Talk about self-discipline. Creating the perfect day took a week or so to get used to. I mean, there were so many things to get accustomed to. Scheduling everything out on my Google calendar (including breaks), limiting social media (freeing up more time for me to stay focused). Of course, you learn to check your calendar first thing in the morning (not to mention a hundred times a day). Part of creating the “perfect day” is also setting office hours and enforcing them (trust me this will work).

From the start, I decided to stray from the herd and not offer the “I’m available 24/7” or “feel free to call, text, email, Facebook, etc anytime.”

Why? First off you are opening yourself up to a huge headache. Why would you want communication all over the place? Get control of the situation and direct all communication to email. I know how most of you are about email and being overloaded but that’s what I really want to share today. You have a structured system for a reason. Therefore using email is one of your best weapons in defending that system.

You can always direct the conversation back to email. If someone starts texting you or Facebook messaging you and it’s business related, kindly ask them to move the conversation to email. You can simply reply,

“I would love to discuss this further. Go ahead and email me the details.”

Remember, you are the one in charge so you are the one who has to step up and direct this. Will it be easy? Nope! Will you forget? Yup! But at the end of the day you will be more aware of what needs to be done and will continue to think about

Remember, you are the one in charge so you are the one who has to step up and direct this. Will it be easy? Nope! Will you forget? Yup! But at the end of the day you will be more aware of what needs to be done and will continue to think about it therefore it will become easier. I’m just planting the seed.

Email is the best way to keep track of everything. It’s a central place where you can have documented communication between you and another party that is time stamped and easy to print out if needed. Stop stressing out about text messages you have to find and print for lawyers (you can stop taking screenshots of your text messages and get Phoneview to print out your conversations). Text messages should stick to short conversations that are not related to work. The minute they are, direct it back to email.

So here’s how to set up the perfect email workflow

• Inbox = only leave emails that you are waiting to follow up on or hear back from

• Folders/labels you should have these be very specific. Ex. Receipts 2016

Businesses use Google apps (my affiliate link) as it’s the perfect solution for anybody given the support, gmail@yourdomainname, and 30GB of storage all for $5 a month. Everything can be all under one roof. Plus, you can start using Google docs for your project communications so it eases the load to your inbox.

 By setting all this up you will:

• become more aware of what you do vs what you should be doing
• regain control of the conversation
• become organized
• feel more productive
• stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off
•  have more “me time”
• enjoy time spent with others knowing you are “clocked out”