Set your “zone time.”
It takes, on average, 15 minutes to get in the zone– you know– that spot of productivity that you plow through work? The work that pays the bills: client emails, quotes, booking confirmations, client calls, marketing, for example.
Flipping into social while waiting for a payment to process removes you from the zone and then you gotta start all over again… takes another 15 minutes to be in the groove.
You might need to pop in to FB to ask a question and while you’re waiting for someone to reply, you start to scroll, lose your focus and then you forgot you even asked a question to begin with. 45 minutes later…. You’re wondering where your time went.
Once you have finished your money-making work “in the zone” go in and network on social, build those connections, use it as your down-time after you are done for the most part. Are we ever really done? Answer questions in groups, watch some education live videos (or the replays).
You get your relevant work done first by not getting distracted by things that will eat your time.
Your brain needs to rest
Our brain is a muscle. Think of how you feel after an intense workout, your muscles need to rest, right? So does your brain.
Our brains are inundated with information—thanks to our smartphones, social media, and all the dings–which means there isn’t enough time for it to rest.
Just because you can keep answering emails or checking Instagram doesn’t mean you should. These little things all take brain power, which then depletes its ability to do the best work. This leads us to spin our wheels, thinking we are busy. Your brain is busy but you’re not accomplishing much.
What to do? Here are some ideas:
- Prioritize the money-making work. Save social media for after you finish these tasks.
- Do not work through meals; take the break to listen to music, a podcast, read a book or magazine, call a friend, do your mindless social scrolling→ use a timer to not over do it.
- Resist the urge to check social media or email from bed first thing in the morning. This is hard, really hard. However, your brain is so well rested—don’t waste that precious energy on mindless scrolling.
Another thing you can do is sign up for my free challenge: Stop missing out on sales!
About the Author
Dana has spent her professional career as both a teacher and as a travel consultant. Professionally spending 10 years in the classroom and 8 years and counting as a travel consultant. Additionally, she has developed travel agent education programming for new agents. In 2020, she felt called to pivot her career realizing there is so much skills training available to travel agents but very little mindset training. Experts say only 20% of success is based on skills or knowledge. The other 80% is mindset. As a certified business coach she developed a program that focuses on teaching both sales and mindset skills.