How many times have you left the office and wondered “What the heck did I accomplish today”?? If this has happened to you, then you are not alone. Trying to get more done while using fewer resources is a fact of life these days. My Coaching Tip of the Week focuses on how to be productive.
When you are working in your office, try to minimize interruptions.
Experts say that it takes twenty minutes to return to productivity after being interrupted. What does this mean? Have boundaries with your staff and clients. Don’t allow yourself to be interrupted at any time. Take messages. Return emails and phone messages at the end of the day. Do NOT check your email all day long. Email is the biggest time waster in any day. Email prevents you from focusing on outbound calls, follow up, client meetings, and prospecting.
It takes twenty one days to build a habit. Keep up with your promise to use time wisely and you will train yourself in no time. Be aware of the tasks that are wasting your time and delegate the things you don’t like doing to your assistant (or hire an assistant) so that you can focus on what’s important. Work smarter, not harder.
Minimize interruptions and be productive!
How about you? What’s the best way you’ve found to be productive?
To learn more about being productive and growing your practice, request a consultation.
You are so right Suzanne! I always Coach my clients to limit the times they check their E-mail to one, or if truly needed, two times a day. I have a few clients that have to check for urgent Customer inquiries 4 times a day, but they only check for those customers names, and leave all the other e-mail to the end of the day.
Also, I often work with Coaching clients to reduce the e-mail they receive. By looking at the categories of e-mail they receive we are able to analyze whether there is a category or two of e-mails that they can delegate, eliminate, or send to another e-mail address.
Thank you for your insightful blog!
Greg, my clients who have had open door policies have changed them to “open door at specific times” to allow them to get work done efficiently. When you are constantly being interrupted it’s difficult to get in the flow. Suzanne
Justin, Productivity is all about where we put our focus. You are right, staying on task is critical. Suzanne
Hi Mike Thanks for weighing in on this. The key to prioritizing is just as you said – what can wait? what needs to be done now? Thank you! Suzanne