Posts from November 2007

Stay Focused

November 28 2007

Erin’s Business Tip Of The Week

Stay focused.

The way to stay focused is to minimize your distractions. When you need to crank out some work or make some serious progress on a project, you must rid your work area of everything but the project at hand. This means you close your browser as to not be distracted by the internet, email, IM, etc., turn your cell phone and blackberry to silent, and clear all unrelated paperwork from your desk. If you are in a busy office, put your office phone on do-not-disturb and kindly let people who come into your office for questions or comments know that you would be happy to discuss their topic in a couple of hours or the next day. When you prepare in advance to minimize your distractions you will dramatically increase your productivity and efficiency for each project.

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Set Priorities

November 19 2007

Erin’s Business Tip Of The Week

Set Priorities

Create a list of your tasks and projects instead of relying on your memory. Next to each task, write down the urgency of the need to complete it to keep the task or project moving forward and to meet deadlines. If you would have no consequences by moving the task to another day or week, move it to make room for the more immediate matters. Know the difference between immediate and important. Knowing the difference between the two will make prioritizing much easier and create clarity. Determine if postponing a task would negatively affect other projects you are working in an effort to avoid the domino effect. It is also imperative to make a realistic determination of how long a task will take to complete so subsequent tasks don’t start piling up. When tasks and projects are written down with their correlating urgency and timelines you will become more efficient and productive and encounter less stress and chaos which will allow you to move smoothly through your projects.

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Take Action Everyday

November 5 2007

Erin’s Business Tip Of The Week

Take action everyday.

No matter what, take action everyday towards your career goals(s). Even when it feels like the last thing you want to do, do it anyway. Forward movement creates momentum and momentum creates even greater momentum to accomplish your goals. No matter how big the goal, it can and must be broken down into small actionable steps. Always have at least one action step written down on each goal. When that step is taken, immediately write down the next action. No matter how unsavory it may seem at the moment, bite the bullet and take that next step. It is the only way to reach your goals. To achieve what you want, you must focus on what really matters and take action everyday.

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