In a world full of people with fast-paced lifestyles, distractions are on the rise. In fact, it has been rampant in different types of industries, and it potentially decreases productivity levels by a hundredfold if not timely and accurately addressed. Fortunately, distractions can be minimized, if not completely obliterated.
Find out more in this article about how to reduce distractions.
Prioritize the tasks at hand.
Contrary to popular belief, you should not only list down things you need to accomplish but also take note of things you should not do while you are working or trying to finish tasks. This is important because listing down things that you should avoid while working will help you set boundaries for those things that take time away from your work productivity. In effect, this will help you get things done much faster.
Divide the work into smaller chunks.
For instance, if you are required to arrange ten large boxes of office supplies and eventually stack them neatly on top of the other within the week, doing it in one go may be really exhausting for you. For some people, just thinking about this task will be really tiring. Worse, they may abandon the task altogether. To help prevent this, you may break down the task in such a way that you will only be required to work on one or two boxes per day. Just make sure that everyday, you work on a small part of the larger task to get things done in time.
Do the tasks when other people are not available.
Take note of your quieter times when no one is around to interfere. Usually, early morning is the best time for productivity because few people are up at that hour. In essence, opt to do the opposite of what other people are doing. Therefore, if most of your companions are up and about by around 7 in the morning, make sure to start working on your most important tasks by around 5 in the morning. Also, assess the times when the distractions are least present. Check out what times during the day are mostly quiet for you, as well. This is proven more effective than conforming to preset working hours.
Learn to say no.
It’s alright for you to decline the demands of other people around you. This is especially important if your tasks are crucial at the time and their requests are not. By doing so, you can save time. You may use this extra time to focus more on things you need to do. Also, their reaction when you say no can tell you how important you are to them as a person. If you feel bad about saying no, perhaps you can make a compromise to help them once you are finished with what you need to do.
Only set two or three tasks at a time.
If you have to do at least 10 tasks in a day, you may have a hard time doing that within a day. To help deter distractions, have two or three tasks lined up for the day. Make sure these are the most important tasks you need to finish.
In this context, you can prioritize your tasks using these two main guidelines:
- Urgency
Segregate your tasks according to its need to be finished as soon as possible. Needless to say, if the due date is within the day or anytime within the week, list that down as a priority. - Expertise
There may be some tasks that you find difficult to work on and asking for help is not a bad idea. This provides the opportunity to enlist the help of a virtual assistant. Delegate your tasks and be more productive while accumulating more free time.
Hiring a virtual assistant can help you save time because you don’t have to figure out concepts that are confusing for you. Instead, you can look for an expert who doesn’t have a hard time working through your current hurdle.
In some instances, even one task for the entire day is fine as long as you see it through. By doing so, this can not only help you be productive throughout the day, but will also bring about the great feeling of accomplishment once you finish the task.
If you do not understand a certain task, skip it for now.
In case there is an important part of the task that you do not understand, just leave it be for the moment, then just come back to it once some of your other tasks have been completed. As much as possible, complete things you can do without any problems. Aside from helping you work faster, this will ensure you can maintain a certain level of momentum, which will assist in helping you to move forward onto other tasks.
If you need to have these tasks done as soon as possible, consider getting help from experts, such as VAs. Not only can they help you save a lot of time, but they can also contribute to better output because they know their craft well.
Use your learning style to your advantage.
For visual learners, consider using sketches and colorful lists of tasks to help monitor the progress. Creating a systematically colored checklist may also provide the same benefit. If you are an aural learner, check out audio books about the topics that you have to study to. This will help you learn the material easily and ace your examination without being too hard on yourself.
If you need to take a break, only go for active breaks.
This can work even with incomplete tasks. This is important and is closely related to how you can keep your momentum up while working. When you subject yourself to active rest, you are not working on the tasks at hand. However, this will shift your mind to something related to it. One example is reading one current-event article while on a study break. You are still reading, but you are temporarily keeping your mind off the lessons that you are studying.
It is perfectly understandable if you cannot readily perfect the art of shutting out distractions. However, this should not make you want to slack off more, either! In using these techniques, just take one baby step at a time. You do not have to rush things, just remember to be consistent in applying the tips.