Are you feeling difficult to stay concentrated for a long time on work or study? In fact, this is a common problem most of us are facing in modern society. Attractive social media posts, pop-up notifications, extreme fatigue and exhaustion at work… So many causes of distraction! If you can’t overcome it, you may feel low efficiency and productivity; tired throughout the day; spend a lot of time but still cannot make progress…
So, how to stop getting distracted easily? Read on to find the solutions!
Cisdem Focus
Let's start by looking into why we are so easily distracted? Check out the list to see which distracts you most and try to overcome it.
Sleep plays an important role in our learning. When we are sleeping, our brains are working hard to clearing and organizing the information we took in throughout the day. Lack of sleep will affect our cognitive performance and focus. Sleep deprivation also will negatively affect our emotional state. It may lead to emotional instability, making us easily feel upset and get distracted. In addition, if you find yourself with headaches and fatigue, it's time to have rest!
When we are stressed or anxious, our bodies will release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These can help us cope with emergencies, but if sustained, they can negatively affect us and cause distraction. We may feel tired and lethargic, unable to concentrate at work or study.
When you feel you have too much work to do and unable to spend time with family and friends, working too long, sleep less, etc. you’d better be careful. Lack of work-life balance will make you extreme tired, anxious and stressed out, even brings more family conflict, relationship issues and healthy problems. All these will easily distract us from working.
When we attempt to multitask, our attention switch from one task to another constantly, which makes us easily distracted. In addition, we may feel stressed when we have to perform multiple tasks at the same time, thereby reducing our work and study efficiency.
Motivation can maintain our attention and concentrate on what we are doing. Powerful motivation will make us feel accomplished and fulfilled in work and study. If we feel lack of motivation, we may get more easily distracted.
It’s inevitable for us to get interrupted by other people, whether we are working at home, working with colleagues or studying in school. The trouble is that we may have more difficulty focusing our attention after being interrupted. And a University of California study found that it takes around 23 minutes to refocus after each interruption.
Social media can keep us connected with friends and family, and provides us with supply of knowledge and entertainment. It can also be the source of distraction. Social media algorithms keep users stay longer by recommending content based on their interest. We may frequently check social media updates for the latest content, news and evens during work or study hours, which may waste a lot of time. Frequent notifications of social media can also distract us and forget what we were supposed to do.
Similar to social media, incoming emails, messages and phone calls are digital distractions around us. The digital life brings us convenience, but also makes us more distracted.
Do not be anxious about your distraction. Check out the list above to find out why you are easily distracted. Here are solutions and some useful tips that may help you stay focused and avoid distractions.
Have a good work-life balance is important for staying focused. Taking regular breaks, spending more time with family, and having a healthy body can increase your happiness and satisfaction while reducing stress and fatigue. Keeping a work-life balance allows you to be more engaged in work and study.
Having a clear work or study goal will make you be more motivated. This can help you better control your attention and focus on tasks to archive the goals. The goal can be daily goal, week goal, or even yearly work goals. For example, I want to finish my Math homework today, learn this new tool this week, better at public speaking this year, etc.
Organize your day at work and create plans based on your goals, including daily and weekly planning. First list all the tasks you need to complete, including important and urgent tasks. Set deadlines and priorities for each task. Then set a detail schedule for these tasks. Make sure the schedule is flexible enough to handle unexpected changes. Also allow enough time for rest, which can help reduce stress. You should review your plans regularly and make adjustments to make sure it’s suitable for you.
If necessary, create an environment that you can study uninterrupted. Find a do-not-disturb place, such as a separate room or a quiet library. Tell other colleagues or families that you cannot be interrupted. You can set focus time and turn off notifications on social media to stop getting distracted. Complete your tasks efficiently during this time.
Using focus tools to make you better focus on your work and study. Below is what I recommended:
Cisdem Focus is a Mac productivity tool that suitable for students, employee, or anyone who wants to avoid distractions and improve efficiency.
It has some useful features:
Block Distracting Social Media Sites and Apps
Cisdem Focus allows you to block certain distracting websites/apps during working hours. Also supports setting a daily usage limit on specific websites and app. You can block sites by categories, such as social media, porn sites and more. If that is not enough for you, the Allowlist mode allows you to block all websites except approved ones.
Pomodoro Timer
The Pomodoro timer can help you better manage your working hours. Set a focus session for 25 minutes first. (According to study, 25 minutes is the perfect length of time to help you be productive and stay focused.) Cisdem Focus will block distractions for you during the focus time. After focusing on your task for 25 minutes, you are able to take a short break for 5 minutes. Repeat 4 Pomodoros. Then take a longer break. The Pomodoro technique helps you focus on one task at a time and avoid distractions, thereby improving your work efficiency.
Password Mode and Hardcore Mode
Why am I so distracted and can’t control myself? If needed, I recommend you enabling the Hardcore mode. This can prevent you from pausing your focus plan during focus time. After long time persistence, I believe your self-control will be greatly improved.
There are many reasons why you get distracted. Distractions can be caused by a number of factors, including external or internal. What you should do is find out the factors and overcome them. Hope this article can help you to be more focused and not get distracted easily while studying and working.
Norah Hayes likes to share her tips on how to improve focus and stay motivated at work. She believes it is essential to eliminate all online distractions during work hours.
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