subject: Business Time Management- 3 Simple Tips To Eliminate Distractions At Work [print this page] Making signifficant improvements in business time management, while important, is not exactly "rocket" science. The first step is to "step outside" your business and get a "big picture" look at how you spend your time at work. If you detect a problem, these three tips will make a big difference in improving your productivity.
1) Stay In The Present
Working with a computer all day makes it very tempting to lose focus and mentally "disappear". Reading and responding to emails, "Googling" information on non business related topics, and just generally surfing the Net, are major distractions.
The key to eliminating these distractions is to constantly be aware of what you are doing, and how it relates to the important tasks you need to accomplish.
In fact, it can be effective to constantly ask yourself, "What am I doing right now?" By asking that question, you constantly stay in the present and minimize the chances that your mind will wander.
2) Schedule Your "Distractions"
If, for example, you find yourself constantly reading email throughout the day, schedule specific times to read email.
Make sure you stick to that schedule.
If personal phone calls have become too intrusive, make your friends and family members aware of the times when you will be available for personal calls. Obviously, emergency calls are the exception.
3) Handle One Task At A Time
When performing a given task, make sure that you finish it before you begin another. Multi tasking, while tempting, is nothing more than a cleverly disguised distraction.
Unfortunately, when we multi-task, our effectiveness diminishes greatly.
The key to business time management is to constantly be aware of the value of your time, and allocate it to the most productive tasks at hand.
