Stay Focused - Avoid the Email Trap!

Has this ever happened to you? You've blocked off time to work on that big project but you find yourself unmotivated, confused and generally unfocused? You're trying to remember if your son or daughter has a ride home from school, dreading an afternoon meeting or what you'll eat for dinner tonight.

Before you know it, you're checking your email instead of working on your project. After all, there could be something very important there!

Some call it ricochet rabbit--your mind is "Bing,"Bing","Bing" all over the place and pretty much everywhere but on your project. Instead, the cursor blinks on your blank computer screen and feels like a mocking purgatory.

1--First, take a deep breath. Know this is perfectly normal, everyone feels this way at some point.

2-- Shut out distractions for the duration of the time you commit to focusing on the project at hand. That means close the door. Turn off your emails, pagers, cell phone and land lines. Have a snack and drink at your desk so you don't feel the need to get up for that. If you have staff, tell key people you are not to be interrupted for the duration of your project slot.

Studies show it takes an average of 24 minutes to regain your focus after a distraction. If you only have 30 minutes to work on something you can see how any distraction can torpedo your progress. That includes checking email!

3--Make a list of everything that needs to be done for this project to be complete. If it's a new product, the product has to be created, marketing materials need to be produced and the right audience needs to know about it. What's your role? Do you need to research the product so you can write a fact sheet or a brochure? Write down everything that needs to get done for that project then rank them in the order they should occur. If you're familiar with mind mapping this is a great technique to use for clustering all the associated tasks.

Break the project down into individual tasks and then break those into smaller, bite size chunks. For example, you need to write a brochure--who's the audience for the brochure? What should it highlight? If you're introducing a new product for dentists for example, look at the key benefits of the product--will it save them time? Does it make an activity easier? What's in it for them?

4-Set a timer--at eggtimer.com you can set a timer on your computer that will alert you when your allotted time is up. Or, you can set the timer on your cell phone. Tell yourself for the next 30 minutes, you'll truly focus on the task at hand. When your mind wanders--and it will!--bring it back by reminding yourself of your time limit.

5-Check email at designated times. Did you know can regain an hour or more in your day by only checking email at specific times? Try it for a week. For example, you may choose to check it at 9:30, 1:00 and 4:00. Every time you're tempted to check email at other times, bring your awareness back to your task at hand. You'll be surprised by how much more you accomplish!

By scheduling tasks at specific times and following your schedule, you'll produce greater achievements in less time.

If you'd like a free copy of my color coded time template as an example for scheduling your time, just give me a call or email. Phone (215) 292-4947 EST or yooncannon@ParamountBusinessCoach.com