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Imagine that you have an important meeting tomorrow. You’d like to be prepared, which is why you’ve cleared out your schedule. You’re preparing a deck for the meeting when you get a call from an old client. You have a conversation and decide to get back to the presentation. Just then you hear your colleagues laugh out loud over a funny anecdote. You lose your focus and end up procrastinating.
You’re unable to concentrate on work because there are too many things distracting you. However, distractions are inevitable; you need to find the right techniques to manage these distractions and learn how to remain focused. Read on to see how you can improve focus at work.
What Are The Biggest Distractions?
Before we learn how to improve focus and concentrate on work, let’s read about the different types of distractions we often face.
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Internal Triggers
These distractions are related to our mind and body. For example, not getting adequate sleep makes us feel tired and unproductive. Ignoring the demands of our body can lead to stress, anxiety and frustration. At times our minds act as great distractors. We overthink and analyze past situations, which prevents us from focusing on the task at hand.
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External Triggers
There are aspects in our environment that aren’t under our control. We fall victim to these inevitable distractions that hamper our focus at work. While we can’t control the course of things, we can control how we react to external triggers. For example, you’ve got an upcoming project deadline, but you also have to respond to important calls and emails. Set aside time for the less urgent activities. Prioritize your project. That way you know how to avoid distractions and stay focused.
How To Concentrate On Work
To concentrate on your work, you need to adopt effective strategies that’ll teach you how to stay focused at work.
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Assess Your Mental Focus
Before you set out to focus on your work, try to understand how strong your power of concentration is. You can do this by drawing a table on paper. On one side, list all the things that you can focus on easily. On the other side, note down the activities which you find hard to focus on. Once you’ve identified the areas that require work, practice good habits that’ll help you become mindful of your distractions.
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Focus On Your Priorities
One of the most effective ways to declutter your mind and prioritize tasks is to use the Eisenhower Matrix. It helps your map tasks according to urgency and importance. If employed correctly, you can use the matrix to map out crisis situations, plan for future threats, make tasks more manageable and utilize your time doing the most important things.
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Minimize The Distractions
It’s impossible to work in the office without being interrupted by somebody. It’s only natural that coworkers would want to discuss urgent matters with you or share a laugh once in a while. The easiest way to navigate interruptions is to move away and choose a quiet corner for yourself. You can also use noise-canceling earphones to block background noise.
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Organize Your Work Environment
Learn how to focus at work by taking control of your work environment. You can create an effective work plan by:
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Defining boundaries and learning to say no to certain requests
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Choosing when to respond to emails and messages; establishing separate channels for urgent matters
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Organizing your calendar and blocking your time for urgent tasks or deadlines
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Take Small Breaks
Oftentimes, we’re so focused on meeting deadlines that we work non-stop. This is actually counterproductive and doesn’t let us focus on subsequent priorities. (valium) Learn how to focus on your work for a longer period of time by taking necessary breaks in between. Go for a brief walk or listen to soothing music that’ll help you relax.
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Eat Sleep Exercise Repeat
To increase productivity and avoid procrastination, you need an alert and active mind. Experts suggest that a healthy lifestyle enables us to work more efficiently. It’s important that you get adequate sleep, eat nutritious food and exercise regularly to take care of your health.
Harappa Education’s Practicing Excellence course will teach you how to focus on work in the most efficient manner. The Eisenhower Matrix will help you prioritize tasks and the Pomodoro Technique will help you tackle procrastination. Learn how to stay focused on your outcomes instead of obstacles. Look at the bigger picture!
Explore topics such as State of Flow, How to Improve Concentration & How to be Focused on Your Goal from our Harappa Diaries section and improve your focus at work.
