Staying focused and productive throughout the day can be a challenge, especially for business owners. With countless notifications popping up on our phones and computers, it’s easy to get distracted, go down a rabbit hole, and lose track of time. In fact, according to an Asurion study, the average person checks their phone every 12 minutes, with top users checking their phones up to 96 times per day.

But there are ways to combat distractions and stay on track. Let’s take a look at the A.W.E. Time Management model and how it helped my client Sarah, a woman who runs a small marketing agency, overcome her distractions.

AWARENESS

The first step is to identify what is distracting you. For Sarah, it was phone notifications, emails, and social media alerts. She realized these were constantly popping up, making it difficult for her to concentrate on her work.

WORK

The next step is to create an easy-to-implement solution to reduce or eliminate those distractions. Sarah didn’t try to force herself to ignore her phone altogether, as that would have been too difficult. (Most people check their phones so often, that going cold turkey would be tough!) Instead, she started by checking her phone once an hour, and then gradually reduced it to twice a day. 

She also disabled notifications so her attention wouldn’t be pulled away from her work. Remember, we are trying to make this easy to implement, and “forcing yourself” not to look at email (or any other notifications) when we know they are there is NOT easy. We are trained to respond to the “ding”. We didn’t want to use up all of Sarah’s willpower trying to ignore her phone, so instead she just disabled the notifications for each offending app.

EVALUATION

Finally, it’s important to evaluate your solution and make sure it’s working without creating any additional challenges. Sarah initially tried keeping her phone on airplane mode, but that caused her to miss an important call from her son’s school. So, she turned off notifications instead, allowing her to still receive phone calls while minimizing distractions.

By following the A.W.E. Time Management model, Sarah was able to overcome her distractions and stay focused on her work.

In conclusion, distractions can be a major hurdle to productivity, but with awareness, work, and evaluation, you can develop strategies to stay on track and accomplish your goals. Try out the A.W.E. Time Management model for yourself and see how it can help you stay focused and productive throughout the day.