What I thought was going to be a big pain, has actually really helped me be more productive at work . At my office there USED to be alot of free unlimited parking. Then the construction started up , so now there's only 90 minute parking available. I racked up 3 tickets in a week trying to make myself remember to go move the car.

Now I set the timer on my cell phone to go off every 1 hour 15 minutes. The cool side effect is that it has helped me organize and manage work projects much better. I can write down little projects I can do in 75 munites and go at it. At the one hour mark I kick it into high gear so I can be in a space to leave to move my car. It really works!

I don't know about you guys, but I can putz away an entire day at my desk and not even realize it. Now that I break my day up, it sparks me to get things done, and interrupts me out of a piddling around period.

Organization and motivation are my biggest weaknesses and this one little thing has made a big difference.

What else do you all do to make the day the most productive you can?

Hi, I'm new here.

I do indeed know what it's like to "putz away an entire day." I have now officially squandered SEVEN WORK HOURS today toodling around on the Internet, and jumping out of my skin when I think my boss is coming by. It's totally demoralizing. And did I mention I've only been at this job for three and a half weeks?

Your tip is a really good one. I'm going to try it. Thanks!

I do that too! Putz away entire days, I mean. I have a Final Project to do so I can pass my class, and things keep getting in my way, and I wanted to have it done before the next Harry Potter book comes out, argh. What I do is set a timer for 15 minutes. I know I can focus for that amount of time, and when the timer goes off I'm usually far enough into my work that I can go another 15 minutes. If I can't, I reset it for 5 minutes and play Sudoku, and then go back to working, 15 minutes at a time.

I admire you and your 75 minutes, though. That would be much more productive. I knew it was a mistake to move my office into my bedroom...

I hear you! The timer is one of my all time favourite helpers. Without one I am lost. I use the alarm clock on my cell phone to chunk up my day. Otherwise "putz" the day away like you mentioned.

Jennx, I've only used the timer for ad-hoc events...like remembering to turn off the garden hose that is filling the kiddie pool.
This is a great idea.

When I worked in an office (working in home office now) I would keep my Cherry Coke in the trunk of my car and every time I ran out I'd have to go to the car and get another one!
The sad thing is that I drank about 6-8 cans of cherry coke on some days. The great thing is that it got me off my buns to go do something else and stop "piddling" through the day.