15 Incredibly Good Ways to Stay Focused at Work

1

Get in the “flow”

Take a minute to evaluate your productivity. Are you really in the “flow” when working on your tasks?  “Flow” is a state of mind where we feel in total pursuit, execute tasks effortlessly, and achieve the peak of our performance. 

2

Plan ahead

Every day before starting to work on all your tasks, write down 3 most important things you need to accomplish by the end of the day. Find a planning method that works the best for you, be it prioritized to-do lists, hourly work schedule, or a completely different planning method. 

3

Create an hourly work plan

Try scheduling all your today’s tasks hour by hour. There are multiple benefits to this kind of enhanced planning: 

– You know exactly what needs to be done by the end of the day – You set realistic expectations to your day as you predict how much time it takes to complete each task – You know what to do next after finishing one task – You can prioritize your tasks and plan the ones requiring higher energy levels for the morning hour

4

Write down all your idea

We all get many new ideas while working on a task. Some days, we might become so overwhelmed with new thoughts that we’re unable to continue to focus. The best way to deal with your spontaneous ideas is to keep a pen and notebook close. Whenever an idea crosses your mind, write it down, let it go for now, and return to it later.

5

Keep your to-do list organized

Having an unorganized to-do list with tens of unfinished tasks can have a negative effect on your productivity. That’s because you haven’t planned which tasks need to be tackled first.  When reviewing your huge to-do list, break it into three structured lists: daily, weekly, and monthly work. 

6

Set deadline

If you feel no pressure to complete a task, you’ll likely procrastinate on it twice as much. Set clear deadlines for all the tasks in your to-do list. By doing so, you create a sense of urgency, making it easier to achieve the state of flow and truly focus on an important task. 

7

Organize your work environment

To organize your thoughts and concentrate your focus on a single task, you need a work environment that supports this kind of clarity. Clean up your desk, organize your computer’s desktop, and remove posters from the wall.

8

Split time-consuming task

Instead of tackling one huge task, break into smaller doable tasks that you can complete in less than one day. This way, you’ll feel more rewarded each time a part of the task gets finished. Moreover, you’ll have a better understanding of what needs to be done next. 

9

Take small, 15-minute break

Nobody’s able to work for 3 hours straight without a single flicker of thought. It’s better to take regular breaks than to feel overwhelmed with multiple ideas and thoughts.  Make your 15-minute breaks a computer-free zone, meaning that you use this time to brew coffee, listen to energizing songs, chat with a colleague, or read a book. 

10

Turn off notification

You can’t fully focus unless you free yourself of the small cunning distractions called notifications. Go to your phone settings and turn off notifications for email, Facebook messages, and other irrelevant apps regularly sending you notifications. 

11

Block distracting website

We spend the best of your days working with our laptops. Which means that we’re constantly connected to Wi-Fi, able to visit millions of distracting websites. Use productivity tools like SelfControl or Cold Turkey to create a blacklist of distracting websites and block your access for several hours. 

12

Create a 3-hour working zone

Working on full steam requires some planning. Schedule a 3-hour working zone each day and add it to your calendar. During this time, find a quiet place and tell other team members you’re not to be bothered with any requests. 

13

Block out the noise

It’s impossible for everybody in the office to work in complete silence. It’s only natural that people need to discuss some important matters with each other. But all this babble can become tiresome pretty quickly. 

14

Use noise-cancelling headphone

If you find it hard to work with any background noise, invest in noise-cancelling headphones. Earplugs will also do the job, but there’s an additional benefit to wearing headphones. It delivers the message that you wish to be undistracted, making others give you more personal space. 

15

Check email every three hour

We already talked about the importance of turning off notifications. However, giving up noisy notifications makes us more inclined to check our email as we’d like to know when new messages pop in the inbox 

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