re obsessed with our looks. See what happens after plastic surgery. Hmm… still doesn’t change my mind about wanting to do something myself.