The Art of Disconnecting

We are living through some interesting times right now. Of course I believe people should be aware of what is going on around them. What is really easy to do is cross the very thin line between awareness and obsession. Losing your job, having no money and losing your house are all real fears that everyone has. One sure way to make them all come true is to obsess over them to the point that you fail to do your job, focus on what makes you money and keep yourself moving towards your goals.

Recently I have walked into stores where sales people are huddled together talking about who got layed off or if the store will shutdown. I must have stood waiting for them to notice me for at least five minutes until I said “I hate to interrupt but I would like to buy xyz product”. To my surprise instead of getting the usual sales service where I would get walked over to the product and got the old up sell speech to a better product they simply pointed me over to corner of the store and told me to go get it. I even had to wait again just to be able to pay for the product!

Here are very simple methods I use to avoid getting caught up in the daily barrage of negative news.

Turn off messaging and emails!
I borrowed this from the Four Hour Work Week, great book and I highly recommend it. I got the audio book version and it has made a tremendous impact on my productivity.

Set your Blackberry to phone only and if you really must stay on top of emails check them at the top of the hour. You will be amazed how much more work you get done when you don’t check your phone every two seconds due to it chirping or vibrating.

While you are at it turn off Instant Messenger, Twitter Client and anything else that will bring a distracting screen or blinking icon that requires your attention. If people need to get a hold of you they will call.

Change your browser homepage!
Seems simple right? I used to have Yahoo! and at times Google News set to my homepage. The problem is that habitually I would hit the home button on my browser and then immediately be distracted by some major news or new viral story. I would say this habit alone is responsible for hours of lost productivity.

So the answer? I changed my homepage to the project or site that required my attention right now! If I tend to fall victim to my adult attention deficit disorder and go off chasing some news story, I just hit the home button that would usually keep me in la la land and I am now immediately taken back to what I should be giving my attention to.

Do not answer your phone!
Here is the real test that most people fail as they are conditioned to answer the phone when they hear a ring. Most people out of habit will stop what they are doing and get up to answer a phone without much thought. Stop doing this! Let your answering machine pickup and screen your calls. 99.9% of all calls are from Telemarketers or people who just want to chat for while. The goal is to stop talking to telemarketers or discussing the worlds problems with your friends and family.

Some of you may have to answer the phone for specific people like your boss, significant other etc… Use caller id and have those numbers clearly marked somewhere so that you know to answer only those calls. Everyone else goes directly into the message machine for screening.

Building your empire takes focus!
Times are tuff no doubt about that and if you do not have the ability to delegate work to others then its all on you to deliver. Staying focused will keep you working while others are losing work, jobs, money and homes. Times call for going the extra mile, keeping a clear head and getting your work done. Even when it seems everything is tumbling down you need to keep moving forward.

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