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Rocks, Blocks, Goals, and Clusters
your “sacred” hours. The same, if you can pull it off (and
need to), might even be practical at home.
• Hang a “do not disturb” sign on your door. Keep the door
closed. (If you have a work cubicle and not an enclosed
office, tape the sign in a strategic spot.) Divert calls to
voicemail. Doing this, of course, requires some tact, but if
you’re productive, your peers should respect your quiet
times as a mark of dedication and efficiency, not aloof-
ness or indolence.
• Find a “secret” place to work. Often, there’s some confer-
ence room, function hall, or other space in your building
where you could go and work, uninterrupted and undis-
covered. When you feel the need to work undisturbed, go
there. It might even be someplace unexpected, like the
local library or a seldom-used corner of a nearby hotel’s
lobby. (This strategy works for some home responsibili-
ties, too.)
• Come to work very early or stay late. This, of course, has
something to do with your body rhythms (discussed later in
this chapter), as well as the patterns of your fellow workers
and of family members. Also, some businesses don’t
encourage flextime (the ability to work your own schedule).
They still expect you to work until 6 p.m., even if you came
in at 7 a.m. However, the times when others aren’t
in the office and
callers don’t expect Make an Appointment
you to be there can When you have an important
project due and it’s hard to
be the most produc-
find time to work on it, make an
tive of all.
appointment with yourself. Write it in
• Have lunch when no
your calendar and—when the time
one else does. If your comes—treat the job with the same
stomach can accept respect you’d give to an appointment
it and your schedule with another person. Close your
permits it, eating office door, let voicemail take your
lunch at 11 a.m. or 2 calls, and devote your attention to the
p.m. will carve out task at hand.