Working hours are meant for just that – working. However, in today’s world, distractions are inevitable, and most of the time, many people find themselves diving into other things and forgetting that they have work to do.
This mostly happens to entrepreneurs running their business since no one supervises them, as they are their own boss. Due to this issue, many people end up wasting time instead of getting things done, thereby ending up regretting later on.
So, how exactly can you avoid this issue? Well, it’s not an easy quest, but it can be done. This post will focus on some of the best ways to stay focused during working hours to avoid wasting time.
1. Create an Ideal Working Plan
The first thing you need to do if you want to have a productive working day is to create a plan for your day. Most people find themselves wasting time because they don’t have a list of what they want to do.
This is why it is highly recommended that you know what you want to achieve each day. You could create a plan for the entire week, or every evening sit down and note down the things you will do the following day.
When you do this and stick to the plan, you’ll appreciate how productive you become.
2. Decide On Time You’ll Spend on Different Tasks
Working can be quite frustrating at times. There are days when you might find you have so much work that needs to get done, and you may be wondering how you’ll finish everything in an 8-hour working day.
When you find yourself in this situation, you can create an hourly work program that will be ideal for you.
You can divide the tasks depending on their complexities and then schedule each by the hour. For instance, you have to write a report and submit it within the day; you can start with that and set a deadline of about 1 hour or more to finish and submit it.
The advantages of creating an hourly work plan include:
- You’ll have a clear plan of what needs to be done within the day.
- It helps you stay focused and get things done faster.
- It enables you to prioritize your tasks easily.
3. Have a To-Do List
I am sure you already know how vital a to-do list is. To-do lists have been used since time memorial to keep things organized and help workers clarify their tasks.
It would be best if you considered creating one because it can make you work more efficiently.
Instead of fussing around not knowing what you need to do first or last, creating this list will eliminate any confusion. As the saying goes, “Failing to plan is like planning to fail.”
You can narrow down your tasks and try to handle your least favorite ones for the day before tackling the ones that you love. When you do this, you’ll see how fast you’ll complete the work without even knowing.
4. Create Targeted Deadlines
Deadlines are useful because they keep us on our toes and help us to finish things faster. Although most people dread working under pressure because of deadlines, they don’t know that it’s nearly impossible to accomplish something without them. Think about it; even working hours have limits, and payments have deadlines as well.
Therefore, embracing this fact can provide you with so many benefits. That is why we would recommend creating targeted deadlines if you want to stay focused during work. A good option would be to set the maximum time you want to work on a task and complete it – similar to creating hourly work plans.
5. Take Short Breaks
According to research conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2019, citizens in the United States work an average of 34.4 hours weekly. You probably do 8 hours a day or even more.
Unfortunately, you can’t work all these hours non-stop. Short breaks can be quite convenient. Even in school, there are short breaks for students, which shows you how necessary they are.
Therefore, as a worker, it is highly recommended to consider taking breaks between your working hours to cool off and relax before diving back into doing what you were doing. You can take about 10 to 15 minutes out once every 2 hours.
These short breaks can help you cool your mind off, reflect on what you’re going to do next, and even gather more energy for the upcoming task.
Taking regular breaks can also get rid of the feeling of being overwhelmed with so much work. You can use this time to walk around, take some water or coffee, or listen to relaxing music.
6. Outsource Some of the Work
If you find yourself overwhelmed by what you have to do, consider outsourcing some of the tasks. If you’re an entrepreneur running your own business, this can be an excellent option to consider.
If you own an online business such as an eCommerce website, you can consider hiring the services of etsy geeks. Etsy Geeks can help you rank your products in the Etsy marketplace giving your business more online visibility of your products.
Another option to consider when it comes to getting traffic to your website is Web Traffic Experts. This website helps online businesses get highly targeted traffic to their website with much ease.
Outsourcing some of your tasks can help ease the workload and provide you with enough time to handle more meaningful work.
7. Stay Away from Your Phone or Any Other Distractions
Time management is quite crucial. During working hours, distractions can cost you time, which is why you have to try as much as possible to avoid them at all costs.
One of the things that distract most people is their mobile phone. Since your cell phone has all your contacts and receives messages from friends and family or even access social media quickly, it can be a huge distraction during working hours.
That is why it is essential always to consider keeping your phone far away when you’re working unless you run your business through a mobile phone. You can even turn off social media, apps, or email notifications.
When working on your computer, you can consider temporarily blocking websites that might stop you from being productivity tools, Use tools such as Cold Turkey to do this.
8. Avoid Too Much Coffee and Take Water
I am not trying to say that coffee is bad, but most people take a lot of coffee when working, which is not always advisable. Although most people believe taking coffee can provide you with energy while working, there is another side of the story to this belief.
Research shows that taking too much caffeine in your body can cause insomnia and even dizziness. When this happens, it may become even more challenging to focus on your work. This is why it is essential to replace coffee intake with water.
Water is quite refreshing and helps to keep you hydrated. Water is also very healthy and makes your skin look nice. Taking enough water can also help you maintain proper blood pressure and flush body waste efficiently. Besides, doctors recommend taking at least eight glasses of water daily.
9. Organized Your Workstation
Your working station has a massive impact on how efficient you work. Having a disorganized working station or environment is usually a recipe for disaster.
If you want to organize your thoughts and focus on one task, you need an ideal working environment. Your working station needs to provide you with clarity to avoid being distracted or feeling overwhelmed by so many things lying around right in front of your eyes.
What you need to do before you start working is to clean up your desk and arrange it properly.
If you have posters on the wall, you can remove them and place your computer in a manner that makes you comfortable working with it.
If you usually sit in a position where you tend to see people passing by all the time, you can put a large monitor to prevent you from seeing them and being distracted.
You also need to ensure that you are using a comfortable chair. You need to know that having a good chair can make a significant difference in your work performance. Choose a chair that conveniently supports your back to avoid backaches after a long day at your desk.
10. Check Your Email Once Every 1 or 3 Hours
According to web master Reviews, most people check their email too often during the day, which tends to serve as a huge distraction.
As mentioned earlier, it is crucial to consider turning off notifications either on your phone or PC to avoid wasting time reading messages and checking out other stuff on the web.
Research also shows that checking your emails less often is a healthy habit and is quite beneficial. You can check your email once every 1 or 3 hours during your working hours to save time and be productive.
Conclusion
Staying focused is an essential aspect of your daily work. When you fully concentrate on your work, you can accomplish a lot and even perform exceptionally well in your tasks. However, when you are distracted every few minutes, you may end up doing just a fraction of your entire day’s work and inconveniencing yourself in the long run.