In today’s world, it is effortless to become distracted especially with phones, laptops, tablets, and in some instances watches. Our brains love the dopamine rush of getting an alert or ping. We might feel it is essential, even though it is just an app saying there is a sale. Distractions are not productive. It means our goals are slipping away from being accomplished, all because we were watching cat videos (or whatever you watch). Here are some quick tips on how to avoid distractions and stay focused.
Distractions are a serious issue when it comes to productivity. According to researchers and psychologists, it takes approximately 23 to 25 minutes for our brains to regain momentum after a distraction, such as checking email or social media.
Quick Top Tips
- Made it difficult to be distracted – Writer James Clear talks about making it difficult to become distracted in his book Atomic Habits. He talks about decision elimination. For example, if you find TV a distraction. Turn it off by the wall, hide the remote, or even move the TV set to a cupboard. The point here is, if it’s easy to do something, make it difficult not to do it.
What distracts you? TV? Phone? Family? PlayStation?
Whatever it is, think of ways you can avoid distractions and stay focused by making it difficult for yourself. It could mean going to a quiet room, a library, or somewhere with no WiFi.
- Eliminate notifications – It might be difficult to work in another room when you work at an office, however, it doesn’t mean you should still let your electronic devices distract you. Simple ways to do this can be to simply turn off all, or most phone notifications. You could also download apps, such as AppBlock. This app lets you create rules for blocking the use of selected apps within a set time. It is great to set up and it’s really effective. Plus it gives you statistics on how productive each week was.
- Unsubscribe and de-clutter – My email inbox is full of newsletters, and alerts and wading through emails that I actually need sometimes can be exhausting. I am going through the habit of unsubscribing from newsletters, whether it be my personal business email accounts. If I don’t read them frequently or I know that I won’t be purchasing from them anytime soon, I unsubscribe. There are some really good newsletters out there, including James Clears, Tim Ferriss’ Five-Bullet Friday and soon mine…More on that soon.
- De-clutter. Essentially delete any old emails, messages and any junk in your house that is taking up space. As they say, a tidy space is a tidy mind. Don’t let clutter distract you.
- Choosing the right music/noise – Personally, I think listening to music or ambient noises can be good and beneficial whilst working. For me, I need to listen to music that doesn’t have lyrics. I find songs with lyrics distracting, and I find myself focusing on the lyrics and the meanings. Everyone is different, but I like to listen to movie or TV soundtracks or classical music from creators such as Vangelis, Hanz Zimmer, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Chopin and Bache. Listening to background music can have a positive effect on attention whilst working on tasks, however, people generally tend to use music for less intensive tasks – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691821001670
- Set a time to play! – Setting a time to be distracted is another way to avoid distractions and stay focused. This could be at lunch, or after you have completed a piece of work. Previously I have mentioned the Pomodoro technique and how it is great at allowing you to set a time to complete a task, and then after that time is up (usually 25 minutes) you take a short break. Allow this time to talk to someone, look at your phone or check your email. Use it as a small reward. I think people think taking a break is distracting, however, taking regular breaks is important for productivity rather than working continuously without one.
