How to be More Focused at Work

How to be more focused at work. The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire, not things we fear. Brian Tracy. If there's one thing that the modern era has brought into the workplace, it's an unlimited source of distractions. Staying focused and motivated at work seems to always be a struggle for many people. Today though, in a world where an infinite number of distractions are a few clicks or swipes of a smartphone away, staying focused at work is now more difficult than ever before. The good news, however, is that there are ways to dramatically improve your focus, productivity, and motivation even in today's distraction-filled world. If you would like to become more focused and productive at work, follow these five useful tips. First, try to limit online interruptions. When used correctly, the internet can be an incredibly powerful tool in the workplace. Of course, the internet can also become a bottomless pit of distractions that drain your time minute by minute. With so many jobs requiring you to spend part of your day working online, simply unplugging your Wi-Fi isn't an option for many people. But when you can, it is incredibly beneficial to unplug and focus solely on the task at hand. Simply muting your notifications and closing out your windows for a period of time each day can go a long way towards boosting your focus and productivity. If going offline isn't an option for you, add-ons that block social media sites and other time-wasting sites can be quite beneficial as well. Number two, create a designated time for meetings. Meetings and conferences are obviously an important part of the workday for many professionals. If you've ever been focused on completing a task only to have your motivation and productivity derailed by a meeting, then you know how much of an interruption to your progress these meetings can sometimes be. Since meetings can tend to interrupt focus and progress, it's much better to schedule all of your meetings at a designated time rather than allowing them to continually interrupt your work at random intervals throughout the day. Similar to blocking off time for meetings, a third focus tip is to schedule daily focus hours. It really takes time to get into a groove of focusing all of your attention and effort on a single task. In many cases, you won't start doing your best work on a task until you have had the chance to sit down and focus on it for an extended period of time. This means that even one interruption to your progress can force you to start the process of honing in on a task and getting into the most productive groove all over again. In the same way that meetings are able to interrupt focus, anything that draws your attention away from your work or even a brief period of time can end up having a serious impact on your productivity. Scheduling daily focus hours where you isolate yourself entirely from distractions and focus only on a single important task can be a powerful way to ensure that you're able to get into the flow of your work and produce results without interruption. Next, try to set time limits for tasks. Few things are more motivating than a deadline. Even when you set the deadline for yourself, simply placing a limit on how long it should take you to complete the task can provide you with a sense of urgency and give the task a feeling of importance that you might not have otherwise felt about the task at hand. And finally, number five, remember to take short breaks. Taking breaks from work in order to improve your focus and productivity may sound counterintuitive. And it is true that breaks can interrupt your progress in the same way that a meeting or other distractions might. When scheduled properly, though, short breaks from work can provide you with a mental refresh that will allow you to reset your focus and come at the task again with a renewed sense of motivation. In the end, few people can work an entire eight hours without stopping and be expected to do their best work the entire way. You can certainly force yourself to power through without taking any breaks, but doing so often causes more harm than good. Rather than spending so much time focused on a task that your mind begins to tire or grow bored, schedule short breaks throughout the day to re-energize and reset your focus. These breaks can be as simple as a quick walk outside for a breath of fresh air or a trip to the water cooler for a cup of water, as just a few minutes away from work is typically all that is required to hit the mental reset button. Now, our question today is this, what distractions do you face at work? Leave a comment below and Brian will be sure to follow up with you. 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