Summarize:

In your workplace, you may have many commitments besides the ones that pertain to your current high volume project. Take some time and evaluate these commitments. Do they pertain specifically to your job description? Is there a coworker who is more qualified to deal with them?  Get permission to eliminate commitments that aren’t necessarily your job. Tell your boss that tasks outside of the specific workload are taking away from your productivity, and your boss may be willing to let you give them to someone else. Return work to coworkers that you took as a favor if you have recently taken on a high volume workload. When you have a high volume workload, you have to stop taking other people’s responsibilities. Make a time log for recording how much time you spend on a typical portion of your workload. Once you have established how long you’re taking, you can take action to reduce that time. You can also use this time frame for building a more effective daily schedule.  It might be helpful to build a spreadsheet of how long it takes for each project so that the data can be automatically generated into whatever type of visual helps you best—a line chart, a graph, etc. Make rows for each project name, duration, and start and stop time. You can even make a row for interruptions and include those start and stop times. Once you have charted your daily work experience, you will have a visual guide for where you can stop doing things that detract from your work flow. For example, you can turn off email notifications so that you aren’t chasing emails on demand, but rather set aside blocks of time for emailing.  You can do the same for phone calls by turning off the ringer and situating the phone where you can’t see missed alerts. Turn off alerts for social media and any other apps on both phone and computer. Prevent coworkers from approaching your workspace by putting up a “do not disturb” sign at times when you need uninterrupted focus. No one can avoid being interrupted in a busy workplace. Instead of shutting your door and telling no one to talk to you all day, schedule times in the day that you are willing be to be interrupted. For example, if you’re a professor, advertising “office hours” means you are allowing students to interrupt you whenever they need help.  You can use the activity log you created to show you what time of day you are most likely to be needed by coworkers, and plan your interruption window for that time. You can announce to coworkers when you are available by emailing them or posting a sign in your workspace. Keeping your work area organized is not only good for eliminating things that distract you, but it’s good for setting the tone for an efficient day of work. If the documents you need are buried in a pile, you lose time searching. Keep everything you need in a specific place so that you can move quickly.  Try keeping a small filing cabinet at your desk and creating folder tabs so that you can quickly organize paperwork when it hits your desk. Get a big desk calendar and keep it on your desk so that you can quickly pencil in meetings and important deadlines. Take 30 minutes each morning and plan out your day, including making a list of the most important tasks in order of deadline. Adjust this list throughout the day so that you are continuously tackling the most important tasks first, even if new tasks arrive on your desk throughout the day.  For example, if you work in customer service, you may have irate customers calling and emailing even though your boss has you working on a long-term document. You should pause on the document to address the concerns of the customers first. Update your list so that you don’t get off track.
Decide which commitments are unnecessary. See how much time you spend on each project. Eliminate workspace distractions. Schedule time for interruptions. Organize your work area. Prioritize tasks by deadline.