Distractions

How many times has this happened to you - you sit down to do a solid hour of work, but before you get started the phone rings, then an IM pops up, and just as you take care of those, an interesting email comes in. Before you know it, your hour is gone and you've accomplished nothing.

These distractions can eat away more than an hour. Sometimes it seems like I waste away a whole day and get nothing tangible done. As a business owner, it can become especially difficult. It's easy to shut off your phone and turn off IM if your only shutting out your friends, but what if those channels are how your customers reach you? I struggle with the same question whenever I work - should I keep Outlook open or not?

If I close it, my productivity shoots up but I don't see any emails from customers. I think it's important to respond to customers ASAP. A rapid response can go a long way with a customer. However, if I keep Outlook open, 95% of what comes in is spam, newsletters, or emails that could be answered later in the day or the next day. I end up wasting time glancing at these and my productivity is shot. So is it worth the waste in productivity to satisfy customers?

Increasingly, I'm saying no. I NEED time to be productive. I shut off the cell phone, turn off IM, and close Outlook. I check back every 4 or 5 hours at a minimum in case their is an important email. Yes, I may not reply as fast to those super urgent emails, but at least I get stuff done (and honestly, nothing in the world of sports collectibles is THAT urgent - I'm not running a hospital here).

I also plan on taking my work to places where there is NO internet access as the weather gets nicer. I can't be distracted by my cell phone or email if I'm at the lake or park where there is no phone reception or wireless internet!

As bad as this is now, how much worse is it going to get in the next few years? The more ways we figure out to communicate with each other, the more distractions we will have. And the more distractions we face, the more work we're going to have to put in to get away from them.