IF YOU’RE sick and tired of the barrage of work communications and expectations that has accompanied the advent of new technology in the workplace or home, you’re not alone. Follow these tips to increase efficiency, reduce distraction and learn how to put techno-pests in their place.

Email, laptops, multiple phones, personal organisers and all the rest of it may be a boon when we want them for our own convenience, but quite the opposite when we want some peace and quiet and – perish the thought – to actually get some work done.

The temptation to constantly check email, respond to calls, flip in and out of websites and all the rest of it can literally waste hours a day and dramatically reduce work efficiency. If you’re trying to cut down on work hours or to work from home, this is a particular trap.

Andrew May is an Australian expert on performance and productivity, the former physical performance manager for the Australian Cricket Team and AFL players, Olympians and various leading sportspeople.

He is also the co-founder of Good Health Solutions, a major corporate health and wellbeing company. Based in London and Sydney, he now coaches CEOs and senior managers to be more productive at work. Late last year he published Flip the switch, which deals with becoming more productive at work by learning to use technology and modern work practices to your advantage, not your detriment.

“It’s impossible to sustain peak performance if you are on 24/7. Elite athletes have a season off every year and some of the world’s leading universities give their top academics a six-month sabbatical every few years,” he says.

Based on his experience of work, business and sport in today’s pressure filled environment, he offers the following tips to help reduce our modern obsession with multi-tasking.

1. Chunking. Focus on completing one task at a time or working on similar tasks together. So, for example, write all proposals at once, block out all meetings on one day or afternoon and establish a ‘do not disturb’ time several times a week.

2. Work to your energy platforms. If you’re a morning person, block out this time to do your most demanding, high thinking work. Avoid using this time for mundane tasks that can be completed when your energy is flagging. And vice versa if you’re an afternoon person.

3. Clear communication. Explain your working rules to your colleagues or clients. Not being available 24/7 is not rude or exclusive – it makes good sense.

4. Prioritising. Don’t become consumed by the medium – focus instead on what needs to be done now. Spend 10 or 15 minutes at the start of each day to create a task list and focus on it.

5. Email school. Most of us adopted email by osmosis – there was no such thing as email etiquette or learning how to use it to be productive and efficient rather than being chained to the inbox. Try these for starters:

• Check emails only two or three times each day.
• Get rid of your ‘you have mail’ alert which kills thought process and productivity.
• Avoid email tennis – if after more than two emails you’re still unclear then make a call or meet face to face!
• Keep emails brief and to the point.
• Stop covering your butt. The CC and BCC is usually unnecessary. Only send emails to relevant people.
• Delete. Get rid of junk.
• Respond to what’s important. It may challenges values and manners that you were brought up with, but surviving amidst ‘data smog’ means you need to have less ‘mannerly’ focus. It is work, after all.

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