Disconnect the Distractions

Ah-ha! I caught ya! Reading your personal email at work. What a waste of your precious work hours…especially if you've just started a new job!

But it’s not just your for-fun emails that are taking up your time. Obsessively checking your work email, AIM and favorite blogs make quittin’ time approach much quicker, which is cool—but wait, you didn’t get anything done today! Oops!

Today, take a break from all of the distractions at work (donut breaks, too!) and tackle your to-do list bright and early. One project or task at a time, and swoosh—everything is crossed off the list before you know it! Glamour magazine tested this technique on editors and they all survived—so we're pretty sure you can too. One even reported that out of her hundreds of emails (which she normally spent a chunk of the day sorting through) there was only one urgent message. Wow, junk mail is a major time consumer!

You’ll be amazed how much you get done when you work straight through without stopping to play Scrabulous or watch a video on YouTube that your co-worker sent. Maybe you’ll even get props from the boss.

OK, OK, one quick peek during lunch. But that’s it—or we’re telling!