20 ways to reduce distractions and stay focused in your workplace

This is quite a common topic of discussion amongst business owners and their teams. Once you understand the importance of time you’ll have a different outlook on life. Up until the point where the “penny drops” most people are wasting loads of time and the scary thing is that they are doing so unknowingly. It becomes partof their daily life….they form habits that they are not even aware of.

Let’s look at a quick example. How often do you look at your phone to see if you have some kind of notification? If you have to keep count of the amount of times per day that you look at your phone you’ll have a scary number at the end of each day. This is just one of the examples that we’re going to look at.

A study showed that 28% of the average office worker's day is spent dealing with preventable interruptions, where after they have to recapture their focus.

We’re going to cover ways to reduce distractions in the workplace:

Exercise for 15minutes
By starting your day with 15minutes of exercising you’ll increase your energy, start your metabolism and start your day on a positive note.
 

Eat a healthy breakfast
Studies have found that eating breakfast can improve attention and concentration.
 

Put your mobile device away
If possible, switch off your phone so you can concentrate 100% on your work. The least you can do is to turn it to silent and turn off the vibration.
 

Close Your Email program
Everybody wants to have a clean inbox…. If your email program is open all the time you’ll be tempted to read and answer those annoying emails.
 

Close all unnecessary programs
By closing all unnecessary programs, your device will have more memory and will be faster. It will also eliminate the possibility for your eye to catch that program where you ‘quickly’ do something and spend more than 30minutes on the ‘quick’ task.
 

Open all necessary programs
Remember we’re focusing on being more productive and by having all your programs open you’ll be able to switch between them easily.
 

Alert & train other people
Get a way of informing other people of your intentions to focus so they don’t disrupt you. Print a paper or stick a note somewhere visible where they can see it. You can also implement a system where you can turn your Skype to “busy” to indicate that you do not want to be disturbed.
 

Plan ahead and schedule your time
Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. The 5 P’s principle explains it beautifully:
Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
 

Break down your tasks
Do not make the mistake by thinking if you work on a lot of things you’ll finish them quicker.
 

Prioritise your tasks
By prioritising your tasks you’ll have a clear understanding of when to do which tasks.
 

Take little breaks
You have to change your scenery now and then and by taking little breaks you can easily get your attention span to a high level again.
 

Stay away from Social Media
“….2 Hours later you’re still busy browsing through the photos on Facebook of your high school crush….”
A survey revealed that 64 percent of employees visit non-work related websites every day at work. Of that group, 39 percent spend one hour or less per week, 29 percent spend 2 hours per week, 21 percent waste five hours per week, and only 3 percent said they waste 10 hours or more doing unrelated activities.
Reference: http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2012/07/17/employees-reall...
 

Clean your desk
Clear as much as possible from your desk to create an environment to will keep you in the zone. This includes dust, posted notes, cups, papers pens and other similar items.
 

Adjust room temperature
You have to optimise your environment to keep your brain in a state where you have laser focus. Too hot or cold temperatures might create an unknown distraction.
 

Wear earphones
This is a simple yet very effective way to cut yourself from the outside world.
 

Disable all instant notifications
♬ The infamous Nokia Ringtone… ♪ The Samsung Whistle Notification…
You can almost hear them playing in your head just by reading this… No matter from which angle you look at this… it is a distraction that will steal your time, attention and focus.
 

Drink coffee
Give your brain’s receptors a kick start by drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee…. Don’t overdo it though!

Reward yourself
Self-motivation can help you to push through in difficult times. i.e. Once I’m finish with this module I’ll go outside and eat a cookie.
 

Eliminate Self sabotage
Let’s face it…. Most distractions are self-imposed and there are a number of things that you can do you avoid these distractions:

• Think and do everything deliberately… don’t just go into autopilot.
• Do not procrastinate
• Avoid negative self-talk
• Adopt the attitude of a Victor and not a Victim.
   

Realise that life is not a dress rehearsal

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that you have one chance at this life and that it is not a dress rehearsal. Make the best with the cards that you’ve been dealt with.