Staying Focused: Avoiding distractions means better productivity
Staying focused in the office can be a Herculean task. From annoying ringtones and message notifications to loud (and sometimes far too personal) conversations among co-workers, the list of potential distractions is seemingly endless.
Given all of this, how do we stay focused and “on-task”? We recently tapped into the “wisdom of the crowd” once again, to ask our own employee experts to offer their rapid-fire tips on how to stay focused and productive.
Here are the top fifteen tips our employee experts shared with us, in no particular order:
- Get a good set of active noise-canceling headphones and wear them.
- Listen to some good music – soothing, instrumental, rock or meditation.
- Coffee … and more coffee! And even more, strong coffee!
- Reminders and notifications from FitBit or Outlook to stand up, move, stretch.
- Have some healthy snacks nearby to keep your energy up.
- Stay at your home office! Or go to the company office when it is least busy.
- Block your calendar for prioritized tasks and stick to that schedule.
- Visual stimulation like a nice outdoor view, landscape or similar scene.
- Suppress or eliminate notifications and incoming message reminders.
- Get yourself into a meeting room and close the door if possible.
- Set intermediate goals for yourself and work towards them, then move to the next.
- Resist the urge to check messages, texts, and emails until a prescribed time.
- Take a proper break every couple hours to regroup and refocus.
- Make sure your home office is equipped with everything you need in one place.
- Avoid distracting media or things in your home office that are not work-related.
As you can see, there is a diverse range of tools and tactics that help us stay focused and productive. Hopefully, you came across some new ideas that might work for you. As always, feel free to share your experiences and tips in the comments section below!
