Have you ever had days, weeks or even months go by when you were frustrated in your work activities because you failed to implement the things that you know you need to do in order to be more successful? Perhaps you’ve taken pages and pages of great notes at seminars on the subject of how to improve your business, only to return to the office the next day and implement none of it. The reason this happens to people is because they lack a plan. More importantly, it happens because they are not practicing ON-Time.

Joe McBreen is a Senior Loan Officer at The McBreen Group.

ON-Time is a time you set aside to work on your business instead of in your business. The simple fact is that in our daily routine, we are typically in a reactive state. The phones are ringing, the emails are coming in, there are voice mails to check, clients to meet with, staff members to assist, and so on – and on and on it goes. During all this reactive behavior, we have very little time to work on the things that we need to put into place to take our business to the next level.

Get into a good habit by practicing ON-Time! Leaving the office on a regularly scheduled basis to work on your business in a totally quiet, serene, and proactive environment is critical to your success in the long run. All successful business people practice some form of ON-Time.

Here’s a suggestion on how to construct your own ON-Time schedule. Take out a folder and put it in your briefcase. Call this your ON-Time Folder. Every time during your normal work week you come up with an idea, hear about something or see something that could increase your business, throw it into your ON-Time Folder.

At least one full day per month, schedule time to leave the office and spend that entire business day somewhere outside the office. Make sure it is a serene place, or a meditative place, where you can practice ON-Time with a clear head. That means no cell phones and no interruptions! Take out your ON-Time Folder and work on the things you need to address to take your business to the next level. If you discipline yourself to doing this 12 times per year, the difference will be profound. Your level of success and your ability to take your business further will increase, hand in hand.