Your work is essentially a set of queues and inboxes. You are waiting for other people to do something, other people are waiting for you to do something, and tasks are waiting for you to complete.
These come in the form of in-person interruptions, phone calls, faxes, emails, snail mail, meetings and on it goes (blogs, Twitter, etc).
Accept the fact that the bulk of your present activities produce little or no value. It’s a bitter pill to swallow. You waste significant amounts of time and energy on things that don’t matter.
You just feel compelled to engage in low/no-value activities most of the time. But it’s a habit you can break by:
1. Systematically eliminate the irrelevant.
2. Set the pace (throttle).
3. Clarify and process the remainder.
To focus on your core mission, make room for it in terms of your physical workspace, time and mental capacity:
1. Stop In-Person Interruptions
2. Check snail mail once/week.
3. Don’t answer the phone.
4. Check work email only twice per workday
5. Master the Art of Meetings
All you have to do for each is track how much time you’re wasting, and cut all that’s not necessary. More to follow.