Let us all be honest. No matter how much we like to stay on course, sometimes we cannot focus in today’s world of constant distractions.
We are either tempted because of notification chimes on our phone or because of an email pop up or someone else intruding our day unexpectedly. All these are just beginning of a distraction. One small distraction will lead to another and that to another and so on.
For example, If someone says something, you tend to browse to check for yourself and then you click on some thing that grabs your attraction and that leads to another click and it goes on and on. And just like that, half of the day of precious work time is gone and you only have about three or four hours left before you can turn your attention to your family or other daily chores.
While you cannot get your lost time back, you can at least try to stay productive for the remaining part of the day.
Here are few tricks to get your day back on track:
1. Turn off cell phone or keep it away: This is simple. When there is a problem, just remove the source of that problem. Our number one distraction within the last decade are our cell phones and its constant chimes. Statistics show that we browse our phone 96 times a day and that is every 10 minutes on an average. Even if you are someone who has turned off all the notifications, your hands habitually reach out to the cell phone. So, better remove it from your way of focusing.
2. Close all the browsers on the computer: Believe it or not, google and internet browsing wasn’t a distraction not so long ago. But, since we are so connected to internet, google and browsing, this is our another number one distraction along with the phone. I habitually tend to open a news site, sports site and a finance site even without my realization. I bet every one has their own favorite sites they tend to browse first thing in the morning or sometimes without realizing. Just close all the browsers. As long as it is within the sight, you get distracted. So, not only close the browsers and also unpin them from the taskbar to keep it completely out of sight.
3. Write a specific to do list: By specific to do list, I mean write a to do list with your tasks and allocate specific time for each task. This is something that will really help you focus and at least help you complete some amount of work. A specific to do list is something that you need to have every day anyway. Never the less, this kind of to do list will always help no matter what time of the day it is. Be realistic in your expectations here. Don’t try to cram everything here for the day. Move anything that is not important to the next day to do list.
4. Download the documents you need and disconnect the internet: This is If you cannot stay focused even after doing one and two above. Download the documents that you intend to work on to desktop or local drive that is accessible without internet. By doing this, even if you habitually try to open a browser unconsciously, you will come to a realization on why you have closed that in the first place and you will go back to what you are doing. If you have to attend any meetings, always go back and connect to the internet.
You can never get the wasted time back. We should at least try to make the best use of what is left.
Please let me now in comments if you use any other hacks to focus on work. Thanks in advance.
