"It's hard to keep those marketing juices flowing if you are feeling bogged down," says Drew McLellan at his Marketing Minute blog. "Sometimes I have to give myself a reprieve. So I cone myself."

Say what?

It turns out that everyone in McLellan's office has a bright orange traffic cone. If placed in their doorway, it signals to their colleagues that they are coned—to be disturbed only if the building catches fire. Since the cone is sacrosanct, each can focus completely on creative pursuits without the threat of interruption.

If you'd like to give it a try, McLellan offers this advice:

• Choose your own cone—any object that will serve in your office as a universal symbol of Do Not Disturb.
• Turn off your phones; ignore your email; forget about those blogs you've been meaning to read.
• Cone yourself at least three times a week (90 minutes max). "[I]t's very frustrating to be on the other side of the cone and need to talk to someone who's been coned for 3 hours," he explains.
• Lead by example: always respect the cone of those you supervise.

The Po!nt: "I coned myself for about 90 minutes yesterday," writes McLellan. "I got more done in those 90 minutes than I had all week. And best of all … I felt great. I felt calm, I felt successful. I felt like I was back in control." Tempting, isn't it?

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