Diminishing Distractions

Have you ever looked at the clock and thought to yourself, “how did I not accomplish anything today!?” I know the feeling, in fact it is one of my biggest pet peeves.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am very easily distracted. For this reason, I have learned to be very mindful of my work (and workout) environment when I need to get things done.

This post marks day 4 of Natalie Sisson’s 15 Day Blog Challenge and the topic is eliminating distractions.

Most of the time I am pretty mindful of avoiding nonsense like Facebook and Instagram when it’s time to work, but the one thing I really struggle with is dealing with people.

Nothing is more frustrating that asking someone an important question and getting lost in conversation only to later realize you never got the answer you needed.

I will admit that I am a talker, and have been guilty of going off topic. The best remedy for this has actually been writing this blog. Writing has a way of forcing your thoughts to become clear and I try to bring those skills into spoken conversation as well.

Useful tips to stay on task when dealing with friendly distractions

Don’t be a chatty Cathy. If you don’t want people blowing up your phone with nonsense texts or meaningless conversation, don’t do it yourself. Think before you speak and if what you are about to say doesn’t serve a purpose, skip it.

Schedule time to socialize. In order to have the discipline to stick with that first tip, you’ll have to make sure you do have an outlet. It may be that you arrive to work 10 minutes early for a little chit chat before work, or perhaps you take lunch out with a friend. Giving yourself boundaries for when it is and when it is not appropriate converse will help you stay focused when you need to.

If you can’t talk, say so- especially with social media, your phone and email. Ignore the message (log off, turn off your phone, etc) until it’s an appropriate time to reply **tip 2**. If you reply quickly to texts, emails, and the like you train people to bother you because they know you are good for a response. Most of the time these things are not urgent and can wait a few hours until it’s “break time.”

Well there you have it, my 3 simple tips for eliminating distraction. Keep in mind that time is the only truly non-renewable resource so don’t waste it. When it’s time to work- WORK. When it’s time to play, PLAY.

If you this information to be helpful, and think someone you know will enjoy it too, please SHARE this post to keep the information river flowing. 🙂 Thank you for reading! Click here to subscribe for weekly updates delivered to you!

Resources:
http://learningfundamentals.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Focus-mindmap-for-web.jpg
http://bandhacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Distracitons.png