Keeping yourself on task can be challenging, especially since the admin job by nature is full of distractions. Even if you have super powers when it comes to avoiding distractions and maintaining a laser focus on what you’re doing, all it takes is one unexpected event – personal or professional – to throw a wrench into your strategy.
My year started with a renewed effort to focus better throughout the day. I identified several areas where distractions were derailing me and changed how I do some things as a result. I took the Time and Space Style inventory and learned that my dominant Time Style Preferences are Hopper and Perfectionist Plus. Here’s what this means for me, and probably some of you reading.
A Hopper naturally enjoys having many projects and tasks at a time because it helps them maintain their energy and motivation. That’s me. The downside is I tend to get distracted (especially when I’m bored). Or worse yet, I get discouraged because I have so many open items going at once. So the key for me is setting myself up to hop well. As a Hopper, I need to pay attention to my energy levels so I can take breaks to maintain my focus and reduce the chance for distractions. This helps me finish things more successfully. A timer is definitely helpful in getting me to focus for set blocks of time.
As a Perfectionist Plus, it’s important for me to create a to-do list and prioritize based on importance, enjoyability, and profitability. This way, I’m putting my best effort and perfectionist tendencies into the most important and most profitable items first. Then what’s left over can be handled in a not-so-perfectionist style if I have to plow through it to get things done and meet deadlines.
By learning more about my unique style for how I value and manage time, I have been able to setup better systems to help me avoid distractions and maintain better periods of focus.
There are many techniques and strategies that you can employ to keep yourself focused and on the right track. This week we share a lot of tips and ideas on our Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages. And you can also find some excellent advice from productivity expert, Laura Stack, in this week’s feature article, “Dealing With Distractions and Interruptions: Strategies for Staying Focused on Important Tasks.”
Supporting your administrative success,
Julie
P.S. If you want to learn more about the Time and Space Style Inventory and how it can help you leverage your unique organizing style more successfully, check out my new book, The Organized Admin! It is now available for pre-order! Click here to reserve your autographed copy now!
