Overcoming Distraction
Productivity wouldn't be so hard to achieve, except for the simple fact that we all have an enemy that constantly tries to lure us away from doing and completing our meaningful work. This enemy? None other than distraction.
Humans are hardwired for distraction. Our brain’s attentional system is programmed to respond to anything that’s pleasurable, threatening, or novel. We even have a novelty bias, wherein our brain is flooded with a pleasure chemical, dopamine, whenever we focus on something new.
In terms of our evolutionary history, this makes sense. Instead of focusing exclusively on, say, starting a fire, our ancient ancestors were distracted by novel threats — an approaching saber-toothed tiger, for example — and survived to see another day because of it.
Here are the Tips for overcoming Distraction:
1. Schedule Everything
Once you've identified how you spend your time, you can make an informed strategy as to how to plan out your week. By planning your week ahead of time, you have a clear direction of how you want it to go, and you won’t have to scramble every morning to remember what you need to do.
When creating your weekly plan, schedule blocks of time for everything, including time spent reading and responding to emails. According to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, people spend an average of 13 hours on email per week or 28% of an entire workweek.
To cut down on your time spent on email, and it’s power as a distractor:
Don't reply to every email right away
Inform colleagues that you may not reply to emails often, setting specific time blocks for doing so
Spend some time reviewing our complete list of email productivity best practices
2. Tackle the Small Stuff Later
It’s easy to get distracted by little tasks that come up throughout the course of the day. They may not be your most pressing tasks, but it’s tempting to stop what you’re doing and knock them out as they come up. Taking care of tasks as they come up is a bad habit to get into, and will definitely get in the way of your goal regarding how to focus better. If you condition your colleagues or clients with an immediate response and resolution, they’ll come to expect it.
So instead of handling small tasks as they happen, acknowledge the request (if necessary), and give an expected date/time of completion based on your existing schedule. This will create greater respect for your time and will result in productivity gains over the long run in terms of your communications and their expectations. Don’t let the new task take you away from what you’re currently working on, as it inevitably upsets your flow. According to Lifehacker, it takes us 25 minutes to refocus after being distracted. Besides the focusing/time issue, distractions also change your environment. Figuring out how to focus better ultimately comes down to the way you handle and prioritize tasks in real-time.
3. Remove Yourself from the Distraction
If checking email and social media sites are your Achilles Heel, remove them from your consciousness.If it’s out of sight, it’ll be easier to keep it out of mind. If you’re constantly checking it, keep your phone far away from your workstation. You can check your messages during your break. You’ll find that these often aren't urgent, anyway.
Use tools like Cold Turkey to block out websites that are a known distraction for you, like email and social media. Turn off push notifications for email and social media sites, or keep your phone on silent when at work. Sometimes avoiding distractions and learning how to focus better means avoiding other people. While this isn’t the perfect solution on its own, consider starting work earlier, or working later, to find your focus without the distraction of coworkers and incoming emails.
If you work from home and find yourself losing focus, re-finding it may be as simple as leaving the house, and going for a walk. A change in perspective and environment might itself seem like a distraction, but may be necessary for getting your head back in the right space to accomplish tasks.
Say goodbye to overtime and nights at the office.
4. Set an artificial project deadline.
It’s up to you to introduce a novel and threatening factor to long-term projects lacking urgency. Have an entire afternoon to write a monotonous report? Give yourself 50 minutes. Making a task into a game forces you to spend more attention and energy on that project because it can no longer occupy hours of your time.
5. Reward Yourself
Delayed gratification helps build your willpower. Give 5 minutes of break time for every 25 minutes of focused work. The break time increases over time, as your focus wanes throughout the day.
Don’t punish yourself if you allow distractions to take over from time to time. It happens to everyone and is impossible to avoid completely. But knowing your distractions can help you to avoid them. Identify your major problem areas, and create a strategy around how to focus better.
Here at Inbloom, we are offering our clients virtual meditation sessions. These sessions focus on enabling you to stay calm, collected, and focused in these times of uncertainty. If you would like to hear more about them, simply email us.
Reference:
HBR 4 strategies for overcoming distraction (https://hbr.org/2018/08/4-strategies-for-overcoming-distraction)