10 Tips and Tricks for Focussing on Tasks for Those Who Get Distracted Easily
Oh hi bird, what are you up to? Oh oops, I was working on the app-flow project for project ABC so I should better ignore the bird.
If you’re working in the design industry you’ve probably seen tons of posts about how to improve your workflow in order to increasing your productivity. Most of those posts focus on the tools rather than the underlying habit that needs to be enhanced.
In this article I’m going to highlight a few techniques / tips that help me work efficiently throughout my work day. I’m someone who gets distracted quite easily (ask my girlfriend, she’ll confirm this) which sucks because I don’t want to regret doing less on a day than I’m capable of.
1. Listen to music you’re familiar with
“Oh that’s a good tune, let me Shazam that!”. I used to be actively on the lookout for new music but it sometimes overruled getting things done. I believe that music is great for blocking environmental sounds but not if the music draws too much attention away.
2. Try to prevent working from home
When I work from home I always end up doing non-work related things. I realized that home and work are two different atmospheres and the atmosphere at home just doesn’t help me get work related things done. Try to find a place where you have enough room to work freely, I personally love cafes / coffeeshops that have long tables and, of course, good coffee.
3. Cut your to-do list into smaller tasks
Try to make bite-sized tasks that you know you can finish during the day. This encourages you to actually get the tasks done and leaves disappointment at the doorstep.
For example:
1. Content-plan for this page
2. Find inspiration
3. Sketch out few ideas (max. 5 min per sketch)
4. Design first draft
5. Iterate
4. One computer display is more than enough
Some people love having multiple displays but I honestly get more distracted from it than it benefits me. I always seem to loose grip on where my windows are and what happens on both displays. It makes switching apps more difficult because some apps live on different displays.
If you decide to have multiple displays, have your laptop sit in front of your external display so that you don’t have to move your head so often.
If you truly feel the urge to separate some apps from others you could use the multiple desktops feature in OS X because switching between desktops is only a matter of swiping through them. Fortunately for non-Apple guys this feature is also available on Windows 10.
5. Change your social media habit
A lot of articles claim that you should install a browser plugin in order to prevent using social media at all. I don’t think that’s the solution people should go for. If you don’t have the urge to quit using social media during work hours, you will never stop using them. It’s a classic school example where Youtube is blocked and every student will try to find proxy websites in order to use Youtube anyways.
Try setting a goal of visiting Facebook once during your work day.
6. Sketch before you jump into tools
Writing down your thoughts and sketching them out helps you get a grip on your thoughts and makes them presentable to others. Sketching out ideas prevents you from clicking around in design tools, which results into you working less efficient.
7. Try the Pomodoro technique
As pointed out by my good buddy Aleksandar Djuric; try using the Pomodoro technique. The Pomodoro technique helps you stay focused for 25 minutes and rewards to with 5 minutes of free time when you’re done. It helps if you know what you want to accomplish in the 25 minutes.
8. Hide your OS X dock or Windows task bar
Try to make cmd + tab (alt + tab on Windows) a habit when switching between applications. It saves a ton of time and it only shows the applications that are actually currently running.
9. hide / close windows and apps you’re not using
I think this one is quite obvious but I notice that I also face the problem of having too much apps open that I don’t use. Close those you won’t use soon in order to create structure in your dock. The same goes for the menubar of course but tools such as Bartender help greatly with this already.
Bonus: My colleague Leon Ephraim pointed out a great workaround for those who have a lot of apps open and want to hide them all at once.
10. Do not disturb
I have a love / hate relationship with desktop notifications in OS X. I have the do not disturb feature turned off very often. The quickest way to disable or enable it is by clicking the notification center icon whilst pressing the alt key on your keyboard.
I hope these tips were useful and please share methods that work for you. Together we stand strong!
