Quick Tip: Protecting Your Most Valuable Resource By Will Newman

Beware: Your family, friends, and people you've never met are stealing your most valuable resource.

That resource isn't your money. I'm talking about your time – time to write, time to research, time to study. And, unlike money, once they steal your time, you can never get it back.

Their weapon is the telephone. If you're like most people, you willingly let them rob you by answering the phone whenever it rings. Five minutes here, 10 minutes there – and before you know it, you've lost two hours or more of valuable work time each day.

Since you're serious about your copywriting success, you must take control of your time on the phone. Here's how:

Ignore all calls during your scheduled writing time that are not directly work-related. The easiest way to do that is to use both Caller ID and an answering machine that lets you screen calls by hearing the caller while he leaves his message.

• The Caller ID lets you know if the call is from a client. If it is, you can pick up the phone before your answering machine does.
• The answering machine that allows you to screen calls relieves you of the concern that "maybe this call really is important." "Important" means, for instance, that it's a call about someone close to you who's in the hospital, not your sister calling about her baby's first steps. That's not important … at least not during work time.

Once you wean yourself away from your need to answer the phone every time it rings, you will see how much more productive – and profitable – your work time becomes.