Time Management - Marc Mancini

Rocks, Blocks, Goals, and Clusters 61
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 aloofness
or indolence.
• Find a “secret” place to work. Often, there’s some conference
room, function hall, or other space in your building
where you could go and work, uninterrupted and undiscovered.
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 responsibilities,
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
you to be there can
be the most productive
of all.
• Have lunch when no
one else does. If your
stomach can accept
it and your schedule
permits it, eating
lunch at 11 a.m. or 2
p.m. will carve out
Make an Appointment
When you have an important
project due and it’s hard to
find time to work on it, make an
appointment with yourself. Write it in
your calendar and—when the time
comes—treat the job with the same
respect you’d give to an appointment
with another person. Close your
office door, let voicemail take your
calls, and devote your attention to the
task at hand.