If you want to build a thriving, sustainable business as quickly as possible, then distractions are your mortal enemy. Distractions are a drain that you can’t afford — they siphon away valuable time and energy and reduce your ability to focus on the task at hand. If your goal is forward momentum, then you need to find out if distractions are limiting your potential. Here are some of the common distractions that loan officers encounter:
Physical Distractions
If your desk is a mess or your office is a mess, you’re inviting distraction. Sometimes it’s just paperwork that catches your eye while you should be concentrating on something else. Other times it could be the sudden urge to neaten things up that pulls your attention away. Whatever it is, letting your work environment become disorganized will lessen your productivity. Think about what you need to have around to do your best work, and then put everything else away and out of sight.
Digital Distractions
Technology has made everything easier, but it’s not without its downside. We want to get the most out of our digital tools while not letting them create new problems. Pay attention to how you’re spending your digital time — is it on social media? Your website? Email? One easy way to curb digital distraction is by turning off notifications and alerts. Those audible alerts are a major source of distraction for many of us, and they often cause us to stop whatever we’re doing to see what we’re missing. In most cases, we’re not missing anything; but we are lowering our efficiency every time we check to see.
Your To-Do List
Just like with digital tools, our to-do lists exist to help us be more productive and efficient. If you have a 20-item long list of things to complete each day, it can be overwhelming to see each morning. A good strategy for organizing and taking of control of your to-do list, is to sort it by what’s essential and what is not. What absolutely has to be done today? That should be your list for the day. Everything else should be on some other list. More on optimizing your daily to-do list, here.
When we know what’s distracting us, then it’s very easy to begin making changes. Distractions steal our time, make us less efficient, and make us less productive. Reducing your distractions will help your business growth immensely. If you like what you’re reading, you can get my weekly articles for loan officers right to your email inbox. Subscribe today at MD-LoanOfficer.com.
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