Best-selling author, speaker #ChampagneMoment www.ExactlyWhereYouWanttoBe.com.
We all have a lot on our plates. Unfortunately, many of us end our workday feeling like we could have done more. Studies have found that the average worker is distracted from their work over 50 times a day, resulting in fewer than 60 distraction-free hours left in a month. Here are seven easy ways to get more productive work completed every day.
1. Love What You Do
Humans naturally gravitate toward activities that are pleasant and enjoyable and avoid the ones that are not. If you are having trouble staying focused, it may simply be that you don’t enjoy what you are doing.
This can be extremely difficult for people who own a business. It’s not always possible to just change what you do. However, you can delegate or outsource the tasks that you hate so that you can spend more time on activities that you like to boost focus.
2. Identify Your Focus Disruptors
Before you can solve for poor focus, you need to find out what elements in your workplace reduce your ability to focus. Keeping a journal throughout the day where you jot down each distraction can help better understand the source of your problem.
Once you have identified your triggers, you can start to systematically eliminate or reduce their impacts on your focus. This might include working in a different location, putting your phone in your desk drawer or keeping snacks on hand to avoid wandering to the kitchen or pantry.
3. Listen To Binaural Music
Your brain is a complex organ, and we are just scratching the surface of understanding it. In nature, our brains were designed to constantly be on the lookout for threats. Being focused simply goes against our natural instincts. Fortunately, there are some scientifically proven methods that can help your brain stay on track.
One of those strategies is listening to binaural music (often referred to as binaural beats). Binaural music is a form of music or tone that produces a different hertz (Hz) frequency in each ear (you’ll need headphones for this to work). Your brain is then forced to synchronize these two tones into a single frequency of its own to align with your natural brainwaves. Listening to binaural music while working can create a sense of calm, focus, creativity, positive thinking and stress relief.
4. Use The Pomodoro Technique
Developed in the 1980s as a way to help increase productivity, the Pomodoro Technique uses a simple timer (like the one on your smartphone) to block out intervals for uninterrupted, deep-focus work. Once the time has expired, you can take a short break to give your mind and body a rest before starting the next interval. Most Pomodoro intervals are 25 minutes long with a five- to 10-minute break in between. However, you can adjust this to fit your needs. After three intervals, it’s recommended that you take a longer break (between 20 and 30 minutes).
The Pomodoro Technique works because it forces you to consciously focus your efforts on a single task. Since the time is limited, you will be more likely to “beat the clock.” It also has a built-in reward system with rests for successfully completing the interval.
5. Just Get Started
Getting started on a task is often the most difficult part of staying focused since this requires the most amount of brain power to shift from another task. Oftentimes, delaying getting started is a result of procrastination. Procrastination often stems from three reasons: fear of success, fear of failure and perfectionism. Instead of getting started on the task, you avoid it and look for easier alternatives like checking email.
To combat this, set a timer for 10 minutes to get started on the task (such as starting a rough draft). The trick is to give yourself permission to stop if you can’t get into the groove. More likely than not, you’ll find that even making a small amount of progress can increase your motivation to keep working on the task.
6. Calendar Time For Focused Work
Planning your time carefully can increase the amount of time that you spend focusing on high-quality work. This ensures that you have dedicated time for focused work that is free from other meetings or obligations.
First, if you have a project that you are working on, block out an hour on your calendar to do nothing but this task. You can also use this time to work on several tasks that are similar in nature.
When using your calendar to schedule focus time, it’s critical that you keep Parkinson’s Law in mind: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” This means that if you schedule two hours for a task, you’ll likely use all of this time. Instead, schedule a smaller block of time, and you can naturally figure out how to get it done within the time allotted.
7. Delegate More
According to the Pareto Principle (often referred to as the 80/20 rule), 20% of your tasks will often create about 80% of your results. It’s important to spend more of your time focusing on the 20% that is the most impactful. The rest can and should be delegated to other team members whenever possible.
Delegation can be a powerful tool if done correctly. I recommend using the 10/80/10 method for delegation to achieve the best results. The first 10% of the effort will be your responsibility to set up the work correctly, set clear expectations and deadlines, and provide the resources necessary for someone to complete the task. The middle 80% is the bulk of the work that the delegate will be completing. You’ll use the final 10% of the time for quality control, request revisions or add the finishing touches. You just saved 80% of the time to focus on more important tasks.
You’ll need to experiment to find the technique that brings you the most focus, but you can find your unique superhuman focus with some conscious effort.
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