My two favorite fields are the mortgage industry and network marketing. These are both industries that I have successful experience in. They are also both industries that are experiencing some great influxes of technology. While I’m not a technological geek, I do find new technological advances fascinating.

One of the most fascinating, more simple technologies that I love is text messaging (now you really know I’m not a geek!). As I was working at my desk this morning I got a text message from my son in high school. That’s rare. However, my daughter and I text each other on a regular basis throughout the day. And as I’m texting, I’m thinking, "Shouldn’t she be, like, listening in class right now? Why am I texting her in school?!" But I continue to do so because it fascinates me and also because I know that this is there preferred method of communicating so I’d better get with it if I want to keep a good relationship with them.

But technology can be very time consuming. I remember when computers started first becoming popular. Everyone was touting how much of a time save they’d be. Well my experience has been the opposite. I spend more time fooling around with problems trying to fix stuff then I do benefiting from the time saving element. Not to mention the amount of time spend surfing and checking email.

So for today’s blog I want to give you a couple of simple things that you can do to prevent technological interruptions in your work day. These can work for personal time as well.

1. I just recently a fellow blogger and mortgage professional who has developed a duplicatable system that allows him to close $1.5 - 2 million a month in volume in the Midwest (low median home values) and be done working by noon. I’m planning on doing a teleseminar with him soon to unveil exactly what he’s doing. More details to follow. But the point is this: It’s possible to get all your work done by noon every day and make a six figure income even in this market.

2. Email alerts: Did you know that you can disable all of Outlook’s email alerts - the little box on the bottom right of your screen that pops up and fades; the little envelope that appears next to the clock; and if you work from home you can disable the send/receive frequency so only you can control when you get email. So, in essence, you can regain control of when email comes in AND take out all the alerts and sounds so that you’re not interrupted when it does come in. In Outlook, just open the Help menu, go to Microsoft Online Help and type in "disable email alerts" to figure out how to do it.

3. Designate certain surfing and email checking times - This is another great thing you can do. Once you figure out how to control your alerts in email, then set up specific times to check them. You can do it first thing in the morning, during lunch, and then before you end your day. Then stick with it. Also make sure that when you do check email during those designated times you handle as much of it as possible (read, delete, file, respond, or file for later-those are really the only actions necessary on a regular basis). And while you’re doing that, you can designate one of those times to include surfing the net for things you need to accomplish. Or what I’ve just started doing is suspending all my surfing, especially non-work related, to after business hours.

I think those three steps would be an excellent process to begin with. And best of all, these can be applied to any business and any projects, work or personal that you’re working on. Good luck!

I know you can do it and I definitely believe in you!