In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a whole lot going on in the world right now. Add in your personal life, family, friends, obligations and things you’d like to be doing, and there are some days it’s a wonder we get anything at all done at work.
If you’re feeling a little unfocused, or you’re struggling to concentrate, that’s ok! We’re here to help.
Here are five tips to help you feel, and be, more productive, even if staying focused is a challenge.
Forget about multitasking.
Contrary to popular belief, multitasking does NOT make you more productive. It doesn’t help you get more done. It just helps you partially do a few things less well than if you gave any one of them your full attention. Oscillating from task to task like a rotating fan won’t help you cross things off your to-do list any faster. Instead, pick one thing at a time, give it your full attention, get it done and then take a break.
Start a daily to-do list.
Every morning, write yourself a list of things you need to get done that day. It might be one item, it might be five, it might be 20. Do your best to write the list in order of priority, with the most important thing on top and lesser items toward the bottom. This can help you organize your thoughts and set up your day and can help keep you on task. Plus you get the fun little reward of crossing things off as you accomplish them.
Block off your calendar as needed.
If you’ve got a big task on your plate that you might easily be distracted or called away from, do yourself a favor and put it on your calendar. Block off time, indicating that you’re not available for any other meetings or demands during that 30 minutes, or hour, or two hours, whatever you might need, and allow yourself to focus only on that one item during that established time. Sometimes having that set window can help you stay on task better than just trying to focus on one thing at a time.
Address the big things first.
There will be days when there’s a big, unwieldy, daunting task that needs to get done. You might have five other things you’d rather be working on, but there’s this one thing that really should go first. Tell yourself you can get to everything else after you get that big thing done first. By forcing yourself to focus on this, with the reward of a little break and doing something you’d enjoy more after, you’ll have an incentive to get it out of the way.
Take breaks.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to give yourself a little break between tasks. Whatever you decide to do first, tell yourself you’ll have 10 minutes off after it’s done. Whether you spend that time walking around, getting water, getting a snack, checking your phone or something else, you cannot do that thing until you accomplish that task. It’s a little like bargaining with a child to do their homework, but we all need to negotiate with ourselves sometimes.
Ready for a change? See what jobs are available through Sterling Personnel!
There are only so many hours in a day and it can be so difficult to get your brain to cooperate on the task at hand. Find methods that work for you to help promote concentration and you’ll be surprised by how much more you get done in a day!
If you’re looking for more job advice, or maybe it’s time to try something new, it’s time to contact Sterling Personnel. We work with great companies that are always looking for bright, skilled people like you, and we’d be happy to help put you in touch! Contact Sterling Personnel today and let’s find a way forward.
