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Quiet time can increase your billable hours and income!

Posted on: January 10th, 2013 by Geoff Gilbert 2 Comments

In a recent article in The View from Harvard Business, Sean Silverstone talked about the damage that email, answering the phone and surfing the web does to productivity.

When I practiced law years ago, I had a rule in my firm that from 9 am to 12 noon everyone must get their tasks done with no interruptions except from judges or family emergencies. We got a lot done and productivity for my 17 employees went way up. It works! IBM, Deloitte Touche, Intel and U.S. Cellular are now restricting times for email and adopting “no technology” days. Leslie Perlow of Harvard business School did an intervention with a high tech company where four hours of quiet time resulted in no evening work for technical people because of the lack of interruptions.

So here’s what you can accomplish if you introduce quiet time:

  1. More productivity.
  2. More profits.
  3. Work is done more timely.
  4. Employees feeling better about their accomplishments.
  5. Employees (yourself included) not having to work evenings or weekends.

When my coaching clients complain of not having enough time or enough profits, I immediately suggest quiet time. Is your firm wasting time with interruptions, losing valuable productive hours and billing?

If you would like help introducing a quiet time plan into your practice or firm contact me to see how I can help. Geoff Gilbert is a former practicing CPA at Ernst & Young and business attorney in Montgomery County. He now coaches Lawyers, CPA’s and Executives to help them defeat procrastination and be more effective in their practices. Geoff also teaches stress courses at the University of Maryland in College Park. You can reach him through his website at www.coachforexecutives.com.

2 Responses

  1. Nice having lunch with you today. This is a great idea. Usually my quiet time comes at the end of the day… unfortunately.

  2. Quiet time for everyone comes at the end of the day. Carving out quiet time during the day can have a lot of benefits. Because you can get more done during the day with less distraction, it can reduce the need to do work at the end of the day.

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