4 Easy Ways to Fight Distraction at Work and Perform Brilliantly
Bright as a star, positive in her attitude — Shirley was proud of herself. Shirley got married at 27. It was a rollercoaster ride for her to get into a new family and make certain adjustments. She always held on tight and had faith in her abilities. It was an altogether new life for her, not only a new house, but she also had to switch to a new job.
“Empower your teams with effective work management and boost productivity. Try ProofHub!”
She spent her first day at ProofHub with full energy and tried to make a great impression on her colleagues. I hope you know the importance of the first impression, it makes a major impact on the success of an organization.
All while trying to learn the ropes at home and office, trying to adjust with a new family at home and office, Shirley had a feeling of mismanagement and she could not play it safe. She was in her probation period, she spent her days pulling through a sea of deliverables, targets to achieve and working hard to perform, trying to match the required standard.
Every day she walked in, expecting to cover up all her daily to-do lists, but halfway through the day, she could find herself in some other world. And till evening she realized she was not able to live up to her aspirations. Days were passing and distraction was overpowering her. The distractions didn’t just ate up her time but also disturbed her mental progress.
According to Gloria Mark, who studies digital distraction at the University of California, Irvine, says that it takes an average of about 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption. And if there are frequent such interruptions, it results in a lot of time waste.
But is that an end to our career? Is there a solution?
“After every storm, the sun will smile; for every problem, there is a solution, and the soul’s indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer” — William R. Alger
William R. Alger quoted well in his above line. So, what are the ways out to fight distractions at work for people like Shirley. Here are some way for riding off those irritating distractions:
1. Stop multitasking
Does multitasking get more done? It’s your choice to get one task done well or a whole lot of tasks done poorly. Today, we all are becoming multitasking addicted. While you are working on an activity on the right side of your brain, and you try to multitask.
You are now diverting your attention from one part of your brain to another part that will consume your brain cells. Probably in shifting from one task to other, your brain would be slower and not nearly as good in doing both tasks at the same time. The bandwidth that brain requires to move back and forth activities might affect your performance.
Multitasking is a big distraction at work like an art of messing up several things and to get more done in less time you need to stop multitasking.
Tips to stop multitasking:
- Do one thing at a time
- Be always present
- Finish before you start
- Concentrate on most important tasks one at a time
- Do not let small tasks interrupt big tasks
Are you a still a multitasker?
2. Squash Negative Self-Talk
Are you a self-talker? A negative or a positive self-talker? I’m slow at work. I do not have nice ideas. I am sleepy. I am not performing like other. Sounds familiar? Everyone tends to be a self-talker, what matters is managing stress that involves negative self-talk. Negative thoughts will distract your mind and deviate you from your activities at hand.
Keep yourself away from believing in your negative thoughts. If it still disturbs, write those thoughts down and focus on solving them so that it doesn’t hit your brain again. Avoid dating words like “failure”, “bad”, “worthless”, “useless” and much more.
Tips to banish negative talks:
- Always be conscious of what you are telling yourself
- Think of the opposite of negative thought
- Avoid negative people
- Compliment others
- Take care of yourself
Hold your head and tell yourself you are awesome.
3. Kick your email addiction
Still using the outdated practices of sending emails? Many of us are email junkies and the corner of our eyes is always in our inbox. Email addiction is taking a serious toll on work productivity and is a huge distraction. Obsessive email checks add up to feeling empty and unsatisfied. Emails pop up every now and then and you get distracted from your work, the flow breaks.
I do not get anything significant in checking those emails popping up now and then. Instead of regular checking up emails, schedule specific times during your day to check your email. For exchanging small information you can use chat tool. You will be better able to focus on your tasks without missing out on something important.
Tips to control email addiction:
- Choose times to check
- Turn off your alerts
- Disconnect from your inbox
- Prioritize urgent matters
Try to control your screens and not let your screens control you.
4. Keep yourself away from auditory distractions
Are you easily distracted with noises like the buzzing of phone, discussions going around in an office, people talking to each other or any such? You may not have control over certain factors in office and feel that you are not spending all the time working on your tasks due to such distractions.
Sometimes, those background sound may happen to create stress to some people that trigger a release of cortisol into a body. The excess cortisol released affects that part of the brain which regulates the ability to plan and remember things. Get rid of those noises to maintain your productivity.
Tips to limit auditory distractions:
- Find a quiet space to work
- Use noise canceling headphones
- If there is a door, shut it
- Listen to some natural sounds
Eliminate the auditory distractions and stay focused.
Make an estimate of how much of your time is consumed because of the distractions and you will be more motivated to get out of it. Follow these ways to empower yourself and regain control.
Want to bring a positive change in your worklife this year? Switch to ProofHub.
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