Distractions are designed to steal your attention and they are like hurdles that pull you away from your day to day activities either at work or at home. Therefore, it is important to defeat distractions by taking the necessary steps to reduce or completely eliminate distractions. Nevertheless, distractions can be classified or categorized under the following heads such as
Biological Distractions
Mental Distractions
Environmental Distractions
Digital Distractions
Social Distractions
Each of these distractions can be eliminated or reduced to a certain extent by following or adhering to certain activities that have been discussed here in below
Biological Distractions
Biological Distractions can be defined as those distractions that occur due to our physical activities or health issues.
These issues can be overcome by adhering to the following tips
- Finding the right amount of sleep needed for remaining active the whole day that does not mean to follow the standard 8 hours of sleep but finding the optimal time to go to bed and wake up.
- Planning and preparing for meals in advance will save you from distractions of thinking about the what, when and where to eat.
- Avoid overeating instead eat in smaller plates and eat until your stomach is filled up about 70% of stomach space.
- Avoid sugary food and caffeinated drinks as one may experience energy crashes due to caffeine effects.
Mental Distractions
Mental Distractions are those conditions that relate to disruption in thought processes related to tasks at hand.
To avoid mental distractions the following steps can be taken
- Scheduling your day by setting priorities to determine what you should be working on the next day. Night time is the best time to set priorities for the next day.
- Utilize your time during low distraction periods such as early morning.
- Doing meditation would help in a great way in refreshing your mental state
- Taking breaks every five minutes when working on a computer helps you reliving stress levels due to staring the computer screen indefinitely.
- Working in a quiet environment such as alone in a quiet room for an hour or two.
- Uncluttered work/home area involves eliminating unnecessary trash and things from the room or work area that distract your work environment.
- Organize your work area by dividing into the primary and secondary work area. For instance, those things that you use on a daily basis can be placed on the primary work area and those to be done on a weekly/monthly basis can be moved to the secondary work area such as books, photos, staplers etc.
Environmental Distractions
Environmental Distractionsemerge from situations related to our surrounding work environment that may distract us from doing the work.
By taking these following steps we can resolve the Environmental Distractions
- Working in a quiet environment such as alone in a quiet room for an hour or two.
- Uncluttered work/home area involves eliminating unnecessary trash and things from the room or work area that distract your work environment.
- Organize your work area by dividing into the primary and secondary work area. For instance, those things that you use on a daily basis can be placed on the primary work area and those to be done on a weekly/monthly basis can be moved to the secondary work area such as books, photos, staplers etc.,
Digital Distractions
Digital Distractions are those distractions that emerge due to using various electronic and electrical gadgets, apps and devices such as computers, smartphones, laptops etc.
This type of distraction can be avoided by taking following steps
- Going offline is the best method to help you in doing your office/homework without distraction.
- Set rules for your email/social media usage such as checking your email only at a specific time of the day.
- Limit your internet usage by using software/extensions such as Stay Focused, Cold Turkey etc.
Social Distractions
Social Distractions cannot be directly controlled but we can reduce to some extent by following the below mentioned activities such as
- Communicating your working style
- Block your time by scheduling meeting using public calendars
- Remain focused on your work even when interrupted by other people by remaining adamant towards your work schedule.
