10 Ways To Improve Your Focus And Boost Your Productivity

If you need the internet for work and can't just switch it off at the wall, use a site-blocking software to block your access to the sites that your concentration wanders away to the most. Switch your phone off. Or, schedule social media breaks, wherein you work for a set period of time, then browse the internet for five or 10 minutes. Once those 10 minutes are up, right back to work you go.

 

It can be tempting to read emails the very second they drop into your inbox. What if they're from your boss? What if they're from an irate customer? What if they're from your favorite clothing brand announcing a flash sale? I know, I know how you feel. But dropping everything and hopping straight on over to your email as soon as you get a (1) bubble can massively derail your focus. Instead, set aside five minutes every hour to read emails. If nothing has popped up, then you get an extra five minutes on social media. Yay!

Do you really need to take that call? Do you really, really need to read that text? I know you want to. I know you really, really want to. But if you do, once you get back to the computer, or back to your TV program, or back to hanging out with your friends, your focus will be shot. If you're in the middle of something important, and by important I mean a conversation with someone you care about, or something that will further your career, or something that is important to your job, think about how disrupting taking that call will be. Unless it's someone calling you when you know they shouldn't be — like your mom calling you at work when she never, ever calls you at work for example — let it go to voicemail and call them back later. 

 

Heaven forbid, whoever is calling might even just send you a text with the information you need, which'll be far quicker and less disruptive for you to answer.

So you're good at multitasking — which makes you a bit of a ninja, right? Well, although it does mean that you can get more done in less time, it also means that you're not actually properly focusing on any one thing for long enough to do the job properly. Set aside a certain amount of time for each task and dedicate all of your attention to each individual task. You'll get each one done well, and in all honesty, it probably won't take you any longer than if you'd done everything at the same time. If you really must multitask, do it when the outcome of the task doesn't really matter.

If you're anything like me, you put off your most boring tasks, like deleting all of the spam from your inbox, cleaning the house, doing the washing — all of those little boring bits and bobs that make up the mundane background of life — until you absolutely have to do it. But then when you're actually doing the boring thing, it's so boring, you end up distracting yourself and doing other things to take your mind off how BORING it is. In reality, this makes everything take ten times longer than it should and it means that you don't have time for fun tasks. So, how do you work around it? 1. Try to make boring tasks a little more fun — pop some music on whilst you're cleaning your house to make it a little more fun. Or, 2. Do the boring task in an allotted amount of time, then give yourself a treat of social media time or music or your favorite TV program.

 

It can be tricky to get stuff done when you just can't quiet your mind — when there are thoughts buzzing this way and that, and you can't stop thinking about things. "Things" could be anything from super important stuff, like bills, or less important stuff, like makeup. But when you can't stop thinking about "stuff", you won't be able to get "stuff" done. 

 

One way to combat this is to write down those thoughts as they pop into your mind so that you can think about them properly later (like a thought diary) or, to allot yourself a bit of "worry time" once a day so that your mind is less full of worry when you're trying to get on with other tasks.

If you're struggling to focus because you're under a mountain of stress, and you're experiencing symptoms like fast heart rate, palpitations, nervousness, or just that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach, it's understandable that you'd find it more difficult to get stuff done. That's where medication can help. According to research, participants who took part in an eight week course of meditation were much more able to focus on tasks at hand than those who had not medidated. So perhaps it's worth doing a little home meditation, eh?

If you're really, really struggling to focus, despite following all of the tips above, it may well be because you're not getting enough sleep at night. Try your best to get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night — of unbroken sleep — and you might just find that you focus a little better during the day.

D'oy. If you're hungry, you'll start getting hangry (hungry/angry) and you'll lose focus if your belly is grumbling. Eat breakfast every day and make sure you eat enough protein at each meal. 

 

Failing all else? Give in to the social media and the TV. You know you want to...