{"id":2078,"date":"2012-10-25T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-10-25T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/central-ohio-north\/first-come-first-served-why-your-office-is-not-a-short-order-deli-other-tips-to-improve-your-work-day-productivity"},"modified":"2012-10-25T12:00:47","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T16:00:47","slug":"first-come-first-served-why-your-office-is-not-a-short-order-deli-other-tips-to-improve-your-work-day-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/central-ohio-north\/first-come-first-served-why-your-office-is-not-a-short-order-deli-other-tips-to-improve-your-work-day-productivity","title":{"rendered":"First Come, First Served: Why Your Office is Not a Short-Order Deli & Other Tips to Improve Your Work Day Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this week’s blog we are pleased to present an article from\u00a0Leslie Shreve, a colleague of Baltimore Growth Coach Susan Katz. Susan was named the 2009 Growth Coach Best Franchise in a New Market, and the 2010 Growth Coach Franchise of the Year. In addition, Susan received the 2010 Rising Star Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners Baltimore Regional Chapter and has been recognized as one of the 2011 Maryland\u2019s Top 100 Women.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Susan, visit www.SusanKatzCoaching.com<\/span><\/a><\/span> or to learn more about Leslie, visit\u00a0www.ProductiveDay.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First Come, First Served: Why Your Office is Not a Short-Order Deli & Other Tips to Improve Your Work Day Productivity<\/h2>\n

Over the years, in your endless search for work day bliss, I imagine you\u2019ve established your routines at work for getting things done. You may have followed the advice of the hottest gurus or just created your own way to balance all the demands made upon you from moment to moment.<\/p>\n

So how\u2019s your routine working?<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you stuck in a few work day ruts? Do you recognize when you\u2019re stuck? Have you been buried by an avalanche of information, succumbed to multi-tasking and gotten sucked into the greatest source of an unproductive work day \u2013 reactivity?<\/em><\/p>\n

Let me share with you 3 common road-side ruts you may find yourself in these days. Are you ready to steer your way out<\/em> of them and get back on the road to peak productivity?<\/p>\n

Rut #1: Treating everything on a \u201cfirst come, first served\u201d basis<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have clients who have told me they \u201clive from their Inbox\u201d or they complete things as they show up, making it a priority. Do you do that too? Do you drop what you\u2019re doing now<\/em> so you can do something else<\/em> just because it\u2019s quick and you\u2019d rather not put one more thing<\/em> on your to-do list?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re bouncing through your day from task to task as people, phones, and e-mails make more demands on you, you\u2019re treating everyone and everything on a \u201cfirst come, first served\u201d basis. Then, because everything is a priority, nothing is a priority and your time can easily disappear. Before you know it, you\u2019ve taken care of all those tasks and requests at the expense of your <\/em>priorities.<\/p>\n

Easy solution:<\/b><\/em> You\u2019ll feel good about accomplishing a really big, important task or a few little important ones regularly once you learn how to set boundaries, protect your time and keep your focus. Your work day is not a short-order deli. It\u2019s your work day, with an emphasis on your.<\/em> You never want to lose too much time focusing on what others<\/em> deem important, when it\u2019s not one of your<\/em> priorities\u2026 unless it\u2019s your boss making the demands. Then you\u2019ll have to weigh the priorities.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t always have an open-door policy. Don\u2019t pick up the phone every time it rings. Don\u2019t check your e-mail or succumb to the e-mail alerts you have enabled. At other times you will do all of these, but please\u2026. allow yourself at least two hours each day that are all<\/em> yours, quiet and uninterrupted, to get\u2026 things\u2026 done<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Rut #2: Your task list is on a cocktail napkin<\/strong><\/p>\n

When it comes to getting to-dos out of your head, it\u2019s true: anything to write on will do. But it shouldn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen clients use napkins \u2013 both the lunch and cocktail varieties \u2013 and even a barf bag from an airplane for writing down to-dos. My client said, \u201cThat\u2019s all I had to write on!\u201d Hey, that\u2019s ok with me. It\u2019s is a good first step, but it is not the end of managing those tasks, nor is it even possible to prioritize those tasks with everything else on your plate.<\/p>\n

Easy solution:<\/b><\/em> Create a \u201cMission Control\u201d for yourself, electronically. There should be one <\/em>place in your computer, hopefully within your e-mail system, that you feed all <\/em>your tasks, reminders, and to-dos so that no matter where or how you collect these, you bring them back to the mother ship. Then you can reduce the reminders around you and you won\u2019t lose tasks and priorities among the mass of information on your desk.<\/p>\n

Rut #3: Don\u2019t Follow the \u201cTouch it once\u201d Advice<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard that ago-old advice \u201ctouch it once\u201d for your papers, files, e-mails, etc. so you can be most efficient and save time later by not touching it again?<\/p>\n

Hogwash! Forget it! If you\u2019re failing<\/em> at doing this and you feel bad<\/em> about it, let it go. I hereby free you from the guilt! It\u2019s the most<\/p>\n

ridiculous bit of advice I\u2019ve ever heard. Well, almost, but that\u2019s for another article. This one is near the top of the charts though.<\/p>\n

Easy solution<\/b><\/em>: <\/strong>Every time you\u2019re touching something, make a decision<\/em> on it. That\u2019s the most important point here. You may touch something 10 times in its lifecycle as a task because you\u2019re not always going to resolve it immediately. Not for tasks that require e-mails, calls, research or getting consensus from others. So every time you touch<\/em> something, anything, <\/em>make a decision on it and get everything one step closer to done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For this week’s blog we are pleased to present an article from\u00a0Leslie Shreve, a colleague of Baltimore Growth Coach Susan Katz. Susan was named the 2009 Growth Coach Best Franchise in a New Market, and the 2010 Growth Coach Franchise of the Year. In addition, Susan received the 2010 Rising Star Award from the National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[740,687,703,689,708,763,944,938,784,939,820,690,764,691,821,1027,692,693,892,695,729,696,1059,768,697,770,699,1052],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-coaching","tag-balance","tag-benefits-of-business-coaching","tag-business-blog","tag-business-coach","tag-business-coaching","tag-business-coaching-advice","tag-business-coaching-client-success","tag-business-coaching-guarantee","tag-business-coaching-tips","tag-business-complexity","tag-business-development","tag-business-owner","tag-business-owner-break","tag-business-owner-burnout","tag-business-owner-emotional-management","tag-business-owner-leverage","tag-business-owner-mindset","tag-business-systems","tag-delegation","tag-entrepreneur","tag-growth-coach","tag-leadership","tag-leslie-shreve","tag-marketing","tag-small-business-management","tag-strategic-business-owner","tag-strategic-mindset","tag-susan-katz"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Come, First Served: Why Your Office is Not a Short-Order Deli & Other Tips to Improve Your Work Day Productivity - Growth Coach of Central Ohio North<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/central-ohio-north\/first-come-first-served-why-your-office-is-not-a-short-order-deli-other-tips-to-improve-your-work-day-productivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Come, First Served: Why Your Office is Not a Short-Order Deli & Other Tips to Improve Your Work Day Productivity - Growth Coach of Central Ohio North\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For this week’s blog we are pleased to present an article from\u00a0Leslie Shreve, a colleague of Baltimore Growth Coach Susan Katz. 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