Beyond Folders : distractions

How to Leave the Office by 5pm

Community Manager — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:32:00 GMT

When the clock hits 5pm are you packing up to head home or are you still immersed in work? If you're having trouble leaving work on time we're here to help.

Prioritize an Exit Strategy: For starters, make heading home at 5pm, or an appropriate quitting time, a priority. It's hard to meet a goal that you haven't set, so pick a time and stick to it.

Focus, Focus Focus: If you're tired of late hours, be sure to manage your time well during the day. Even the most motivated amongst us will admit to time spent slacking. Read our tips for time-blocking to use your time more efficiently.

Say No to Guilt: Don't feel guilty about leaving work on time. If your co-workers are still at their desks, it's easy to feel embarrassed about heading out. Don't. You may be a more efficient or focused worker than your peers. As long as your work isn't being shortchanged, leaving on time is okay.

Say Farewell to Face Time: Some office cultures unwittingly encourage or reward "face time" making it harder to head home at a reasonable hour. If this is a problem, take time to talk with your boss or co-workers to explain (and demonstrate) that your time in the office is highly-focused and productive. Justifying how efficiently you use your time makes it easier to head for the door.

Spread the Load: If you are burning the midnight oil because you genuinely have an overwhelming amount of work to do, it's time to talk to your boss about redistributing the load. Before you do so, take a few weeks to keep track of how you are spending your hours so your boss can understand the scope of the work and the time its taking. This will help both of you assess how to redistribute load.

Start Small: If heading out the door at a set time every day is a big mountain to climb, start small. Shoot to leave work by 5 or 6pm one night a week and then add a day at a time.

Have a Plan B: When all else fails, plan to finish work from home. While bringing work home isn't ideal, sometimes you just want to put the kids to bed or meet a friend for dinner. So head out the door to attend to your personal needs and commit to wrapping up the remaining work at home.

Do you have trouble leaving work on time? What are your tips for heading out the door at a reasonable hour? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook page.

by Bradley Eggers

Laser in on Maintaining Focus

Community Manager — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:46:00 GMT

Veteran management consultant David Allen opens his bestselling book Getting Things Done with a bold statement: "It's possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control."

Allen runs a productivity training and publishing empire. He might well be considered a man with an overwhelming to-do list. But clearly he is able to maintain focus and be productive. He's not alone.

In my search for strategies for improving focus and beating procrastination I've absorbed a lot of valuable advice. One of my favorite tips is David Allen's Two-Minute Rule. If your to-do list has a crucial task that can be done in two minutes or less, get it over with, freeing up your time and mind for the long term.

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to maintaining focus, I've collected some resources offering useful tips. Read on and see if any of the strategies click:

My own road-tested advice from nearly 20 years in marketing and management for global business leaders including Esselte is to keep your focus simple and clear. When goals and objectives are easily understood, you can avoid the thickets of distraction along the path to success.

How do you keep focus? Is there a tip or technique that has made a difference for you? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Candie Harris

Taming Office Interruptions

Community Manager — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:26:00 GMT

"Got a minute?"

How many times during your typical workday do you hear this question or its equivalent in the form of an urgent email or a phone call requiring your immediate attention?

Can That Call Wait? Turn on Your Voicemail!

According to a New York Times article on the chaos of modern office life, you probably hear it more times than you can count. Profiling a scientific study of workplace interruptions, the article cites this finding:

"Each employee spent only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and whisked off to do something else. What's more, each 11-minute project was itself fragmented into even shorter three-minute tasks, like answering e-mail messages, reading a Web page or working on a spreadsheet. And each time a worker was distracted from a task, it would take, on average, 25 minutes to return to that task"

Given this steady stream of interruptions, it is no wonder that many of us feel unproductive and depleted at work. But, we are not powerless. Although we cannot eliminate them, we can take steps to minimize office interruptions so we can accomplish more and stress less.

One way to diminish these distractions is to block off an hour or so each day when you:

Close your door (literally or by telling coworkers that you are unavailable)
Activate voicemail
Silence your smartphone
Ignore your email inbox

You can fortify this no-interruption zone by responding to emails only at designated times. A little communication also goes a long way. If someone comes to your office or calls when you are busy, you can politely, but firmly, say: "I only have five minutes right now. Can we set up another time to talk at greater length?" Another trick of mine is to use more 'quiet' times in the office to work on projects where I need uninterrupted concentration. For example, first thing in the morning or lunchtime both work well for me to focus with minimum interruptions.

For more practical tips on taming office interruptions, take a look at these posts:

As always, feel free to share your tips and tools for minimizing office interruptions with us.

by Candie Harris