Do you ever wonder how some people look well-rested and relaxed? They seem to have more time for their work. It’s not that they have other people do their work for them either. It’s that they avoid the distractions and needless work that keeps them from being productive.
I just read a book review of Deep Work by Cal Newport. Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown. He is no mere mortal. You frazzled salespeople would love to be his clone.
Here’s what he’s done to earn this reputation of a well-rested, productive person. He published about 20 peer-reviewed papers over three years while he was teaching classes and writing his book. I know what time it takes to write a book. I’ve written two, Monday Morning Sales Tips and Real-World Selling for Out-of-This-World Results. They’re major time commitments.
Here’s what really caught my eye. He leaves work at 5:30pm every day. Are you stunned? Here’s how he does it.
When he’s working he is totally focused on his work. He is able to avoid distractions. What’s his strategy to avoid one of the biggest time consumers? He thinks email time is unproductive time.
Here’s his advice. He says, “Don’t answer an email if nothing really good will happen if you respond and nothing really bad will happen if you don’t.”
How’s that for a simple strategy? See if you can implement it and notice the increased time you have. Too many salespeople think they need to reply to every email they get. You don’t. Now you can filter them with Newport’s strategy. Maybe you will be able to leave work at 5:30pm every day, too.
