Don't take orders from your calendar

I wonder how many of us are driven by our calendars, our email and our voicemail, and how many of us attempt to actually structure their days to get something done.  It seems to me that people are "busy" all the time, and are in constant firefighting mode, or what we'd call "interrupt" mode.  However, that mode is really no way to be productive, and has been shown to make you less productive, since your brain is not wired to work well with significant multi-tasking.

I can't really hold myself up as an example, since I am frequently pulled in many different directions in my sales and marketing role, but I can tell you my routine and what I try to stick to most days.I have a particular routine to the way I like to work.  Early mornings are for reflection, writing and review of the previous day.  Late morning for meetings.  Early afternoon for calls to prospects or customers.  Late afternoon for planning.  This does not mean that I am fixed in these stages, but it does provide some context for my day. 

I work this way because I can come in early, before anyone else, and get time to think, reflect on the previous day and do a brain dump in my blog or some other medium.  I try to schedule time in the day for outbound calls that I need to make, and book time with myself to do it.  This is just a discipline thing that makes sure I do the things today that will pay benefits down the road.  Many outbound calls are easy to put off, which just postpones the pain to another day.  In the late afternoon I like to work on short and medium term projects or plans.  I work on these in the afternoon because I happen to work better under a deadline - it helps me focus and more quickly eliminate weaker alternatives.

Also, I am an iterative worker, which means I will work on something, put it aside and come back to it later the same day or even several days later.  I do this because I usually get some inspiration from talking with others or reading some new material that I'd like to add to my work.  This doesn't make my approach right or wrong, just the one that works for me.

What's important here is not that you adopt my approach, cause it may work for me and not for you.  What is important is to map out your working time, and determine when you can perform certain tasks at your peak, and to book time with yourself for those activities that may not be as interesting or exciting.  Try forcing some structure on your calendar, rather than having your day forced upon you.