Saving ourselves from ourselves
Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash
This is the last post in our 3-part series about how to minimize distractions to get more done. (If you missed the first 2 posts in this series you can check how to reduce distractions related to our technology here, and distractions originating with other people here.)
Distractions are killing our productivity.
And we have to be proactive if we want to change that. Studies show that when we are distracted or interrupted (even when we interrupt ourselves!), it takes us, on average, 23 minutes to regain focus and that we are interrupted or distracted every 11 minutes. This means office workers spend up to 1/3 of their workday recovering from distractions.
Imagine if you had an extra few hours of your work day back every day…to actually work!
Today we’re going to talk about to to reduce distractions that we cause ourselves. You know, when you stop working on your big report mid-sentence because you feel compelled to check your email? Or when a deadline is looming but you decide right now is a perfect time to clean out your closet?
Set your environment up for success by removing visual clutter
In the same way we need to change the default settings in our tech to help us create environments that have fewer inherent distractions, we also need to make changes to our physical environment for the same reasons.
Clear off your physical desk
One quick thing you can do to promote focus is simply to clear off your desk and workspace.
This doesn’t take much; even simply stacking all the papers and putting them in a pile in the corner can help.
Working in a clean environment, clear of clutter, reduces anxiety and encourages focus and creativity. Studies have shown that clear, uncluttered spaces also reduce cortisol (the fight or flight hormone) in our bodies, which means that we are actually much better able to calmly focus on our work.
Clear off your desktop
Visual clutter can be virtual too. Take a few minutes to clear off your cluttered computer desktop. Even if you just put everything that’s on a desktop in a single folder called “to file” and get to it later, that’s better than having 100 icons on your desktop pulling at your attention.
Open a new browser window (not just a new tab) when you need to get some focused work done.
Yes, I see you and the 50 open tabs in your browser. (Don’t worry, it happens to me too.)
When you need to get some focused work done, minimize that window with ALL the tabs and open a window with just the one thing you are doing right now.
(Or declare “tab-ruptcy, and just close them all out. Were you really gonna read all those articles anyway? Be honest with yourself.)
Plan for intrusive thoughts
How did all those browser tabs get open? Likely because in the middle of doing one thing, you thought of another thing that you needed to do, and then another. You weren’t trying to distract yourself; you were trying to get work done. Your intentions were good! But it didn’t work out the way you hoped. So, what can you do?
Write it down!
You’re going to keep having those thoughts. And that’s OK. But what I want you to do is think about how to handle those thoughts as a corollary to meditation…with one tweak.
Instead of noticing the thought and letting it go, I want you to just write it down. When you write it down, your brain will let it go so that you can continue to focus on the thing you are doing right now. And you won’t forget it, because you wrote it down. When you finish what you are doing, go ahead and do that thing (or 5) you wrote down. Or if they are bigger things, go ahead and prioritize them into your task list to be done when appropriate.
Create a focus mantra for yourself
When you are trying to focus, but the thoughts just keep coming and they’re pretty compelling, create a helpful mantra. Maybe it’s “keep doing what you’re doing” or “do what I’m doing right now” or “I will get to the rest of it later”. You’re training your brain to single-task (which definitely works better than multitasking).
Use a crutch
Productivity and focus isn’t all about willpower. It’s about finding strategies that work and sometimes employing some crutches to help us with our habit change. So if it helps, put a (temporary) sticky on your laptop that reads “write it down and let it go”, or change your background of your desktop to say “keep it clean”. Give yourself the reminders that you need until new habits are ingrained.