Easily Distracted
Published on 18 Jul 2008 at 9:51 am.
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Do you find yourself easily distracted at work? That lack of focus will destroy any chance you have at developing good time management skills.
Imagine arriving at work and your entire office is coved with $100 bills from the floor to the ceiling. As you find your way to your desk, on the loud speaker you hear your owner announce. “Between the hours of 9 – 11:30 AM and 1:30 – 4:00 PM today, you can keep all the $100 bills you can gather – no strings attached.”
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Would you wait until 9:00 AM to start?
2. Would you REALLY go to lunch?
3. Would you take personal phone calls?
4. Would you send or read emails?
5. Would you go on social networking sites?
6. Would you even go to the bathroom?
You probably answered “NO” to most of those questions, because you would be extremely focused on gathering and keeping as many $100 bills as you could.
REALITY?
Those $100 bills are in your office right now. In fact they are “on your desk” attached to your telephone. If you are on the phone making planned result-oriented calls – you can make more money than you have ever thought possible.
We have people on both sides of our sales and our co-workers can also be a distraction. If we’re being quite honest, we often distract ourselves when our attention switches from work to family, friends, vacations, etc.
The best way to prevent distractions is to plan out your day, before you leave work each evening. If distractions or urgent issues take you away from your plan, you can easily get back on track focusing on “results-oriented” activities.
It’s also important to inform your friends and family members that the best hours for you to make money are during prime time i.e. 9 – 11:30 and 1:30 – 4:00 PM.
(they can vary from specialty to specialty!) During the hours when you have the best opportunity of contacting your clients and candidates – you don’t want to
be distracted by “personal” phone calls. Often family members and friends don’t realize they are taking money out of your pocket when they distract you during prime selling time. It is important to limit those distractions by just letting people know they should call you before work, during lunch or at the end of the day!
For the next five days, write down when distractions occur that take you away from your primary focus. Review this list and then write down solutions to eliminate those distractions the following week. If you limit distractions, you will earn more money! Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS
