One of the most difficult aspects of time management is controlling your day when OTHERS around you want to steal your time.

This was the opening sentence to an article I read recently. Now that summer is officially over and school is back in session, it is time to regain your time and focus.  Easier said than done, right? After all, you have the daunting task of running a business in an industry that is not always thought of as a business but rather a hobby. How many times have you heard, I wish I had a quilt shop so I could just sew all day? How many times do you  want to hand over the keys and say, have a great time "sewing"? This is actually a compliment to you, your staff and the store.  Obviously your store is a place where they want to spend their time. This is also time that can be drained from your day to day duties. But wait, you are running a retail business and the customers come first! Right?!

Here are some statistics that may surprise you. Did you know that by concentrating single-mindedly on your most important task, you can REDUCE the time required to complete it by 50% or more. It has also been estimated that the tendency to start and stop a task, to pick it up, put it down, and come back to it, can INCREASE the time necessary to complete the task by as much as 500%.

We are approaching  a very important selling season in retail. It is time to get focused and re- organized.  I have included  the link to an article, Control how Others Affect Your Productivity by Carol Halsey.  This is not rocket science but it does help avoid the "time zappers."

To read the entire article, click here.