We are faced with distractions. All day. From
the moment we wake up, with our phones next to us as our alarms, we are shown
notifications. On the weather, from social media sites, to how full your phone’s
memory is.
We then climb into our transport to work,
be it public, or shared, or our own cars. Here we have the radio, people we can
chat to, or WhatsApp messages.
When we arrive at our workplace, we have
access perhaps to Wi-Fi, so more opportunity for social media to sway our
focus, we have colleagues to chat to, perhaps coffee to make, weekend plans to
make, that mound of filing we have been ignoring. And before we know it, we
have lost an hour, or more.
Productivity is also influenced by your
health. If you are feeling ill, or sore, you will find any excuse to take
longer to do a task. To be more easily side-tracked. To put things off longer
than they should be. If your home environment, or even work environment, is not
optimal, the same thing will occur. You will find your mind easily strayed and
constantly going back to the issue at hand
These things are all a part of being human.
Nobody is immune to having these things crop up. The trick is to be aware. Be aware
of your actions. Of looking for excuses. Of pushing back deadlines. And start
to train yourself. One of my life
teachers and mentors always uses the words ‘How Fascinating’ when things are
not going according to plan. When you feel your thoughts drifting off to the
clouds, or home, or the office next door, just say as loudly or softly as you like,
HOW FASCINATING! I am busy with x but keep thinking about y! and just keep
bringing your consciousness back to the task at hand.
For me there are no real tips, except, be
conscious, and be prepared. Plan your day, your week, your month. So that you
know what you need to deliver on and by when. That way, you can prioritise, and
break your tasks into bite-size chunks. After all, the best way to eat an elephant
is one bite at a time. So should you want to write a book, break the task into
chapters. Plan the skeleton of your book, considering what you would like to
write about, and cover in each chapter. That way it will seem much more palatable
and achievable than one huge mountain ahead of you.
If you do not finish what needs to be
completed today, always remember that your task will spill over to the next
day, and have a snowball effect.
Plan. Prioritise, and be aware. There is no
uniform approach so just find what works for you and always strive to be better
today than you were yesterday. And be kind to one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment