How to eliminate distraction for dummies
I have read hundreds of articles on the web about 7 ways, 9 hacks, 20 tips on how to be more productive. I did an in-depth analysis about the psychology behind it and ended up buying a couple of books off of Amazon on the same topic that I will never finish and here I am. Writing this blog post. No matter how much we study or complicate the sacred art of productivity we never achieve 100% results. We forget that the best way to learn or complete doing anything is to just do it. That's why the Nike slogan has been around for ages because its precise and it's true. Just get it done. But it's understandable that just getting it done is not the problem. We are very much capable of it. What we aren't capable of doing is keeping our head straight and do what we HAVE to do. Kids who grew up in the eighties and early nineties understand the difference the recent insertion of constant chaos in our lives. The reason is the constant buzz of text messages, emails and the latest news that vibrates in our pockets. We take our smart phones out and reply to that email in our suave professional artfulness. After all we are important and these emails need to be answered. The world counts on it, right?
The world doesn't need our exclusive viewpoints, our tweets or Facebook updates. What the world needs is constant innovation; everybody getting the work assigned to them, done efficiently. The reason people read blog posts like this one is because they understand that and want to get it done. The best way to get anywhere near to being a productive human being is to eliminate these distractions. Distractions are what keeps us away from the elusive productivity we wish to achieve. Let's consider distraction as a type of dark cloud that is in between us and productivity. This objectification helps understand that productivity is within reach, its just being blocked by distraction. Now, close your eyes and take a deep breath before getting to that important task. Imagine yourself reaching out between the dark cloud of distractions with all your positive energy and reaching out to the clear sky of productivity. Hold this thought for a couple of breaths until you finally reach 'productivity' and then get to your work. Now you have an inner motivation to do that the task at hand until completion.
We know it's not enough to do this. This imagination game that many of you might think is silly won't work. After all we have an attention span of just eight seconds which is shorter than that of a goldfish. One needs to be more mentally prepared and present in the moment to make the right choices. Here are few helpful tips that if incorporated into your lifestyle will bring about a distraction and confusion free you-
Get rid of your smartphone while you work
You need to get rid of that smartphone for a while. Put it on silent and keep it aside for a while. The time of you pure dedicated work. Can't do that? Try the 10+25 method. What is that? It is a simple 10 minute work followed by a two minute break repeated 5 times in a row which amounts to 1 hour of productive work. How does that help you keeping away from your phone? After getting a little accustomed to the 10+25 method you will work towards getting your work done and eliminating the two minute breaks and hence it will occur to you naturally to club these breaks and take longer 15 to 20 minute breaks where you can check your phone and follow up on any important calls, messages and emails.
Do not warm up to tackle a full project in one sitting by just getting into it headfirst. Understand what the project is. Take a piece of paper. Break down the parts required to complete the task. The little physical note of these milestones will make you feel like you are achieving something on the way so that you don't give up easily. Even if you do that early approach will help you get back to finish the last few parts because your brain sees it as a few smaller tasks and not a complete big task that you left in between.
Prepare for the day before the day even starts
We get distracted not only by our gadgets but also by the amount of decisions we have to make throughout the day. Some decisions are very important and some decisions do not mean anything and we can easily do by automating them. So before you go to bed make sure you have your small workout plan, your basic outline for the next day ready. How you can do that? Assign a specific time to do so. Where you can just sit for 15 minutes and reflect your day and make plans for the next. Buy a notebook or maintain a file on your phone. Writing down helps more though. And when it's time dim the lights and prepare for a good night's sleep with a clear motive of what you have to do tomorrow.
Hammer this into your routine and there is no stopping you. Soon enough you'll forget what distractions even are.
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