Whether you’re working from the office, home, or a bit of both, distractions can be a drain on your productivity. If we want to work at top-efficiency and maintain focus, we need to identify the things that distract us, then we need to develop strategies to avoid them. If you’re actively working to manage your time better and increase your productivity, minimizing distractions should be high on your priority list. Here are some ideas to consider:
Identify the Sources
We can’t get anywhere with reducing our distractions until we know what they are. Once we’ve identified the habits and activities that steal our attention, then we can develop a plan to get rid of them. Take some time and pay attention to how you’re spending your time, and then make note of each time your focus gets pulled away from the task at hand. Some common sources can be alerts from email and social media, text messages, catching up on the news, or even a chatty colleague. When we become aware of the specific activities that consistently interrupt our workflow, we’ll have an easier time avoiding them.
Look for Patterns
Some of the things that distract us will be obvious, and some might take time to uncover. It can be very helpful to pay attention to patterns. For instance, you may be in the habit of scrolling through Instagram or LinkedIn around the same time each afternoon. It could be that just before lunch each day, you begin catching up on the news. For some of us, distractions tend to multiply when we’re feeling elevated stress or when we’re feeling overworked. When those patterns become clear, it’s much easier to implement strategies to circumvent them.
Implement Strategies
Once you’ve identified the sources of distraction for you, and the times you’re most likely to get distracted, you can begin creating strategies to help you avoid them. It’s going to look a little different for each of us, but some of the things that can help are: getting up from our desks and taking a quick walk — that’s often a much better way to spend a couple minutes than an unintentional distraction. It could be that you block off a few windows throughout the day to check email and text messages. You might begin putting your phone on silent for an hour at a time to maintain full focus. Experiment with everything, and once you find the strategies that work best for you, you’re bound to see a boost in your productivity. For more information on how loan officers can increase productivity, I wrote an article a couple weeks back on that very thing, here.
Make Time for Them
I know I’ve used some language above like ‘get rid of’ and ‘avoid’, but we don’t need to cut out the activities that distract us entirely. Distractions are only dangerous when we’re not in control of them — they can become habits that we’re no longer aware of. So, yes, get rid of them during the times when you need to be focused, but taking an intentional break and allowing yourself to catch-up on the news or check social media is different. When you set aside a few minutes for these activities, and then you stick within that time window, you put yourself back in control.
With a little attention, you’ll be able to see the things that distract you very clearly. Then, you just need to create a plan to manage your time to stay on task when you need to be focused.
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