If you’re like most professionals, you feel more distracted at work than ever. Whether you work from home or in the office, it can feel impossible at times to focus on the task at hand. Between video calls and in-person meetings and the ping of Slack messages, texts and emails waiting for your response, distractions of all kinds can keep you from focusing on your work.
Just keeping up with email takes the average U.S. office worker more than three hours a day, points out Naphtali Hoff, Psy.D., president of Impactful Coaching & Consulting. He adds that the average knowledge worker checks in with communication tools every six minutes.
So, what can you do to keep the disruptions at bay? Hoff says there are several simple ways to minimize distractions. We discuss his thoughts in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.
Take control of your day. If you want to get more done, you can’t allow other people to dictate your workday and calendar. Let people know if you’re unavailable to meet at a specific time. And get comfortable not responding right away, recommends Hoff. This allows you to get real work done without constantly stopping to respond to someone else.
Maximize quiet time. Think about the time of day when you feel alert and creative, and when you can concentrate on important work. Use this time to get things done. Maybe you stay an hour late at the office or start your workday at home an hour early. Take advantage of the quiet before you need to respond to texts or knocks at your office door.
Close the door. According to Naphtali, a closed door signals that you do not want to be disturbed. While you may hesitate to close your door because you want to appear available, you also need to be able to communicate when you need to get things done.
Power down. You can scale back on digital distractions by avoiding social media and web browsing while you work. Naphtali says another idea is creating an email autoresponder that informs others when you will read and respond to email. He recommends doing this in the late morning or afternoon when energy levels typically dip.
Establish daily goals and deadlines. When you know what you need to be working on—and you have a firm deadline of when it needs to get done—you can more easily focus your attention. Just make sure goals and deadlines are reasonable, Naphtali advises.
Use a timer. Naphtali likes to use the Pomodoro technique to help train the brain to focus on tasks. To do this, choose a task and set a timer for 25 minutes. Commit to working diligently for that time. When the timer goes off, take a five-minute break, reset the timer and start again. After four rounds, take a longer break—15-30 minutes.
Change tasks. Another way to get more done is to simply switch what you’re working on. Naphtali notes that giving the brain some variety can help you stay alert and productive for longer. The next time you feel distracted, try working on something else for a while.
Distractions can significantly hamper your productivity. It takes substantial brain power to continually stop, start and refocus on projects throughout the day. While you can’t completely eliminate distractions, you can apply the simple strategies above to get more work done.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Naphtali Hoff, Psy.D. is president of Impactful Coaching & Consulting.
