Nestled in the top left corner of my screen I have the Apimac timer. Sometimes I allow it to remain visible and distracting. But more often, I shield myself from the inevitable by stuffing it behind the windows of Evernote and Pages. From thirty-five down to zero, this self-imposed limitation is narrowing the tenure of my CFT session.
Today I celebrate my fifth consecutive day using this productivity tactic; Critical focus time. Never before have I been able to set the course of my day and follow it according to plan. Client calls and impulsive email checks normally begin a string of tangents that run the course of my day. But I must work my days as best I can according to my plans. Not others.
Critical focus time is a process of setting up small blocks of times where you work on one project without interruptions. Normally between 30 and 45 minutes max. Followed by 15 minutes or so of returning messages or refreshing your mind. This allows enough time to not feel guilty about turning email and phone off, but still allow enough concentrated effort to make a dent on your work. I am continuously coming to realize that I don’t need more knowledge, ideas or books to raise the level of my success. I need to master focusing and completing projects efficiently.
Random thought: If knowledge was truly power, wouldn’t professors would rule the world?