10 Tips To Help You Fight Common Distractions While Working
Feb 14, 2020Life can move loud and fast. There's always something calling for your attention and trying to distract you from the present moment. This can prove to be challenging to any home business.
The work must get done if you want to keep your business going strong.
How do you fight the distractions?
Keep reading while we share these 10 tips to help you fight common distractions while working.
1. Stay off the internet
The internet can be a huge distraction.
Here's how you can successfully stay away from the internet:
First, pick a certain time each day to read your emails and check Facebook for new cat videos, hehe. Otherwise, stay off.
This can be ahuge time suck if you don't learn to control your time there.
When you must be on the internet, shut down everything except the page you need to be working on at that time.
This will help you stay focused on your work and prevent you from diverting your attention elsewhere on the web.
2. Shut the door to your office
Have you ever tried this?
It's surprisingly effective. Just put a "do not disturb" sign on the door with the time you'll be done working.
If you don't have a separate room, carve out a space in your home as your “work space” and explain to your family that the small corner of the dining room (or wherever your space may be) is your office and must be treated as such.
3. Explain to your children not to bother you unless it is an emergency
If your kids are still young, hire a babysitter to come in for a few hours a day so you can have some uninterrupted time.
Otherwise, tell your children not to bother you unless an emergency happens, like blood or broken glass.
4. Leave the house and go to a coffee shop or the library
Sometimes separating yourself from home to work can help you be the most productive. It also takes you away from the distractions of home like:
- Being tempted to do household chores (laundry, washing dishes, etc.)
- Playing with pets
- Watching TV
The library is often quieter but no coffee or snacks allowed.
5. Figure out what task you're most avoiding
Uncover what task you dread the most, then do it!
No procrastination, no excuses. Just buckle down, do it and get it done. You can correct it or polish it up later.
Avoidance of one task can keep an entire day from being productive.
6. Don't expect perfection
Get perfection out of your head. If you expect everything to be perfect, it can cause you to freeze up or do nothing at all.
Just start right now and fix it later
7. Eat a breakfast with protein and fiber
A proteinful and fiber-rich breakfast will keep you from feeling hungry in 30 minutes.
This means you won't be stopping work to look for a snack and if your sugar level drops low, you'll have a hard time concentrating.
Studies actually show that eating a healthy diet will improve your productivity.
8. Keep plenty of water nearby
Staying hydrated is super important. It helps your physical body and your mental concentration. Stay away from sugary drinks that send you soaring and then make you crash an hour later.
9. Take short breaks every hour
It can be hard to remember to take a break but it's so essential.
Walk around, go to the bathroom, walk to the mailbox and check the mail, or look out the window. Then come back ready to work.
10. If it helps, have some sort of white noise or music playing in the background
This way you won't be as bothered by outside noise such as the dog barking, the garbage man crashing cans, or the television in the other room.
Our Take
Life is full of distractions. But, if you're going to work from home you have to find ways that help you stay focused. There's no one else there to make you do the work.