6 Tips To Minimizing Distractions And Getting More Done

Work From Home is our new reality and it is here to stay! It is so much easier to get distracted whilst working, whether it is social apps, noise, multitasking, co-workers and now family members ?.
Unfortunately, when your attention is lost, so is your productivity. This lack of productivity can harm your mental health, stymie your career advancement, and make achieving the much-needed work-life balance impossible. You find yourself constantly chasing deadlines, no time to recharge or enjoy moments with your family.

Have you ever wondered where the day went, not because you were busy but because you couldn’t remember what you did all day?
Distractions are the culprit for little or no progress on your projects, your task list and they happen to everyone. You might wonder what a quick two-minute text response has to do with a squandered day, but you’ll soon realize that regaining your focus takes a little longer. Distractions can consume a significant amount of time without your notice and leave you with nothing to show for your time.

The good news is, there are solutions for overcoming distractions, here are the first 3 of 6 solutions to help you-
Tip 1- Learn to Anticipate Yourself
When it comes to productivity, you’re your own worst enemy. According to a study by the University of California Irvine, office workers are only able to focus on a task for an average of three minutes and five seconds before they become distracted. Surprisingly, 44 percent of those distractions are internal. The good news is that internal disturbances are the only kind that you can control. Learn to know your patterns and plan for these distractions.

Tip 2 – Make Technology work for you
At times, technology may seem like an enemy, but technology can be your anti-distraction buddy. Turn off your email alerts, create an auto-response to text messages, and set your phone to go to voicemail. Block out chunks of time on your calendar as “busy.” Unless you are dealing with life and death situations at work, your co-workers will be able to manage without you for a few hours. Use blocking apps on websites that you find too tempting. These apps will disable access to these websites for a set time, allowing you to concentrate on your work.

Tip 3 – Set Time aside for yourself
A fraction of a second of interruption will cost you several minutes to return to the state of flow. Instead of checking your inbox or responding to text messages on the spur of the moment, set aside a specific time to do so. Adopt tools like the Pomodoro technique (25mins chunks with 5mins breaks), which allows you to enhance your focus and remove the feeling of overwhelm (which is an internal distraction). After two hours of focused work, you can take thirty minutes to check your inbox, texts, and social media. Eventually this could become a routine.