There is WITHOUT QUESTION going to be times you get so frustrated with yourself for just not getting stuff done. It’s absolutely inevitable. It happens to everyone regardless of skill level. There are countless distractions around us at all time. The TV, our phones, the family, Facebook, wacky cat videos on YouTube (you get the point..haha)
If you find yourself easily getting distracted and not getting tasks accomplished, here are some simple things you can do that just may help out a bit.
Turn Your Phone Off
That seems to be a tough one for a lot of people. Why? Because it’s probably the biggest distraction! We’re walking around nowadays with our phones glued in our hands. How am I gonna know if my team is favored to win this weeks fantasy game if I don’t have my phone? What about that last clever post I put on Facebook? How will I know how many likes I got unless I check it CONSTANTLY?
If you have to, simply turn your ringer off and just check it every 30 minutes or so. But be forwarned, you can pickup your phone just to see if you have a missed call, then the next thing you know, it’s a half hour later and you’re completely caught up on what the cast of “The Facts of Life” look like now…Haha. Try not to go to Facebook and get sidetracked with this weeks political ramblings. Baby steps here guys….baby steps. I know you may have kids in school or you may be expecting an important call, so I’m not suggesting you turn it off & not look at it all day long. But don’t get caught up when the time comes to check your phone either.
Whats The Biggest Task?
A few years ago, I listened to the audio book “Eat that Frog” by Brain Tracy. He explains to tackle your BIGGEST obstacles FIRST. That way the rest of the day is seemingly downhill. Thats pretty simple, right? It actually worked for me also.
Work in Smaller Blocks
The fact is, when people work for smaller amounts of time, they are able to be more productive & stay focused more. When you work for longer periods of time, focus and clarity starts to drop causing the “allure” of distractions to be increasingly unmanageable. If you stop even for just 5 minutes to put on some music or take a walk, You’ll be surprised how much that will help
Set Clear Goals
I’m not sure how far in advance your work is planned out, but a clear action plan is important for clarity and focus. Whether it’s planned out for an entire week or just day by day, set a goal for what you want to get done by a certain time. “I will get this blog post done & two videos made by lunch”, for example. When you set realistic daily goals, I can personally guarantee you will notice a major increase in productivity. Provided you actually follow through that is 🙂
Use Distractive Technology To Your Advantage
Once you know your strengths and weaknesses as far as your productivity goes, don’t be afraid to use technology to help those weaknesses. Everything from schedulers to various productivity apps, I’m sure there is something in the app store (Or on Google Play for my fellow Android Warriors) that you can utilize to increase productivity and efficiency. For example, let’s say you’re terrible with keeping track of appointments or remembering when those important calls are coming in. Every phone has a calander app to set reminders for appointments. What about if your terrible with following up with potentional clients? You can get endless CRM (Customer relationship management) apps that remind you to follow up with customers or business leads. Just don’t let those potential time saving and productivity increasing apps become a distraction themselves and you will be amazed at how such simple strategies will dramatically increase your focus and efficiency.
