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Hi,

You’ve been busy all day but you just can’t seem to make any progress on anything that matters. One of the main problems for time management in the workplace is distractions and interruptions.

Distractions can make it difficult to get things done and at the end of the week can have a big impact on your motivation and self-esteem. There are three major distractions in the workplace and it is important to manage them to have a better day of work.

1. Personal Distractions.
Do you need to pick the kids up, make a phone call to the plumber, call a client. With so much to do you really need a time management system that you can trust. One that captures all of your tasks (work and home tasks) and reminds of when they need to be done.

Without this a long list of things that you need to do will keep floating up to the surface of your consciousness to distract you.

This is where a printable master to do list comes in handy. This is a list of all the logical next actions on projects that you need to do- not just for today but in the short term future.

2. Limit email interruptions.
Email not used well limits productivity – in fact the average worker can spend 2-3 hours per day reading and responding to email.

You are sitting at your desk. You are concentrating on an important task and today is the deadline. You are under pressure only to have a pop-up window notify that "you have mail". You try to ignore this, and get on with the important task, but it continues to be in your mind. Is it important? Who is it from? Finally you put down your important task and check. More often than not it is an unimportant message, such as SPAM.

These email management tips will shave 50% off your email time and reduce interruptions.

3. Coworkers.
With open plan offices the average worker is interrupted once every 3.1 minutes. Email, phone calls, and coworkers are all competing for your attention. But your time and attention are finite. Try asking your coworkers for an uninterrupted block of time. Explain that you are doing your key projects in this time. Often sharing your weekly plan can be useful here.

I hope that you find these tips to reduce distractions and interruptions useful to your productivity

All the best

Dr Kell Tremayne and the team at Effective Time Management Strategies

P.S. Do What You Love Online Without Leaving Your Kids Behind.