As easy as it is to make a list of all the things you hope to achieve this new year (commercially and personally) it can be easy to get distracted. What with social media, TV, smartphones, and a million other devices out there designed to grab our attention, how do you keep yourself focused on what you want to get done? And how are you going to push you and your company into those next stages?
Well, first of all, the amount of time you spend on your list of goals is not going to be an indication of whether or not you succeed, it’s all about quality here, not quantity. It does not matter if you spend 20 hours making that proposal or pitch, if you ‘actually’ spent it checking your emails, answering the phone or having a snoop on Facebook (even if it is to follow us!).
Now imagine if you took all the energy that you put into those distractions and focused it onto that proposal, pitch, brief or whatever else it may be. Not only would you cut down on your time and increase your productivity, but the quality of your work would be outstanding without having to break your creative mind flow!
Not sure how to do it? Here’s a few steps we take to make sure we are at our best when working on a client’s design brief:
1 – Close down Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any other social media websites you have open. And we mean on your computer, iPad, tablet, smartphone, and all other electronic devices that could pop up with notifications. We mean it, no cheating! These are the biggest killers of productivity and the biggest distraction we have.
2 – Take charge of your email. Email can suck the life right out of you if you allow it. It never seems to end, and ignoring your email for a day can quickly add up to 250 emails waiting for you the next day. Don’t let this scare you. If it’s a client, you’ll get back to them. If it’s an employee, they will find you if it is really that important. 9 times out of ten, it’s junk mail anyways. Which leads onto number 3…
3 – Unsubscribe from any newsletters you don’t value, unfollow people on social media that don’t interest you or that you don’t gain anything from. There is nothing worse than tons of junk mail siting in your inbox that doesn’t benefit you.
4 – Most importantly, turn off you phone. Our phones can be brutal distractions. Mobile phones have opened up the idea that people can be accessible all the time, anywhere at any given point. We are here to tell you…no your not! If you need some focus time to get stuff done do not feel guilty about putting that phone on silent. Do it. Put it down.
Be a productivity guru this year, and by the end of 2014 you won’t believe what you have accomplished in just 12 months!
