One of the most difficult aspects of time management is controlling your day when OTHERS around you want to steal your time. Interruptions can eat up literally hours of precious, productive time each day. But there are ways to DISCOURAGE these interruptions without offending your co-workers, or family and friends if you work from home.

PHONE AND EMAIL

Where is it written that every time the phone rings you MUST answer it? Unless your primary job responsibility is to answer the phone, it is up to you to decide when you will answer it and when you will let others (staff, voice mail, message recorder) answer the phone for you. The same goes for e-mail. In most cases, it is not necessary to check every time a new message arrives. Turn off the bell or buzzer that notifies you of incoming messages. It is just as intrusive as a ringing phone. Under normal circumstances, there really is no reason why phone and e-mail messages cannot WAIT until you are ready to check them. This means, you do not interrupt what you are currently doing just to check messages. Staying focused on the task at hand will get you a lot further along with accomplishing your tasks for the day. Acting in this manner puts you in control of the phone, your e-mail, and your goals for the day. You are acting in a proactive manner, instead of letting others determine how you spend, or waste, your time.

IT'S THERE FOR A REASON

If you have a door on your office, enforce the CLOSED door policy to discourage visitors and intruders. A closed door sends the message that you do not want to be disturbed. It may not be possible to close your door all day, and quite frankly, it is not a good idea to completely discourage good communication with co-workers. But there is nothing wrong with getting in the habit of closing the door for periods of time during the day. Behaving in a proactive manner puts you squarely in CONTROl of how your day goes and how much you will accomplish.