Seven great ways to control distractions

Time management takes discipline, control and repetition. The odds are overwhelmingly against you and you will likely fail several times in your attempts to master it.  But this is a good thing! Why? Because if it were easy, everyone would do it and be as productive as you will be!

Work in offline mode in Outlook when you are working on specific tasks. Until they are accomplished, turn off email notifications.

Check in every two hours or so for new emails. Schedule the times in your day when you will check and respond to email (e.g., 9am-11am-2pm-4pm).

Close your browser. Keep web browsers closed when you are working on completing a project

Silence your phone. You will have more than enough opportunities for phone time if you schedule it into your calendar. It’s ok to leave it on for emergencies, but if it’s just to chat with someone it’s probably going to be a huge time waster.

Shut the door. If you work in a busy office environment, you may want to consider shutting your door when you need to get work done.  Don’t let others manage your day.  Practice the fine art of saying NO to interruptions.  As you train yourself to be more disciplined you must also train those around you.

There used to be an aphorism that everyone who has an office should have an “open door policy” meaning, ostensibly that they were “approachable.” Everyone should be as approachable as possible in the workplace – provided, however, that this approachability does not subjugate the office holder to having other people control their day. Close your door. You will not be a negative influence; you will be someone who gets things done and telegraphs to others in the workplace the need to do so.

Recognize your time saboteurs, what are they and how can you address them.

Wear noise-canceling headphones or put on headphones with low soft music to keep yourself from being distracted by outside noise.