Surely you noticed for yourself that in some days workers and other things are done by themselves. There are also extremely unproductive periods during which even habitual duties seem especially difficult and tedious. Do not rush to blame everything on magnetic storms and lack of inspiration. In fact, you can control your attention. Not sure how to focus on work or an important business? We are ready to tell you.
Set up your workplace correctly
Before starting work, take a look around. Many freelancers working outside the office proudly say that they simply do not have a job. The prospect of working in a comfortable chair or on a park bench seems attractive to many. But actually focusing in such an informal setting is very difficult. Advice to all people working at home: be sure to organize a workplace if you have not done it before. Let it be a small table with a computer and everything you need for your work. Keep only work papers and documents in this place.
Office staff should not be lazy to conduct regular cleaning. If you often find it difficult to concentrate, you should clean your table from souvenirs and various personal trifles. Leave only what you need in the process. It is important that the workplace is comfortable. The table and chair should be matched in height to your height. If you are working at a computer, position the monitor at the optimal distance from the eyes and experiment with the brightness settings. Keep your desktop clean. If possible, try as little as possible here to have lunch or to do personal affairs. These tables and chairs should only be associated with professional activities.
Ignore the temptations of virtual space
How to focus on working at a computer when there are so many temptations in front of your eyes? Many people complain that they work extremely unproductive due to the fact that many are distracted by personal email, social networks or instant messaging programs. Try to develop your willpower and not open any extraneous sites and applications while you work. If this happens by itself, you can install one of the programs with the “parental control” function. If you do not need the Internet for work, you can simply turn it off.
Often distracted from the main occupation provokes a random thought. How to refrain from searching for information on the Internet if you recall a household problem or decide to book movie tickets? Search for answers to personal questions on the World Wide Web is out of hours. This rule applies to online bookings and ticket reservations. If the matter is urgent, devote your lunch break to it.
Minimize external irritants
You are unlikely to manage to focus on the main thing in a noisy room. If you work at home or are preparing for the exam, turn off the TV, ask the household not to make noise. Some people find it more pleasant to work with quiet music. This is an individual question. If you are uncomfortable in absolute silence, you can turn on a quiet melody without words or a collection of songs in an unfamiliar language. The most difficult thing is to concentrate on office workers who are forced to share an office with other employees. Ask your colleagues not to bother you when you are busy with a responsible business. If the room is noisy enough, you can put on headphones in which calm music will play. The extravagant option is ear plugs. But why not try using them when it comes to your professional productivity? Encourage relatives and friends not to call you during business hours on non-essential issues. If you work at home, it is appropriate to notify all family members about the beginning of the working day and ask not to disturb you.
Observe work schedule
Not a single person is able to be productive 24 hours a day. We are all not robots, and each of us needs time to rest. Regular breaks are required during the working day. The best option is to devote 45 minutes to work, after which rest 10-15 minutes. During breaks, it is most useful to get up from the table and walk around, do light gymnastics or go out into the fresh air. You can spend this time on a snack or some personal matters, such as a call or checking email. Some office workers admit that during breaks they do self-massage of the neck, eye exercises or meditate. Most importantly - do not get carried away and get back to work on time. If you need to focus and redo many small things, the time intervals of work-rest can be changed. Try to rest for 5 minutes after every 20-25 working minutes.
Proper planning is the key to success
A popular question among people interested in improving personal productivity: how to focus on work if I only think about where to start? One of the secrets of highly effective people is competent planning. Spend no more than 5 minutes a day compiling a to-do list and try to follow it. Using daily planning, you will always know what else needs to be done and become less distracted. If your work involves the implementation of many diverse tasks and assignments, a daily list can be made in the morning right at the workplace. You can stop wasting time thinking about the workflow by making detailed plans with subparagraphs. You must admit that even the most difficult task will cease to seem such if you break it down into several minor and simple ones.
Motivation that works
Any manager knows how important it is to properly motivate their employees. So why don't you become a personal boss for yourself? Develop your own reward and punishment system. All business completed on time? Great, buy yourself a chocolate bar, read an interesting book, or go to bed early. If you can’t fully concentrate, postpone some purchase planned for the soul or deprive yourself of the entertainment program for the evening. Incentives and punishments must be developed individually. The prize promised for the performance of the work should really attract you and encourage you to fulfill all the conditions of the contract with you. Do not forget to think about the future. A great incentive to work faster and better is to remember what career prospects await you. There is another option - just do not forget that you work for money.
Feel free to praise yourself and be proud of your own successes.
“You will not praise yourself - no one will praise” - this proverb has a very deep meaning. Celebrate your own successes, you can even start to keep a personal achievement diary. Get a separate notebook and write down in it every evening the successes of the day. Did you do one more thing than planned, or did you work 10% faster than usual? You are well done! You can share personal success with someone from your loved ones. Find a person who will listen with interest to the story of your work and praise. Such support will be an additional motivation.
Work effortlessly
The question of how to focus on the work process is usually not asked by people who love their work. Agree, doing interesting business is always nice. But in moments it happens that even the most beloved work is annoying. If you like computer or interactive games, we suggest you fantasize. Break your usual working day into separate "quests". Do not forget to enjoy every victory and move to a new level. Another great way to increase productivity is to compete with one of your colleagues. You can offer a workmate a dispute with some interesting prize. But if you communicate with colleagues on business, it is better to keep the competition a secret.
Help your brain tune into the workflow
In order to work qualitatively, it is necessary to create all the necessary conditions for yourself. The organization of the workplace will not help you if you have not taken care of yourself. In order to use your own potential to the maximum, you need to be in good physical shape. Don't even count on high productivity if you feel bad. Exemption from work for the duration of the disease was invented for a reason. Try to get enough sleep and monitor your own health. Ventilate your office regularly. You should not be distracted by physiological needs. Have a quick snack, drink tea or coffee during breaks. Always keep clean drinking water handy. When you need to focus on work, you can try using aromatherapy. It is believed that tea tree helps to concentrate best. Just add a few drops to the aroma lamp and enjoy the unobtrusive aroma.
Don't demand the impossible from yourself
No advice on how to focus on work or study will not help you quickly if you haven’t slept for several days or just experienced extreme stress. Try not to overexert and have a good rest. If something extraordinary and extraordinary happened, it makes sense to completely abandon the continuation of work and go home. Of course, we are talking about some serious and unexpected events. But when it’s impossible to concentrate quickly because of some commonplace problems, one should take up one’s own character. Do not take to the heart the little things in life and do not strive to heroize when this is not necessary. Love your work and try to do it efficiently. This is the main secret of productivity.