by Ron Finkelstein
How many times have you experienced the following?

You begin working on creating web traffic or writing that article you have been putting off for too long. You get started, but abandon the job the first time something else grabs your attention. You ditch the job you had started, and joyfully dive into the new distraction, trying to prove you are moving forward with your work.

This interference is in all likelihood more entertaining than your necessary priority. You will do the interfering activity, but your time management has been set back tremendously. Your competence and yield could not become more unfavorable. You can accomplish a whole lot more. The more time you stay away from your necessary activities the more problems you will have trying to restart. This makes most of us begin to search for more interferences immediately.

Does this describe your work habits? If it does and you work in a traditional office environment you probably have a boss showing you the error of your ways. If this is how you handle tasks in your home-office-style business you are likely to lose dollars quickly. NOBODY will take you to the right path. Your family & friends are the biggest source of distractions! They are prime distractions, whispering comforting words: “Spend time with us, work can wait,” or “We’re important too.” These distractions can pull you away from legitimate priorities that will build your success. YOU need to make the change towards efficiency yourself.

The rules of time management apply universally and are based on common-sense principles. Whether you work from home, or work for a corporation managing other people. Distractions are found everywhere: at home it can be friends and family, while at work it can be co-workers and employees.

To begin your way to productivity, there are two rules you have to follow. They are:
1. Handle Tasks Once
2. Most Important First

You have read blogs, web sites, time management books by organizational gurus. Did you implement the system? How long did you keep the system in place? If distracting tasks describe your work habits, the answer must be “No.” You have read about the delegation of tasks, organizing your To-Do List, and setting priorities but…

You can develop the tools and habits to better utilize your free time by exerting just a little more effort in reading and practicing. To illustrate my point in this time management piece I will examine two logical beginning points that anyone can incorporate into his or her daily routine.

It is very easy to follow the simple rule that if you start a particular task, finish it. Do not give room for any distraction and push it on your To-Do list and focus on the priority job till you finish it. You waste your time if you start giving importance to those distractions. If you allow these kind of distractions, it also takes time to come AGAIN to the point you were doing and finally you lose lot of time. This is the basis of Touch it Once concept.

Part Two of Touch It Once: If you are at the end of your workday, don’t begin a task you cannot complete that day. In order for you to do a task correctly, you need to have time to get it done. Particularly if it is important. An important task you cannot complete today should be the first thing you work on the following morning. Prioritize important tasks ahead of others not considered as important.

A note about email: always use subject lines that indicate what the mail is about. Try to get your coworkers to do the same. When a thread continues for a long time with the same old subject line, it is easy to forget what the emails about. It can be difficult to find archived emails you are looking for, and an urgent matter can seem like part of an old thread. If doing this requires sending several emails in succession to the same person, that’s still a better way to work.

Ron Finkelstein is a small business owner who has spent a fortune and lifetime improving his Time Management Techniques. If you liked this time management tip, you might also like to learn about the Eisenhower Method or the pareto principle

Article Source: Time Management By Touch System