Managing Distractions in the Office…Focus on Your ‘Top 3 Tasks’.

How do you handle distractions and accomplish anything in a busy office? In my workspace here at Keystone Business Solutions, I am on the website consulting/design team, and I sit in a section of our office with two other employees in an open “bullpen”. I have a cube with one 4 foot section and one 5 foot section that provides some privacy, but there is constant noise and activity.

The phone rings all the time (it just rang again while I typed that!), and our designer has his internet radio station running all day long. He changes things up every now and then, but it’s primarily Indie-Rock. (Stuff you have never heard, and may never want to). We have customers to service, designs to review, schedules to update and amend, issues to resolve, meetings and classes to schedule, and deals to close…all while my officemates are stopping by.

These ‘stop by sessions’ cover topics such as new potential clients, upcoming client meetings, recent movie reviews, Lost episodes, blog posts, tech news, time card adjustments and a plethora of other important and not so important bits of information. Sorting this information and figuring out what to do first is so important. In my world (sales) I have a 2 pronged focus. One being existing clients and projects that we are working on, which is where we make our money today, and the second is working on filling my ‘sales funnel’ with relationships and potential customers that will turn into existing clients and projects. This isn’t a callous picture of the world; it is what I was hired to do. I can’t take my eyes off of those 2 aspects of my job, because it will make life more difficult for my co-workers, and make it hard for my leadership to justify my position.

So, how do you shut out the world and do YOUR first things first, especially if you are like me and have Homer Simpson Syndrome? (I have a tendency to get distracted when something shiny catches my eye.) In an earlier article I mentioned that having a system and being organized is imperative for ongoing success. I had a very successful project manager friend that would say “have a list of the ‘Top 3’ tasks that you will get done on a given day and focus on those 3 things”. For years I thought that a measly “Top 3” was a cop-out, but with all of the shifting priorities and distractions (“The client needs their site done TODAY for a tradeshow they forgot to mention”) sticking to 3 tasks can be challenging. You will certainly accomplish more than 3 tasks during a day, but you will also at least get the three DONE that you assigned as a priority. There was a recent study done on the efficiency of making lists: “To-do lists are a stress management tool and have a calming effect on nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of people who responded in the United States, simply because everything is written down in front of them.” Read more about that study here.

Hint: Take an extra 2 minutes before you leave the office and jot down the three tasks you need to accomplish by the end-of- business the following day, it’s a much better way to start your morning! If you are looking for an easy-to-use, free online to-do list program (instead of the hard-to-use paper and a pen) you can go here and sign up for “Tada List”. The great thing about this program is that you can get to it from any browser and check off tasks in real-time.

Eliminate unnecessary distractions: To work on this article, I had to shut off my e-mail, and my Instant Messenger (IM). Our IM allows us to communicate with officemates during the day, and I only have officemates as IM ‘friends’. I found in a past life, it was way too easy to talk to my wife and non-work friends on IM and take up several hours of the day with 10 minute chats. I’ll turn IM back on when I’m done writing, and follow up on any pressing e-mails. I’ll also be able to check off one of my ‘Top 3’ (this article).

So, in conclusion; remember to have your short to-do list ready to go, do the first things first, and track your information. This will help you stay on task during the barrage of ‘office noise’ and shifting priorities you will encounter every day.

Jason Elkins
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Account Manager
http://www.kbsweb.com

Are you getting Keystone’s KEYNOTE?
> Click Here to sign up <

Keystone has an excellent Technology Blog located here.
Our class schedule for Keystone University is here.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Jason Elkins is an Account Manager for Keystone Business Solutions in Hendersonville. He has 14 years of experience in technology sales. Jason has been married for 14 years and has 2 children, and is an avid writer and blogger. You can read more original articles at the links below.
www.transparentchristianmagazine.com
www.jasonelkins.blogspot.com