- Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions Listening
- Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions List Words
- Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions Listen
Often our own mind can be the biggest source of distractions when we sit down to work:
Welcome to the prayer to block out distractions and keep your focus on God. This is a prayer I’ve put together where I would like to pray for anyone within the sound of my voice. All I ask you to do, is to agree with me as I pray, and together we will seek our Heavenly Father. Mainly, you dedicate a 25-minute block to doing the hard stuff and then give yourself 5 minutes to relax or scratch a distraction itch. If you thought about a book you wanted to look up while writing a blog post, save it for the 5-minute block after you’re done the 25 minutes of writing. Remove Distractions. Distractions are your number one enemy when it comes to keeping your focus. Online distractions for example, can hamper you from more productive tasks. Keep your focus by limiting the number of open tabs on your browser. Mainly, you dedicate a 25-minute block to doing the hard stuff and then give yourself 5 minutes to relax or scratch a distraction itch. If you thought about a book you wanted to look up while writing a blog post, save it for the 5-minute block after you’re done the 25 minutes of writing. Focus Better and Get More Done. Imazing 2 9 12. FocalFilter is a free productivity tool that helps you focus by temporarily blocking distracting websites. After the block timer runs out, your websites are available for you to view again.
- We suddenly remember the bananas we forgot to pick up at the grocery store.
- We begin worrying about the presentation we have to give next week.
- A sense of dread creeps over us when we realize how much work we still have to get done by the end of the day.
The Distractions List is a simple but powerful technique for dealing with internal distractions like these. By immediately writing down our distracting thoughts, we signal to our minds that those distractions are acknowledged and will be taken care of if necessary.
I first came across this idea, by the way, in Chris Bailey’s book Hyperfocus.
How To Do It
Here’s how to implement the Distractions List:
- Whenever you sit down to do some meaningful work, keep a small notebook or pad of paper and pencil next to you.
- When you notice yourself distracted by a particular thought, feeling, or any other internal event, quickly jot it down and then re-focus your attention onto your work.
- When you’ve finished your work, briefly review your Distractions List: Take note of anything important on the list and make a brief plan for taking care of it (e.g.: Set a reminder in your phone to pick up bananas at 5:05 pm).
That’s it!
Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions Listening
Why It Works
While the experience of worry and the anxiety it produces is uncomfortable, it often serves the purpose of increasing our memory. In other words, when our mind is afraid that we’ll forget about important things, it often throws those things at us (in the form of worry) as a kind of primitive memory aid.
(Side Note: In his excellent book, Getting Things Done, David Allen talks a lot about this memory function of worry and how to eliminate it with well-designed organizational systems.)
Imagine driving in the car and seeing a phone number you want to remember on a billboard. Juno editor 2 3 2012. Ideally, you’d write the number down as a way to remember it. But you’re driving, so you have to resort to a more primitive technique—repeating the number over and over again.
Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions List Words
Often this is what our mind is doing when it throws “distracting” things at us while we’re working. It’s afraid that we’ll forget something important, so it repeats it over and over again.
By keeping a Distractions List, you’re effectively reassuring your mind that you have a reliable system for remembering these important things.
And if you get in the habit of keeping a Distractions List, eventually your mind will really start to trust that you will remember important things. Consequently, it will feel less of a need to throw these distracting worries at you.
Good Places to Use a Distractions List
The Distractions List is useful whenever you’re doing any kind of sustained, meaningful work. I find it most useful in these three areas:
- Reading. Most mornings I sit down at my desk and try to read for at least half an hour. Because I only have a limited amount of time, I try to really make sure I don’t end up distracted. When I sit down to read, I put my phone in a drawer and take out a little notepad and pencil and put it next to me on the desk and use it as a Distractions List.
- Writing. I try to write every day. And writing—at least for me—can be a mentally and emotionally draining process. As a result, I often find myself stuck in the middle of a writing session, unsure of where to go or how to connect two ideas. In response, my mind often throws distracting thoughts at me. This is the perfect scenario for a Distractions List.
- Email. As much as possible, I try to batch process my email once or twice a day. Sometimes this goes quickly and easily, but other times it takes a lot longer than I imagined. When this happens, my mind tends to rev up its distraction throwing, so having a Distractions List close by is helpful.
This is a guest post by Armela Escalona. You can find more of her work at Scoopfed, where she is a blogger, content marketer and editor.
Sometimes it’s hard to focus on work.
Zig Ziglar said, “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
More than anything, focus helps us improve our performance. It allows us to finish tasks on time and handle each stressful moment with ease.
Keep Your Attention and Get More Done
Improving your concentration is one step of being productive. However, eliminating distractions as they come may not be such an easy task. How can you keep your attention and get more done during a typical work day?
Check out these 7 Ways To Keep Your Focus and Conquer Distractions:
- Clear Physical and Mental Clutter. Having a clean organized desk can reduce stress levels and have you surfing through the day engaged and motivated to do your tasks. Aside from physical clutter, ridding yourself with mental clutter, especially those thoughts that affect your focus, can significantly elevate your performance. Spend a few minutes each day to clean and maintain your desk.
- Create Your To-Do List. The feeling of accomplishment comes with success in doing your tasks. When you break projects into manageable portions, you can tackle each task one “bite at a time,” and motivate yourself to finish everything on time.
- Avoid multi-tasking. Aside from slowing down your thought process, it also prevents you from being fully engaged in one task at a time. Multitasking works to give your brain a boost in dopamine, which makes you more prone to commit mistakes, and more likely to switch between tasks rapidly. This leads to leaving out those stressful (but important) assignments in exchange for mini tasks that are relatively easy to finish, but not important.
- Have Regular-Timed Breaks. Breaks can be rewarding and help you stay focused during an otherwise hectic day. Breaks away from work like talking a walk, talking to a coworker, or reading a book, improve productivity and help employees achieve more focus. Set a timer to go off after every hour of work, signaling that you should take a break.
- Know The Best Times To Work. Most of us have special times in a day when we are in the zone. By scheduling most of your important work during this timeframe, you can give yourself the best advantage to work in the time when you are most focused. For example: according to research, 8AM is the best time of day to make critical decisions because most people are more in control and physically active around this time.
- Remove Distractions. Distractions are your number one enemy when it comes to keeping your focus. Online distractions for example, can hamper you from more productive tasks. Keep your focus by limiting the number of open tabs on your browser. If you are prone to checking your social networking sites, you can block them during work hours using browser extensions like StayFocusd. For those who can’t resist looking at their emails after a pop-up notification shows itself, simply turn them off to help you overcome impulsive checking.
- Limit Your Caffeine Intake. When we’re feeling sleepy or sluggish, we often reach for a cup of coffee. However, too much caffeine can be unhealthy too. Heavy consumption of caffeine can cause nervousness, irritability and insomnia. If you need the extra boost to work on a sluggish afternoon, try other alternatives like a protein bar, a healthy piece of fruit, or tea.
Final Thoughts
Time is irreversible. The minutes and hours you spend distracted can affect your performance. But with persistence and determination to accomplish the things you work on, you can conquer distractions and improve your concentration.
Question: What steps can you take to keep your focus at work? You can leave a comment by clicking here.