8 Ways to Kill Distractions and Supercharge Your Productivity

Published in

GigTricks

7 min readDec 3, 2018

Humans are imperfect creatures and there is no way we can ever go against our nature. Humans get distracted easily by the smallest things and that can put a hamper on your work if it happens frequently. The biggest distraction in our present day work life is technology. Technology is a double-edged sword that helps us achieve our goals better but also prevents us from doing just that. There are many tools and ways technology can be used to help us be more efficient and productive at work. It is necessary for us to give our best to our work otherwise we could never achieve all that we want to. And in order to do that, productivity is essential which can only be attained by eliminating all the distractions in our life.

To be fully functioning and efficient workers, we have to find ways to not let things around us distract us from our tasks. As we mentioned, some methods and tools can aid in improving your productivity levels. Technology, of course, is the best tool to help us find motivation and focus on our assignments for the day but you just have to know how to fully take advantage of it rather than letting it affect your concentration. Instead of letting Facebook derail you from work, make use of apps that are specifically designed to help you focus on your given tasks.

Eliminating Distractions

We have all had to deal with days that made us feel like we were useless and not able to churn out our best work. Sometimes we are assigned with tasks or work that is tedious, taxing or takes a long time to be completed. Doing work like that, it is easy and understandable that you get distracted or sidetracked by Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat etc. Scrolling through your social media or taking pictures with funny filters seems more entertaining than having to do the specific tedious assignment you have to tackle. To help you deflect distractions and be more productive here are a few useful tips:

1. Make a detailed list

The act of making to-do lists can get annoying quickly because once you start noting things you have to do down, it feels like million more additions take place and then those things never get done. To be able to create a to-do list that is actually helpful and will make you do things instead of ignoring them, you can use many apps. There are many applications like Asana that help you curate a to-do list where you can add tasks in a more elaborate manner.

If apps do not work with you, you can create a list yourself. The point is to make a list of things you have to do but in detail. You have to note things according to their priority and even sub-categorize them into smaller parts so they do not seem as daunting. Breaking down huge projects into smaller ones will help you work quickly and more efficiently.

2. Handle your emails expertly

Emails can be the bane of anyone’s existence because they keep distracting you from work and are not something you can ignore for long periods of time. Getting constant emails and having to pause your work every time to check them can break your flow of thought and affect your work negatively. To remain efficient yet not ignore any important emails, invest in tools or apps like Sanebox.

It helps keep your inbox uncluttered and only notifies you when there are important emails that need your attention urgently. It also snoozes your inbox, only allowing urgent emails to come through and keeps your inbox clean from spam. Keeping a clean and organized inbox will help you remain productive without getting distracted from unimportant or spam emails. If you cannot invest in such tools, you could help yourself by only looking at your inbox a few times in breaks and cleaning it immediately.

3. Avoid social media at all costs

Sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat are made to distract people and keep them entertained for hours on end. You would not even notice it and hours would’ve gone past while you scrolled and laughed on Facebook. Checking your social media while you are working can not only distract you but also make you lose time you can spend working. Stop checking your social media every half hour or so and take a break for a long time.

Once your focus is entirely on your assignment, not boggled by social media, you can work faster and create better results because you would have time to think of ideas. Remaining off social media for a few hours can also help give you perspective in life and broaden your creativity. Mindlessly strolling through social media takes away from your mental progress and thinking. Avoid that by staying off social media for a few hours.

4. Keyboard tricks

Whether you are working from home or office, using a computer mouse seems necessary. But it has been discovered that using a mouse can use up a lot of your time. But you must be thinking, how else are you supposed to do anything? It’s simple, use keyboard shortcuts. Most people may not know this but using keyboard shortcuts can increase the speed with which you work by almost half. There is a keyboard shortcut for almost every action that a mouse performs.

With a few short swipes on your keyboard, you could do your work efficiently and without losing much time. It will also help you type faster which could cut down on the time it would take for your task to be finished. If you do not keyboard shortcuts, you can learn through sites or the many tutorials available online. It is notably better to learn them for working on things like Excel.

5. Track your time

It’s very easy to get distracted during work and lose your focus. It can make you less productive and accomplish less than you intended for the day. We can get sidetracked and end up losing a considerable block of time that could’ve been spent more productively by doing the work you need to do. If you also have a problem of losing track of time and not knowing how much of it you spend on certain applications then you can benefit from tools like RescueTime.

It is an application that runs in the background of your selected device and tracks the time you spend on websites or applications. Then it gives you a report which could help you judge your time spent. Tracking how much time you spend on which activity can help you schedule your days and work better. You can even gauge how productive you were for how long and how much you need to improve.

6. Take advantage of templates

When it comes to official documents, most of it remains similar while only the context changes a bit. Having to do similar work over and over again can quickly get tedious and obnoxious. It can also take away from you doing your best work due to the repeated motions or words. Many things require a similar kind of style which is why templates can be huge lifesavers. Create a template that you can use for most of your work and then add in the context where necessary. This could save you loads of time from having to do it all over again every single time.

For instance, you may have to write similar blogs on different topics and while their context would be different their writing template should be the same. Create a simple template or make use of the many available online and save a ton of time. This could not only improve your productivity but also increase consistency in your work.

7. Make Cloud your best friend

Freelance workers or regular employees of any organization can be on the road most of the time. That means they are not usually near their work computer and have to work from their phones or a tablet. Many people wonder how you can stay productive and work efficiently while you are traveling or somewhere where your work files are not available. Technology has helped us solve that problem. Having access to Cloud can help your issues and let your stay working no matter where you are in the world at the moment.

Cloud services like Google Drive or iCloud can help you access all your work files and documents even if you are in the most remote corner of the world. Upload and save all your work on a Cloud to be able to access it and then go wherever you need to. This would not only increase your productivity levels but also mark you as a proficient worker which is amazing for your reputation.

8. Start small

Most people believe that the key to high productivity is tackling large projects first. That somehow, getting bigger tasks out of the way would make other tasks easier to do. That assumption is false. Starting with projects that are big can make you feel burnt out at the end of it and not leave much energy to do other things. It will leave feeling exhausted and that is never the right energy to work with. Put smaller tasks at the start of your to-do list and tackle them first.

By the end of it, you will feel a sense of accomplishment that will help you power on and remain energetic. Crossing things off your list will also make you feel good. Then when you get to the huge assignments, you can divide it up into smaller parts to be able to power through them quickly.

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