What To Do When There's Too Much To Do

3Focus Your Attention

Once you’ve determined what to do and have scheduled time to complete it, you must concentrate on its completion. The most effective time management system in the world won’t do a thing to improve your productivity if you don’t focus on the critical tasks at hand. For many of us, the problem isn’t a lack of willpower—it’s having the restraint to refuse distractions.

More than ever, we modern workers are bedeviled by interruptions that pull us away, willingly or otherwise, from the key activities of our jobs. If it’s not our noisy office-mates, it’s the siren song of the Internet or an over-fascination with e-mail.

You must learn to concentrate on the truly important tasks. Wield your focus like a blade, stripping away anything ...