People keep saying that having smartphones like the iPhone 4 or the BlackBerry will make you more productive because you have access to e-mail anywhere, anytime. Some also believe that social media channels can amplify your influence and reach when it comes to your vocation. I believe all them, but there’s a dangerous line that we all shouldn’t cross. The problem with social media and technology is that they can be the biggest distraction which actually lowers our productivity and output. Focus is crucial for one to produce quality, remarkable, and excellent work. Multitasking can actually drive output lower. How many times have we opened a new tab in our browser to go to Facebook while researching something online? How many times did we stop working on a presentation because we picked up our BlackBerry to check out all the e-mails and reply to them?
Technology is moving faster than our capacity to multitask. For us to become effective we need to shut down distractions and focus on key goals and objectives for the day. Here are a few tips that I want to share with everyone that I follow and has helped me a lot in my day-to-day activities:
Set Daily “MUST DO” Tasks
There are dozens of ways to get organized but the most effective for me is to just make a CARLO-YOU-MUST-DO-THIS-TOMORROW-OR-YOU-SUCK list before I go to sleep. I usually just peg 2-3 things per day and I won’t do anything in the morning until I finish them. This simple system has made me more productive than ever. Before I’d just go over my to-do list and just cross them out randomly based on how I feel. Now I really make it a point to prioritize 2-3 must-do tasks and try to get them out of the way as early as possible.
Check e-mail at certain times in the day only
Now this is my ETERNAL struggle. As most of you guys know, I love BlackBerry phones. I’m always connected to my e-mail and I can’t stop myself from checking and replying to my mails because they come like SMS messages to my inbox (push e-mail). The problem with this is that the e-mails become constant interruptions. I keep on stopping whatever it is I’m doing just to read and reply. Sometimes the replies take a while to make so it just delays me from doing what I’m supposed to do for the day.
I learned a tip from Henry Aquende of Best Practices. He mentioned to me before that he only checked his e-mail at certain times in the day. One time in the morning and one time late afternoon. I tried following his advice and it while it has disadvantages, it worked wonders for me especially if I have a lot of things to do for that day.
Set a time for reading blogs and checking social networking sites
This is probably the hardest for me — haha! I’m the type that checks social networking accounts like Facebook and Twitter even while on the road because of my iPad and BlackBerry. The problem with doing this is that it forms a habit and you eventually start going more often to your social networking sites even if you’re supposed to be doing something else. Suddenly you can’t control your fingers anymore and they make new tabs on your browser and you just find yourself wasting away hours on Facebook.
I have a good friend in Canada who shared with me that he checks Facebook, Twitter, and reads blogs only once a day at 6PM-7PM. After that it’s dinner time and he spends the rest of the evening with his family and doing other more important stuff. If you’re still building your career though and you have time on your hands, then that would be a good time to work on developing your personal brand (after work hours) because that’s the only time you have to do so.
Anyway, I hope you guys find this short entry helpful. Social media and technology can definitely help and boost our careers but it can also be the source of our downfall.
I so agree!
But thankfully, a part of my job is to read blogs so I’m a happy girl 
I agree. Multitasking doesn’t make us more productive.
I’ve implemented not looking at my social media sites in the office until I’m done with work, and it’s helped so far. I also don’t keep my email client open anymore, so I can focus on work instead of lizard braining myself through emails.
Sometimes I disconnect my internet connection, too.
Focus, focus, focus. Nice read, Carlo.
Wow… I learn a lot from this topic. I ussually get distracted from my work through viewing social networks and checking my email.
I am using the igoogle calendar and other stuff on it so that I can plan my task ahead and know my priorities.
Hi to everyone, it’s my first time here. I just want to say that I so totally agree.
In fact I’ve created an experimental website for gadget bashing where we practically give a voice for people who hate gadgets.
It’s so easy to be distracted with things like Farmville, or Social City that we tend to forget why we are on the Internet in the first place.
I agree with some of it.. but Facebook is part of my job too. It all depends in each and everyone this kind of ideas will only fit the oldies for they cannot catch up with the speed. Output for me is derived from your passion to do it and less affected by any minor stuff.. Thx for this Carl!
Thanks for the comments guys!