The original tips were taken from EJ Cooksey but I have added some more useful information. Be free to add to this list or give us some insight on how you manage your online work time.
1. Reduce your phone time.
You may feel as if you don’t spend much time on the phone, or your phone calls are not as long as your spouse’s or your girlfriend’s, but are they really necessary during the work day? I have recently noticed that a fair amount of businesses now subscribe to inexpensive voicemail services such as www.gotvmail.com. Dedicate an hour a day to answering voicemails. When recording the voicemail message, mention that you call back your voice mails between 4pm-6pm Monday to Friday. Your callers will understand that your busy and will be expecting a call back in the afternoon. Just make sure you follow thru…
2. Avoid constantly checking your email.
Just like the phone, you should set a side a specific time frame in the day when you respond to all your emails. If you keep Outlook or Gmail constantly open and receive reminders, you will have a difficult time focusing on the task at hand. To make sure you check your email at the same you could run a Windows Task Scheduler. The task scheduler is located in your Windows Control Panel. It will allow you to input the exact time you wish for Microsoft Outlook to open on daily basis. You will definitely appreciate this tip. It has helped me put my email checking addiction behind me.
3. Workout a schedule with your partner or spouse.
If you work at home and have to deal with the constant distraction by your lovely family, you will never get any work done. Consider working in such hours when the house is peaceful or workout a schedule with your family members. If the space is available, also try to find a working area which places you behind closed doors. You may pick up a door lock and ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign at your local hardware shop (just don’t get too carried away). Your family will really appreciate you separating yourself off for a few hours at a time.
4. Take your breaks!
It has been proven on numerous occasions that a break can increase your overall productivity. Why do you think a lot of companies allow their employees to work on a flex-schedule and offer longer than usual breaks?
Don't let him distract you... keep working! I love Office Space. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you must pick it up.
