Establishing and maintaining control over how you spend your time and what you spend your time on is an important element of career success. Staying in "THE ZONE" of highest impact, as illustrated below, is definitely where you want to spend the predominance of your time. Minimizing time spent in the quadrants of DEMAND, ILLUSION and ESCAPE is therefore key.
Here are some ways to help amp up the amount of time you're able to spend in The Zone:1. Make an appointment with yourself. Give yourself uninterrupted blocks of time - 30, 60, or 90 minutes during the day. This will enable you to concentrate and focus your attention on the matter in hand. Close your door, ignore the phone and give yourself time to think and concentrate as you tackle your jobs and projects.
2. Make the most of your prime time. We all have a particular time of day when we have lots of energy and enthusiasm and a greater ability to think and concentrate. Work out when you are at your most effective and tackle your most important work then. Try to arrange meetings, appointments and other activities for other times of the day.
3. Avoid impromptu meetings. Impromptu meetings are really interruptions, and are huge time-wasters and productivity destroyers. They break your concentration, disturb your train of thought and undermine your momentum. The next time someone comes into your office or sits by your desk and starts to make herself comfortable, say that you're in the middle of a very tricky task or an important project. Then ask if you could get together at a mutually convenient time later in the day or week.
4. Schedule your telephone calls. Every time the telephone rings it's an interruption. If you're engrossed in some work it's fine to let the caller leave a message on your voice mail or answering machine. If you decide to answer the phone, explain that you can't talk at that moment, and arrange to set aside a time for a call later using these guidelines: (a) Each party should write down the time and date of the call. (b) Take each other's phone number so you can get in contact if there's a conflict. (c) Outline the topic of discussion. (d) Decide who will make the call.
5. Set aside time to meet with your staff and colleagues. In most offices, time is wasted by people getting up from their desks to ask someone else a question. This interrupts both parties. Here are some ideas to help you solve this problem: (a) Set aside specific times to meet people. (b) Have staff meetings later in the week. Most businesses hold their meetings first thing on a Monday morning, which drains people of their energy and enthusiasm. As an alternative, have the meetings on Thursday or Friday. (c) Give out tomorrow's work on the previous afternoon. This gives people time to organize the following day's workflow and the opportunity to think about what they need to do.