Interrupted time is one of the biggest enemies of innovation. It interferes with progress and distracts from discipline. One of my goals this year in my own life is to have DISCIPLINED DETERMINATION, which is my way of saying…”focused time to get things done.”

If you want to be more productive in your life you have to figure out how to interrupt interruption’s interference. Have a strategy to get more things done. Here are a few tips…

1. BLOCK Out Time For ONLY What You Want To Get done

Too many times we have scheduled time to get things done, but then we get interrupted by checking emails, reading text messages, watching our phone ring, or jumping ship to another task that pops in our mind. When you schedule time to get something done only focus on the task at hand. This is VERY difficult for me because I am a multi-thinking machine. But the truth is your mind can only focus on ONE thing at a time. The moment you start to jump ship and think about other things than what you are working on you are stealing precious time from your initial goal. To get things done you HAVE to put away your phone, stop checking emails every few minutes, get off the social media train, and clear out the clutter that too easily distracts you. Get away somewhere that you can work on ONLY what you want to get done and ONLY do that.

2. Get AWAY To Get Things DONE

Too many times we place ourselves in environments that set us up for distractions. We keep our door open in our office, we go somewhere to work only to be interrupted by co-workers, customers, or acquaintances at a local coffee shop. In order to truly focus on what you want to get done go somewhere where you can eliminate these traps. Yes, that may mean you need to isolate yourself from people and temptations that will distract you. Just the other day I was coaching a client who was needing to work on some time sensitive tasks but was always getting interrupted by “stuff.” As we worked together we uncovered some of these simple tweaks that are making a profound impact in his production. He began to schedule time that he “disappeared” and was “not available” which helped him and his staff work together for him to get away to get things done. So the tip…schedule non-negotionable time to work on tasks and disappear…trust me everything will be ok in your absence.

3. STOP Letting Others CONTROL Your Schedule

Part of interrupting interruptions is to beat people to the punch. Unplanned time is unproductive time. If you are so free with your schedule that you can say “yes!” to everyone’s requests, then they are in control of your time. You have to know what you are doing and when you are going to do it in order for your schedule to be productive. If you plan your time out successfully you have the option to say “no” to other people’s request because you truly have a reason why. It is when we have no true reason why that we always say “yes” to everyone’s requests. We feel guilty because we actually do have the time to do what they want us to do, but know it is stealing time causing us to get behind our work. When you beat people to the punch and have a specific plan for your time you then have the genuine option to say “yes” or “no” to people’s request. It is a lot easier to say “no” to someone because you have something on your schedule that is non-negotiable than to try and make up something on the spot. Control your time so other’s don’t by being proactive about your schedule.