It’s normal.
You’re bent on finishing the work at hand, and suddenly something comes up. You don’t give thought to how pressing any distraction is — you just give it attention.
Five minutes, ten minutes. Sometimes it goes to over an hour.
When you get back to work — boom — you’ve no idea where you left off or why you couldn’t get your mind and heart into it. You can’t stay focused at work anymore and are becoming less productive. There goes your valuable time and effort. There goes your momentum and peak of creativity.
Because there’s no chance of shutting out the world while you’re busy, the decision to stay focused at work is in your hands. It’s about finding the right techniques, knowing your priorities, and sticking to them.
Stuck for ideas? Well, here are 15 ways to stay focused at work:
1. Always find what you do inspiring and fun
Any meaningful task or routine takes a large part of one’s focus. Before starting anything, ask yourself why you should do it. With your answer, there will be that output you so desire — and so you value the task. Then find ways for the task to become fun, like allowing your creativity and imagination to play in the process. Don’t stick within borders of “approved” output; have your options opened for new, fun ideas.
When you make something you can call your own, you’re more likely to stay focused at work.
2. Choose a great chair-and-table combo
Many people find working physically strenuous even if it’s done seated most of the time.
Don’t lose precious time and be distracted with discomfort. Get a really good chair with great back support; make sure your desk or worktable is well-structured as well. That way you can work for many hours and not find your body and eyes getting strained.
3. Get your work station organized
Too much stuff within arms’ reach or atop your desk can prove to be really distracting. To stay focused at work, only have the things you need neatly piled on your desk — put the rest away properly, like in a desk drawer or shelves. Have an area for food and drinks, your bag or purse, and other personal items.
But have them within reach so you can just grab a drink without losing focus on what you’re doing.
4. Make your computer distraction-free
This is very important for people who use PC for work: Have shortcuts for all routinely used programs.
Put in just one folder all files related to each project or task. Then ensure your PC is always virus-free to saved you the hassle of checks and repairs. Instances such as these cause stress and will wane your interest to finish the tasks.
5. Have enough water nearby
Drinking water isn’t only healthy, it refreshes you as well. Once you feel the first sign of fatigue or hunger, a glass of water can push them away. Then you can finish what you’re doing and rest at a later time. Besides, not all stomach rumblings are signs of hunger, and drinking a glass of water usually deals with it.
Just make sure you have water within arms’ reach. That way you stay focused at work instead of walking to the water station — and becoming prey to distractions!
6. Bring in the snacks
Like having water close by, the food that could settle a grumbling stomach must always be at hand. For the same reason of having 90% of your attention at work, eating within your workspace area will not expose you to unrelated activities. So make sure your snacks are within arms reach too!
7. Make a daily “to-do” list and keep it nearby
It’s always helpful when you have your list of tasks beside your PC (or at any conspicuous place in the work area). Having it in your PC or mobile phones often opens doors to checking other trivial tabs or windows, or responding to unimportant SMS messages.
So put your “to-do today” list where you can always see it, and cross out the “done” tasks. That way, you won’t be digging through your bag or finding that page where you wrote them.
8. Prioritize the tasks
The first hour at work is where most people are productive. This is because all energies are yet to be spent. So put all the taxing, difficult and challenging tasks on your agenda during the first hour. Follow these with the less pressing work, and then end with those routine tasks that you find boring.
Such methods makes you stay focused at work, without spending precious time on doing tasks you don’t like. Do this and you won’t be stressed with important projects at the end of the workday.
9. Let others know of your strict personal policies
If you’re bent on making your personal working system work, let others know it. Chances are, you’d be left alone on the hours where you’re focused on the really big, important work. When people at work know you’re on your “free time”, they will pose questions and talk during such periods. Unless there’s a very urgent matter at hand, they’ll leave you at work.
After all, they want the same.
10. Put on the headphones
In most offices, there are various sources of sounds that can prove distracting — like the floor polisher, the mail cart, workmates talking, phones ringing, and sounds of things dropped on the floor. Protect yourself with headphones so you can stay focused at work. The headphones will ward off surprising sounds — and those that get your mind wandering.
11. Be unreachable, busy, away…or “invisible”
Not all calls are about your apartment being burglarized, or a loved one being in precarious situation. So turn off your mobile phone to silent mode during hours where you really need all attention on your work. You can also opt to activate the voicemail service.
As for instant messaging, set the status to indicate you’re “busy” or stay “invisible” while you work. If you still get IMs, then just turn the program off and turn it on later when your current task isn’t as pressing.
12. Stay away from social networking sites
These sites aren’t meant to be checked all the time. So discipline yourself to log in only when you have extra minutes free.
There’s a strong tendency that you’ll stay much longer than planned because something new, interesting and perky always comes with most social networking sites. Not only will it defeat your purpose of staying focused at work, but there’s plenty of information there that could get your mind unnecessarily perturbed — like a friend’s status about her heartbreak, or someone from work getting a raise.
13. Organize your emails
Another really stressful and distracting activity is email. Let’s face it: You get a lot. Likely a heavy mix of personal and work correspondence, promos and updates from your sites, and 9undoubtedly) spam.
One good way to avoid this is to have a separate email address for work and one for your personal email. Have them both powered to filter all emails. Once you have free time on hand, check emails again and unsubscribe from senders who you could live without. Then, organize the emails you’d attend to later. Delete the rest.
Finally, check your emails only when you’re done with the most important task of the day. Make sure you limit your email time as well.
14. Redesign your phone use
Phones are meant for important concerns, chats about the previous night’s date are meant for long lunch breaks. Observing such rule would help you stay focused at work. You could also request your workmates to inform your callers you’d get back to them at a later time instead of always tapping your back or shouting out that you’ve got a call at any time. Once you’re done with work, call back the earlier callers and explain your situation briefly. In the next two minutes, ask about their concern, note it down and tell them you’d call them back for their needed action. Prepare and write all their needed details, bearing in mind their possible follow-up thoughts on the matter. Then call them back and always limit the phone conversation to less than three minutes.
15. Choose suitable music
The point of having music in the background while you’re working is to provide ease and inspiration. For some, listening to music pumps up their adrenaline so they can work with greater energy.
But not all kinds of music are pleasant for everyone — and some are not suited for one’s mood. So organize your music library accordingly. Apart from helping you stay focused at work, no distractions should take place. There’s nothing more jarring than suddenly hearing loud, heavy metal screaming after some relaxing jazz music.
Final Thoughts
Just remember — you are surrounded by events and people at work that could cut off your momentum. You can help keep these at bay and stay focused at work with any of the 15 great ways mentioned above.
Do you have any other ways you stay focused at work? Share them in the comments below.
(Photo credit: Low-key portrait via Shutterstock)
專心工作的15個方法
這很正常。
你正決定完成手頭的工作。突然，某件事情需要解決。你沒有想這讓人分神的事情是否緊迫——你就開始了。
五分鐘，十分鐘。有時，超過一個小時。
等到你回到先前的工作——轟——你不知道剛才做到哪兒了，或者不知道自己為什么不能全神貫注地做這件事。你的注意力再也不能集中在工作上了，效率也低了。你寶貴的時間和努力白費了。你的動力和創(chuàng)造力不見了。
你忙碌的時候，不可能與世隔離。專心工作的決心掌握在你的手里。這不過需要找到合適的技巧，知道你的優(yōu)勢，并且持之以恒。
沒什么想法？好吧，下面有十五個專心工作的方法：
1. 總是發(fā)現你所做的鼓舞人心的有趣的事情
任何有意義的任務或常規(guī)都需要一個人很多的注意力。在開始做任何事之前，問問自己為什么應該做這件事。有了答案，就會有你如此渴望的產出——那么，你就會重視這項任務。然后，想辦法讓這項任務變得有趣，比如，讓你的創(chuàng)造力和想象力在此過程中玩耍。不要拘泥于“認可”的產出；讓自己可以隨意選擇一些新奇有趣的想法。
當你做一些可以稱為是自己的東西的時候，就更有可能專心工作。
2. 選擇舒適的桌椅組合
很多人發(fā)現，即使多數時間坐著辦公，可還是會覺得腰酸背痛。
不要因為桌椅不舒適而浪費寶貴的時間，分散精力。買一張靠背很舒服的好椅子。確保你的辦公桌或者工作臺結構合理。那樣的話，你能工作好幾個小時，而身體和眼睛卻不覺得疲勞。
3. 讓你的工作環(huán)境變得井井有條
胳膊夠得到的東西太多，或者辦公桌上方東西太多，都會讓你分神。為了專心工作，只把你需要的東西整齊地堆放在你的桌子上——把其余的收好，比如放在抽屜或者架子上。找一個地方放吃的和喝的，你的包，還有其他的個人物品。
但是，把它們都放在你夠得到的地方，這樣你就可以喝點東西，又可以專注做手頭的工作。
4. 讓你的電腦里沒有讓你分神的東西
這一點對于使用電腦工作的人很重要：為所有經常用到的程序設定快捷方式。
把所有的關于某一項項目或任務的文件置于一個文件夾。然后，確保你的電腦沒有病毒。這樣你可以免受檢查和修理的煩惱。這樣的事例給人壓力，會減弱你完成工作任務的興趣。
5. 身邊有足夠的水
喝水不僅是為了健康，也讓你神清氣爽。一旦你覺得累了或餓了，一杯水就可以把它們趕跑。接著，你就可以完成手頭的工作，晚些時候休息。此外，并非所有的肚子咕咕叫都代表饑餓，通常喝一杯水就可以解決。
確保水就在你胳膊夠得到的地方。那樣，你就可以專心工作，不用走到打水的地方——被別的事情分神！
6. 帶點零食
就像把水放在身旁，讓咕嚕作響的胃安靜的食物必須放在手邊。處于同樣的原因——把你90%的注意力投入工作，在你的工作區(qū)域之內吃東西能避免讓你做不相關的事情。因此，確保你的零食也在胳膊可以夠得到的范圍之內！
7. 列出每天要做的事情并放在身旁
列出每天要做的事情并放在電腦旁（或者工作區(qū)域任何顯眼的地方）。這一點很有用。如果把工作的清單放在電腦或者手機上，你往往會查閱其他無關緊要的選項卡或者視窗，或者回復不重要的短信。
所以，把你的“今日必做”清單放在你總是能夠看到的地方，劃掉“已完成”的任務。那樣的話，你就不用把包翻個底朝天，也不用找來找去找你寫必做事項的那一頁。
8. 根據輕重緩急把任務分類
工作的第一個小時是人們效率最高的時候。這是因為所有的精力還有待消耗。所以把所有費力棘手，又富于挑戰(zhàn)性的任務放在日程表的第一個小時里。排在這后面的是不太緊急的工作，最后是那些讓你倍感無聊的常規(guī)性任務。
這樣的方法讓你能夠專注于工作，不浪費寶貴的時間做自己不喜歡的任務。 這樣做，你就不會在工作日結束的時候感到很有壓力了。
9. 讓別人知道你的原則
如果你決心讓自己的工作方式發(fā)揮作用，那么讓他們知道這一點。 很可能的情況是，你可以不受打擾地花幾個小時專注于那一項真正重大的工作。當同事知道你在休息時段，會在此期間提問題或者和你交談。除非有特別緊急的事情，否則他們不會打擾你工作的。
畢竟，他們希望別人也這樣待自己。
10. 戴上耳機
大多數的辦公室都有各種各樣的聲音源讓人分神——比如，地板打蠟器，郵車，同事說話，電話鈴聲，東西掉在地上的聲音。戴上耳機保護自己，這樣你就可以專心工作。耳機可以避免你聽到一些讓人驚訝的聲音——還有那些讓你思緒飄開去的聲音。
11. 讓別人找不到你，讓自己忙碌、離開或者“隱身”
并非所有的電話都是關于你的公寓被盜了，或者心愛的人處于極其危險的境地了。所以，在需要全神貫注工作的時候，把你的手機置于靜音模式。你也可以選擇激活語音信箱服務。
至于即時短信，工作的時候把狀態(tài)設為“忙碌”或者“隱身”。如果你還是收到即時聊天短信（IMs），那就關掉那個程序。等晚些時候，你手頭的工作不那么緊迫了再打開。
12. 遠離社交網站
這些網站不需要時刻查看。所以嚴格要求自己，有幾分鐘空閑時間的時候，再登陸。
大多數的社交網站上總是有一些新奇活潑有趣的信息，所以你非?？赡鼙仍媱澇瑫r很多。這樣做不但擊毀了你專心工作的目標，而且還有大量信息讓你產生不必要的煩躁——比如一個朋友的狀態(tài)說自己的心臟病了，或者某個人漲工資了。
13. 整理你的郵件
另外一個讓人緊張，令人分神的就是電子郵件。面對現實吧：你有很多電子郵件，很可能有私人信件，工作信件，預告片，網站的更新，毋庸置疑，還有垃圾郵件。它們都混雜在一起。
避免這點的一個好辦法就是有一個電子郵件地址專門用于工作，一個電子郵件地址專門用于私人信件。并設定過濾所有的電子郵件。一旦你有閑暇時間，再次查看電子郵件，取消你不需要的訂閱。然后，整理你以后會關注的電子郵件。剩下的都刪除。
最后，只有在完成當天最重要的工作之后才查閱郵件。一定要控制瀏覽郵件的時間。
14. 重新規(guī)劃你的電話使用
電話是用來聊重要事務的。聊前一晚的約會可以在午飯休息的時候進行。遵守這個原則有助于讓你專注工作。你也可以要求同事告訴打電話的人你晚些時候會回電，而不是讓你的同事隨時拍你的背或者大聲喊有你的電話。一旦完成工作，給先前打電話的人回電話，簡單地解釋你的狀況。接下來的兩分鐘，詢問他們有什么事情，記下來，告訴他們事情辦好，你會再打電話給他們。準備并寫下他們需要的細節(jié)，牢記他們對于這件事接下來的可能會有的想法。然后，給他們打電話，一定把談話控制在三分鐘之內。
15. 選擇合適的音樂
工作的時候聽音樂讓你感到放松，給你提供靈感。對于一些人來說，聽音樂讓他們體內產生更多的腎上激素， 這樣他們能夠更加經濟充沛地工作。
然而，并非所有類型的音樂都讓人心曠神怡——某些音樂不適合一個人的心境。因此把你的音樂庫根據心境相應地整理。除了幫助你專注工作的音樂，不能有其他讓你分神的東西。聽過一些讓人放松的爵士樂，突然聽到吵鬧的重金屬尖叫聲會讓你覺得異常刺耳。
還有一些想法
記住——你的周圍是各種事件和工作的人們，他們可能會讓你失去動力。使用上面提到的任何一種方法都可以讓你不受他們的影響。
你有別的專心工作的方法嗎？可以在下方的留言中和大家分享。
本文由由譯言網emmaj提供
