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Increase Your Focus

Written by: Ellen Samiec

Article Overview: Unable to concentrate on the task at hand? Don't waste work time with daydreams or frazzled thoughts. Here's how to increase your focus and get back to business.

Increase Your Focus

Unable to concentrate on the task at hand? Don't waste work time with daydreams or frazzled thoughts. Here's how to increase your focus and get back to business.

There's nothing worse than realizing you've put in a long day and accomplished virtually nothing. How did it happen? You could've sworn you were busy — you certainly didn't just sit there. People flew in and out of your office, the phone rang incessantly, emails blinked on your screen ...

If this sounds familiar, take heart. You're not alone.

So many people are working 12 or 14 hour days and they're still not getting what they want done. In our fast-paced work world, more and more business leaders are struggling to keep up. The demands for higher customer service, higher productivity and better results are pulling people in all different directions.

Ready to get focused and pack more into your day? Here's how:

1. Be clear on what is important. Recognize there is a difference between being busy and being effective. Start by defining your goals and putting them down in writing. One approach is writing your priorities on a whiteboard in your office. When other tasks pop up, you always have a guide to keep them focused.

2. Implement focus time. Open up your day timer and schedule an appointment to finish certain tasks. It's easier to get things done if you dedicate a specific block of time to accomplishing them. Choose a time when you're most alert. For most people that's early in the day.

3. Ignore the phone. Studies show that it takes a minimum of five minutes to recover from an interruption, says Samiec, who notes that the average businessperson receives five phone calls an hour. Put these two facts together and you'll notice phone calls are taking up a huge chunk of time. Turn off the ringer during your allotted focus time (tip #2) and covering up the red flashing light. Let the call go to voice mail or have the receptionist say you're in a meeting.

4. Stay away from emails. Do you open every email as soon as it comes in? This distraction is eating up valuable time. Set aside two or three times a day to check and respond to email. Disable those pesky reminders that pop up on the screen.

You may not be able to control all your time, but using these tips you can make effective use of the time you have to create periods of focus and achieve more.

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Article Tags: appointment, business leaders, businessperson, chunk, customer service, day timer, daydreams, ema, five minutes, flashing light, heart, interruption, priorities, productivity, receptionist, ringer, time tip, voice mail, whiteboard, work time



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