There are countless things that can distract you in an office. Unless you have discipline and know exactly how to block these distractions, you’re going to have a hard time staying focused on your work. Apart from getting emails and texts, you’re likely to often hear other people’s phones ringing, as well as your talking about work and their personal lives. In case you’re finding it hard to focus at the office, you should do something about it right away.
Split Work into Micro-Tasks
Working on big projects is often quite overwhelming. You may get discouraged when you see months of effort go into something and not be done with it. If you don’t find a way to make work interesting, you’ll ultimately start losing motivation and focus. The best way to feel like you’ve accomplished something is to split your work into smaller tasks. By not worrying about the rest of the project and focusing on just one small task at a time, you’ll be able to stay concentrated on your work. Whenever you finish a task, you’ll feel joy and excitement as a result of a dopamine release in your brain. This neurotransmitter plays a huge role in your ability to focus.
Put Headphones On
Blocking distractions and eliminating outside noise can be almost impossible in some cases. Thankfully, you can use headphones to completely cancel out the noise. By buying a quality headset like the Plantronics Savi 8220, you will only hear the music you’re playing. Of course, you’ll be able to use the headset for focusing on important phone calls with clients as well. Apart from blocking background noises for you, it also has a noise-canceling microphone to ensure your business partners and clients hear you perfectly no matter how noisy your office is.
Become More Organized
Sometimes, you’re unable to focus properly because you’re thinking about numerous things at once. In order to avoid this you should simply become more organized. Make a plan of everything that you’re going to do and determine how much time you have for each task. It’s important to do everything according to plan. It is also a good idea to shift your tasks so that you do your most vital work when your office is usually the quietest.
Avoid Multitasking
Even though many people think that the ability to do multiple things at once is a positive trait, it actually isn’t. Some people believe that multitasking allows you to get more work done in less time. However, this isn’t actually true. In fact, multitasking is bad for you. Since you’re doing multiple tasks at once you’ll feel more productive. But the likelihood of making a mistake will increase and you’ll quickly lose focus. You can actually be more efficient if you focus on one task at a time.
Turn Off Your Smartphone
Your smartphone is without a doubt the biggest distraction you face at work. It’s easy to get carried away and spend an insane amount of time on your phone. Simply seeing you’ve received a text message can trigger you to automatically unlock your smartphone and reply. Although this action may last only a few seconds, it completely shifts your focus from one thing to another. Not to mention that you may start checking your email and social media accounts after replying, which can take away an additional time from your day. If you don’t want to turn your phone off, you should at least put it on silent.
Prioritize Your Tasks
In order to stay focused in a busy office, you will need to identify during which part of the day you’re most productive. In most cases, people are most productive in the morning when they’re still full of energy. Make sure you do the most important and complex tasks when you’re productive.