One way to combat a loss of focus at work

What time of day are you most able to focus?

For me, I do my best work between 7 AM and 1 PM. My college roommate preferred studying after 10 PM.

Whatever your most productive time is, protect it. Don’t allow anyone to schedule a meeting during your best hours. Don’t use this golden time to process paperwork. Don’t walk the dog or work out. Don’t fill out your time sheet. Instead, write that challenging section of the audit report, review complicated working papers, or plan the audit.

When your energy wanes and you start reading the same sentence three times, get busy with the trivial tasks. Turn on some music. Have a little snack. Take a run. Since you are working at home, you can take a short nap and then wake up refreshed for another round of work.

Since your creative time is so valuable, it deserves R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Graham Allcott, in How to be a Productivity Ninja, calls your best working hours ‘periods of proactive attention’ and writes, “…it’s a criminal waste to be changing the printer cartridge during a period of proactive attention.”

If you want to talk more about time management and how to combat a loss of focus at work, join Leita and Suzyn for Leading an Audit Project in April.