Hey Lady-Step Away from the Phone!

September 14th, 2011 Goals & Time Management Office, Paper & Productivity

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The kids are back in school and a new routine has been born-hooray! My kids and I are more night owls than morning birds and we’ve had to adjust to an early morning schedule but frankly I think my kids are doing better than I am. At the same time, I really am loving the new freedom of having a quiet office by 7:30 am and how much you can actually get done when you get up early! Once I’m up I’m OK, it’s just getting out of my warm bed that’s challenging. And it’s going to get harder as colder, gray northwest morning start setting in… Actually, it’s gray today, imagine that.

So, this morning I walked back in the door after kid drop-off and started with breakfast. I have a healthy to-do list to tackle today including creating a PowerPoint Presentation for a talk at our local elementary school. As I was moving about my house I noticed my phone sitting by the back door. Now how did that happen? It’s always connected to me. But oh how freeing! Amazing that I was plugging right along without thoughts of texting or the compelling need to look over at my phone. I left it where it sat and here I am type, type, typing away listening to music on Pandora. While typing, something came up that created a “need” to send a text. But oh no, I will not stop now, I’m on a roll! Although, it’s amazing how strong the pull is to run down and knock out a text.

So, once again, it goes to show that you really can be more productive if you put aside distractions. I know, I know, you can’t run away from phones, instant messages or emails all day, but at the very least, you CAN focus on your most critical task of the day by eliminating distractions. Even an hour of distraction-free time will help you accomplish awesome things! Man, can I make it for a whole hour? Ooooh, I think I already have half an hour of credit!