Productivity Tip: Alarm Yourself Every 60 Minutes
Even as I write this, my day is slipping away. I didn't plan on writing this post when I reported to work this morning and organized my day. But I am. And my priority list is taking a hit as a result.
But you know how it goes. Distractions. Email and the Internet make it SO easy to become distracted and head off on non-productive avenues. Suddenly you wake up and realize you've wasted two hours on things that didn't really need immediate attention.
One of the ways I was distracted this morning was a jump over to Harvard Business Publishing and Peter Bregman's 18-minute Plan for Managing Your Day. Gotta read that, right? His tip for staying on course during the day jumped out at me.
"(1 minute every hour) Refocus. Set your watch, phone, or computer to ring every hour. When it rings, take a deep breath, look at your list and ask yourself if you spent your last hour productively. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour. Manage your day hour by hour. Don't let the hours manage you."OK, for me, one hour intervals seems a little naggy. I'm going to set my alarm to honk at me once every two hours and see how that works. So don't expect any spur-of-the-moment posts from me for awhile. I'll be working.
How do you keep focused during the day?