{"id":1755,"date":"2016-09-14T16:30:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T20:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2023-03-07T14:46:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T19:46:27","slug":"the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your VA Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have read a lot of articles about productivity over the years.<\/p>\n

They tell you how to streamline your work, your procedures, how to work effectively, lots of different tips. And many of them are right on the money.<\/p>\n

But I absolutely agree with the ones that talk about what the number 1 productivity killer is.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s email.<\/p>\n

It’s a dark hole that you can go very deep down so easily.<\/p>\n

Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does!<\/p>\n

But how we manage our email<\/strong> is what is important.<\/p>\n

If you start your day by picking up email you are starting your day in a reactive<\/strong> mode. You can’t make a plan to do x, y, and z in the morning and then pick up email first thing.<\/p>\n

There will be things that you think need your attention, and then your plan you had goes right out the window.<\/p>\n

Suddenly you are trying to play catch up<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The same thing with leaving your email open all day long.<\/p>\n

While you think it’s a means to be more productive, what you are really doing is allowing yourself to get distracted<\/strong> all day long by other people.<\/p>\n

Being attentive to your emails as they come in is even worse than interrupting your morning with them.<\/p>\n

It’s impossible to maintain your focus<\/strong> when you have a constant distraction.<\/p>\n

You become dependent on the\u00a0people who are communicating with you. To respond to them as soon as they email you. To do what they say when they say to do it. Instead of acting like the CEO of your company and making the decision yourself<\/strong> – what to do and when.<\/p>\n

It’s simply not a productive way to work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The way to best manage your email is to schedule time<\/strong> to check it each day. That can be every hour if you want it to be (it should less frequently than that, but if you really think you can’t wait an hour then go with that!).<\/p>\n

So get into your office in the morning, take care of the things you had planned to take care of.<\/p>\n

Then check email for a certain length of time.<\/p>\n

Update your task list\u00a0to incorporate the new information and requests.<\/p>\n

Then complete more work. And repeat that cycle.<\/p>\n

But don’t keep it open all day, or you will continue to be distracted by it.<\/p>\n

The Harvard Business Review<\/strong> has a fabulous article about this – read it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And then make a better plan so that you can increase your focus and your productivity, and get more done!<\/p>\n

I would love to hear your comments on this.\u00a0<\/em>Post it in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have read a lot of articles about productivity over the years. They tell you how to streamline your work, your procedures, how to work effectively, lots of different tips. And many of them are right on the money. But I absolutely agree with the ones that talk about what the number 1 productivity killer… Read More »The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your VA Business<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[23,40,153],"class_list":["post-1755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity","tag-healthy-working","tag-plan-for-success","tag-business-strategy-tips"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does! But how we manage our email is what is important.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does! But how we manage our email is what is important.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Learn to Be a Ridiculously Good Virtual Assistant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yourvamentor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-14T20:30:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-07T19:46:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/yourvamentor-headshot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"328\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"289\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tracey D'Aviero\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tracey_d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tracey_d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tracey D'Aviero\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tracey D'Aviero\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/abe20fc729af3323a907d3e58f3aacf5\"},\"headline\":\"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your VA Business\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-14T20:30:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-07T19:46:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/\"},\"wordCount\":463,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"healthy working\",\"virtual assistant business success\",\"virtual assistant business tips\"],\"articleSection\":[\"productivity and organization\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/\",\"name\":\"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your Business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-14T20:30:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-07T19:46:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does! But how we manage our email is what is important.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your VA Business\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Learn to Be a Ridiculously Good Virtual Assistant\",\"description\":\"Virtual Assistant Training with Tracey D'Aviero\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Your VA Mentor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/yourvamentor-headshot.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/yourvamentor-headshot.jpg\",\"width\":328,\"height\":289,\"caption\":\"Your VA Mentor\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yourvamentor\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/tracey_d\",\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/yourvamentor\",\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/traceydaviero\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/abe20fc729af3323a907d3e58f3aacf5\",\"name\":\"Tracey D'Aviero\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17153cf27586c477961fddc35e2cd6fcf663c94aa499a292252ad1415127134f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17153cf27586c477961fddc35e2cd6fcf663c94aa499a292252ad1415127134f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17153cf27586c477961fddc35e2cd6fcf663c94aa499a292252ad1415127134f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tracey D'Aviero\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your Business","description":"Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does! But how we manage our email is what is important.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your Business","og_description":"Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does! But how we manage our email is what is important.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/","og_site_name":"Learn to Be a Ridiculously Good Virtual Assistant","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yourvamentor","article_published_time":"2016-09-14T20:30:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-07T19:46:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":328,"height":289,"url":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/yourvamentor-headshot.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tracey D'Aviero","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@tracey_d","twitter_site":"@tracey_d","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tracey D'Aviero","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/"},"author":{"name":"Tracey D'Aviero","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/abe20fc729af3323a907d3e58f3aacf5"},"headline":"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your VA Business","datePublished":"2016-09-14T20:30:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-07T19:46:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/"},"wordCount":463,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["healthy working","virtual assistant business success","virtual assistant business tips"],"articleSection":["productivity and organization"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/","name":"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your Business","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-14T20:30:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-07T19:46:27+00:00","description":"Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does! But how we manage our email is what is important.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/the-number-1-productivity-killer-for-your-business\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Number 1 Productivity Killer for Your VA Business"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/","name":"Learn to Be a Ridiculously Good Virtual Assistant","description":"Virtual Assistant Training with Tracey D'Aviero","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Your VA Mentor","url":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/yourvamentor-headshot.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/yourvamentor-headshot.jpg","width":328,"height":289,"caption":"Your VA Mentor"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yourvamentor","https:\/\/x.com\/tracey_d","http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/yourvamentor","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/traceydaviero"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/abe20fc729af3323a907d3e58f3aacf5","name":"Tracey D'Aviero","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17153cf27586c477961fddc35e2cd6fcf663c94aa499a292252ad1415127134f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17153cf27586c477961fddc35e2cd6fcf663c94aa499a292252ad1415127134f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17153cf27586c477961fddc35e2cd6fcf663c94aa499a292252ad1415127134f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tracey D'Aviero"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3557,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions\/3557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}