Oh the dilemma of trying to do so many things in a day and making sure you are being balanced as well. One helpful thing you can do today is to increase your concentration and focus on the task at hand. When you are focused on what you are doing, you will be able to complete your tasks much faster and be more efficient in the process.

8 TIPS ON HOW TO AVOID BEING DISTRACTED AND INCREASE YOUR CONCENTRATION

• Avoid Social Media: (unless it’s your job to work on social media). Save your mornings for important tasks that need to get done. Set a time for yourself to check on social media (like when you are on break or in the evenings which is the time you can use the distraction to take your mind off of work).
• Avoid Emails: Do not respond to emails first thing in the morning. Again, you need to focus on the most important tasks that you are trying to complete. Imagine constantly stopping your current task to reply to an email (even if it is work related), you won’t make much progress with your current task. If you are working on a big project it might be best to turn off your email program entirely so you won’t get distracted. If you want to leave your email on and you get email notifications every time you receive an email in your inbox, it would be easier to disable the notification feature and set a specific time to check your emails and reply to them. I like to check my email three times during the day:
  • In the late morning,
  • Late afternoon
  • Before you leave work or when you plan to stop working for the day
• Avoid Multitasking: Other people may not agree with me on this but I find that when I multitask I end up performing horribly or do mediocre work on the simultaneous tasks that I’m trying to complete. The only thing I will work on at the same time is starting a load of laundry and then focusing on a computer task that I need to work on or listening to an audio book while washing dishes (although I’d rather listen to music). I find that my concentration isn’t at it’s fullest when I’m trying to do multiple tasks. I always seem to forget something or miss details. Since I like to do the best work that I can do, I avoid multitasking especially tasks that need a lot of focus (anything work related). If you have to multitask, it’s easier to multitask on lower priority tasks such as cleaning.
• Constant thoughts that come into your mind need to be written down (in a digital inbox or on paper). Sometimes I think of something in the middle of the night and I try to write it down on my phone. If I’m lazy and don’t write it down, I always worry that I may forget to do the task that was in my head. So that task is constantly in my mind even when I’m working on something else. I would save so much time by not worrying and just writing down the task. It’s like a grocery list. You can keep telling yourself the items you need to buy or just write it down once and be done with it. When you are at the grocery store, you can then pull up your entire list and not ever forget an item. So write all your tasks and ideas down and assign a due date to tackle the task.
• Avoid your phone so you can focus on your project. Again, you can turn off your phone completely and let it go to voicemail. You can also set times to check your voicemail and respond to those calls at a specific time of your choosing or even better send your response (if it’s short) by email so you don’t get distracted talking over the phone which can take up more time.
• Avoid stress by learning relaxation and meditation techniques. Stress can cause you to easily lose focus. So you need to know how to mediate to stay focused.
• Avoid fatigue by getting a good night’s rest (around 7-9 hours of sleep). When you are sleepy and tired, you can’t focus and have difficulty remembering things. All of this is avoided by getting enough sleep and feeling well rested.
• Avoid skipping meals and make sure you always eat breakfast. You can’t think properly when your body is running on fumes. Give your body the proper nutrition and you’ll have more energy to take on your projects.

There are many more distractions that can prevent you from completing your tasks. You have to identify the distraction that prevents you from focusing on the task at hand and provide a solution. The trick is to not have the distractions manage you. You have to manage the distractions.