Hopefully most of you set the intention of what you’re going to get accomplished each day, either with a to-do list or project manager. As you start your day and focus on each item and start checking things off, here it comes – the surprise attack that quite literally has come to murder your productivity. It comes in many forms; clients, employees, spouses, children, Facebook just to name a few.
Everyday our focus is tested and all day we have to be prepared for these productivity assassins in order to get through our to-do’s and projects. How do you stay focused when so many distractions keep you from being productive? Simple, establish a “Closed Door Policy”. This means literally and figuratively close your door, close your unneeded open windows on your computer, turn off your ringer.
By establishing these rules when needed, you can turn the tables on these productivity killers. Closing your office door and putting a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door will remind others that you are busy and can’t be interrupted. This also works great even if you don’t have an actual door, you will be surprised that if you work in a cubicle or the kitchen table how powerful those three little words can be.
How many open windows do you really need to have when you’re working on one project or task? It’s so easy to get distracted by email pop ups or social media that many of us get distracted and never actually make it back to what we were working on in the same day!
Dinging and ringing of phones affect our productivity more than any other because we can take them anywhere with us. The distractions become mobile with calls, text messages, emails, social media notifications all on one little phone. Turn it off or better yet put it in another room and watch your productivity soar.