You start your day with a to-do list and determined to finish them all within the day. However, as you work on your to-do list, your phone keeps beeping, people wanting your attention and all sorts of many distractions. And when you try to go back to your work, you’ve lost your focus and finished nothing at the end of the day.

Sounds familiar?

We all have experienced this…… Distractions and interruptions affect negatively your productivity. In this article, I’ve listed the most common distractions that can keep you from being productive. Along with each distraction is a suggested set of solutions to help you overcome the distractions and help you increase productivity in your travel business. I’ve used these and I’m telling you they do help me a lot in being productive in both my travel business and personal life.

1.  Social Media 

Of course, this is the no. 1 on our list.  While social media is a great way of connecting to your audience, it can easily distract us from having a productive day if we don’t use it right.

Solutions:  

• Use an app like “Rescue Time” to physically limit how much you can be on social media.

• Turn off all social media notifications.

• Set a social media schedule and only allow yourself to use social media during the allotted times.

• Delete social media apps from your phone.

2.  Email 

While Email is a powerful tool in Travel Business, it can be a great source of distraction when you need to focus on finishing your tasks.

Solutions:

• Avoid responding to email first thing in the morning.

• Only open your inbox at specified times of the day.

• Turn off all email notifications on your phone and computer.

• Create an auto-response that tells others you’re only able to respond to email on particular days of the week and then stick to that schedule

  3. Slack, Skype, Messenger 

Solutions: 

• Turn off all notifications on your phone.

• Close apps and only respond to messages at pre-specified times.

• Snooze notifications on desktop versions of the chat app

4. Text

Solutions:  

• Put your phone in a drawer and only take it out at specified times.

• Disable text notifications on your phone.

• Disable text notifications on your smartwatch and laptop.

• Only respond to text messages during specific times of the day

5. Phone Calls

Solutions:  

• Put your phone in a drawer and only take it out at specified times.

• Respond to voicemails at the end of the day after you’ve done your most productive work.

• Put your phone on silent mode during your focused periods.

• Disable notifications on your smartwatch and computer

6. People Interrupting You 

Solutions:  

• Close your office door.

• Put on headphones.

• When someone asks for a minute of your time, ask if you can catch them at a later, specified time.

SUMMARY:

Distraction was a challenge to me in the beginning however I’ve learned to overcome them and increase my productivity each day by using some of the solutions listed above. When I’m working and I need to focus, I  put my phone on silent mode, turn off my notifications, close apps and respond to messages at pre-specified times, snooze notifications on my desktop versions of the chat app and close my door to avoid interruptions. Each of us has so much going on in our lives, with full-time jobs, family/friends and let’s not forget every spare moment building and growing our travel businesses.  But if we want to achieve something and create a successful travel business, we need to learn how to avoid these common distractions and learn to manage our time well. Building your travel business empire requires you to master your time.

If you need help in managing your time and focusing and prioritizing what’s really important, I have a course called Effectively Mastering Your Time. Inside this masterclass, you will learn effective strategies to manage your busy schedule and overall time to increase efficiency and productivity.