You make some daily goals. You decide to stay focused at work. And, you start working with this mindset.
A few minutes later, you find yourself immersed into the distractions. At the end of the day, you will have nothing but piled up tasks.
I know you are fed up of searching for ways to stay focused. You have spent hours roaming around the web. Still, the word " focus" didn't enter your dictionary.
Don't worry! Here are ten tips to help you stay focused at work.
Things You Can Do to Stay Focused at Work
The following tips helped me to stay focused. I hope you will find them useful as well.
#1. Put On Your Headphones
Am I asking you to listen to music? No, I am not!
I find music diverts me from work. Then, why I recommend you wear your headphones while working.
Well, you don't get disturbed by others if you put on your headphones. In case you are working in an office surrounded by others, people will not come to you for casual chit-chats during the work sessions.
They will think you are listening to music. But you only know it is your trade secret to lifting your productivity.
#2. Disconnect the Internet Connection
Unless the web isn't mandatory for work, you must turn it off. If you keep it on, you will end up in YouTube videos and social media sites.
What if you want internet connection? Let's say you want to write a report with the information from the web. The best thing to do is researching online and making the information available offline. You can press Ctrl+ P to save a PDF version of a web page.
#3. What Hinders Your Focus?
You have to recognize the exact problem that hinders you from achieving focus. Lack of sleep? Social media addiction? Fatigue?
Once you recognize the correct problem, your mind becomes clear with practical solutions. If you are suffering from lack of sleep, I am sure that you stay awake late at night. Just go to bed early.
For eliminating social media addiction, you need to be determined. You must promise to yourself that you are not going to access social media during work hours. If still, you're not able to focus then you can give your workplace the power of positivity & motivation with Worduct posters.
#4. List Down Your Tasks
The old-school method of making to-do lists with pen and paper works the best for me. I don't know why! I cannot find a single app that can replace pen and paper until date.
So, I recommend you do the same. Just spend 5 to 10 minutes before you go to bed each day, specifically to schedule tasks for the next day. I am sure that you are going to do a lot than the previous day.
You can do this routine just after waking up as well.
#5. Apply 20-20-20 Rule
Have you heard 20-20-20 rule?
I think you spend a lot of time on staring at your computer screen, don't you? As the time goes, you will start losing focus.
To regain your focus, you can look at a distant object. That's what 20-20-20 rule implies.
Observe at an object 20 feet away from you for 20 seconds after every 20 minutes of work.
You are slowly getting productive, aren't you?
#6. Priority Matters
I used to do it.
Every day I make schedules. I used to add every pending task despite its priority. And, I ended up regretting the jobs I didn't do rather appreciating myself for those I did.
To avoid this situation, you have to make a list of tasks that need to be done and arrange them in the order of priority. You can make a separate list including the jobs with higher priority (means, you have to do it on the same day).
#7. Be Invisible
No, you don't have to be a magician here. That's not what I mean.
You have to be virtually invisible. Leave no option for people to reach out to you when you are at work. Turn your phone's silent mode on, update instant messaging apps like WhatsApp statuses indicating you are busy. I recommend you disconnect the internet connection on your phone if possible.
#8. Let's Break It
You are not a superman, neither are you an iron man. That means you can't work perennially.
To increase productivity and to stay focused, you have to take short breaks. Mark the word, SHORT. Don't take long hours for breaks that stop you from working.
Pomodoro technique turns out to be effective in my case. Every working session lasts 25 minutes in this technique. After one session, you can take a break of 5 minutes.
Once those minutes expire, you have to get back to work. And, after a few such sessions, you can take a long break of 15 minutes.
#9. Set a Deadline For Yourself
Even if you don't get any deadlines from others, you must set some for yourself. It would be helpful if you specify the deadline or time limit for every task on your to-do list.
Make sure you stick to them. You can create a penalty system to ensure the obedience ( skipping a movie, cut down social media usage, etc.).
#10. Never Skip Your Breakfast
Do you know? Breakfast is the most significant meal of your entire day. Our body gets nutrients only from breakfast after 7-8 hours. If you skip it, the body has to wait longer, and that will make you tired.
Is fatigue your issue? Chances are you keep on skipping your breakfast.
You have ten tips to stay focused at work now. What do you think?
Are you going to live the same unproductive life with no focus again? Or did you decide to give these actionable tips a try?
I hope you belong to the second category, and I truly appreciate your conscious efforts.
Let me make it clear! YOU, only YOU are responsible for everything in your life. So, make it count.
