The simple truth is that we all face distractions at work every single day, it can often feel like a real challenge to stay productive and get the important things done. Here are the major 5 distractions everyone faces at work:
1. CHATTY CO-WORKERS & OFFICE NOISE
Daily conversations are important for building a friendly, collaborative culture within the office, but it’s easy to get trapped in endless conversations and gossip which takes you away from your productive work. Try having a discrete conversation with the distracting team members about the impact it’s having on your day. If you have an office, the simplest thing to do is close the door so you can get some privacy and focused, quiet time.
2. EMAIL CONSUMPTION
We all know how distracting e-mail can be. You stop what you’re doing every time an email notification pops up, oftentimes the email is completely irrelevant and contributes nothing to your current priorities. To help with this, you can set aside a specific amount of uninterrupted time to work on a project or task. Commit to not looking at emails during this period of time and set aside specific times in your day to just check your email. Setting your computer to offline mode can help.
3. SMARTPHONE USAGE
Continually looking at your phone interrupts workflow and focus. It’s very tempting, even if we’re working on an important project. The solution? Put your phone in a drawer or move it out of arm’s length so you won’t be tempted to take a quick look. Turn off all notifications that don’t require immediate attention, especially social media notifications. This includes email if you have that set up on your phone as well.
4. MEETINGS
During a busy week, the last thing a leader or manager wants is a wasted hour or two sat in an unproductive meeting. Meetings today consume more work hours than ever before. For meetings to be productive and worthwhile, it’s essential that each meeting has a clear agenda and delegated expectations/answers needed from the meeting Summarize outcomes, responsibilities, deliverables and means of communicating before the meeting adjourns
5. MULTITASKING
We all have to multi-task on occasion, but the less we do it the better. Multi-tasking reduces productivity by 40%. Multitasking slows us down, and reduces focus, energy and productivity. Time blocking can help with this is, setting aside an intentional amount of time for specific projects or tasks and making an intentional effort to not allow the distractions or interjections of others to break that focus.
- Mark Pettit
