The term distractions is broad and not unique to remote work. There are good distractions and bad ones. For example, you might get a reminder from your smartwatch saying that you should take a break from sitting and go out to stretch your legs, once in an hour. Even though the alert from your smartwatch distracted you from what you were doing, it suggested something beneficial to your long-term health. Some examples of bad distractions are when you get an alert from your social media account that makes you check your mobile or your desire to check your inbox when there is no need.
When you are working from home, since no one is looking over your shoulder, there is more tendency to get distracted than not. On the other hand, a shrinking human attention span also affects how easily we will get distracted. The human attention span is challenged due to the advancement of digital distractions and the fast-paced world we live in.
Computer scientists and psychologists have been studying attention spans for about 20 years, over which time the average time that a person can focus on one thing has dropped from around 2½ minutes to around 45 seconds.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-restore-our-attention-spans-11673031247
The shorter your attention span is, the more easily you get distracted, hence tarnishing your ability to do good quality work that needs your full focus. In the sections below, we will be taking a closer look at some steps we can follow to keep distractions at bay.
Silent your mobile phone
It is obvious how much distractions your mobile phone cause you during your day. To keep distractions to minimal when you are focusing, put your mobile phone into silent mode. If you are worried about missing a call or a message from your loved one, you can exclude those from cutting through1 when you activate silent mode. The idea is to keep your mobile phone buzzing to the minimum.
Keep your phone in another room
Keeping your phone out of sight helps you to minimise phone-related distractions, if not cutting them entirely and focus your work at hand.
Keep multi-tasking to minimum
This might sound counterproductive, but some researchers have found that multitasking is a contributory factor to dwindling attention span, hence subjective to be a victim of distractions2 3. On the other hand, it is not possible to fully avoid working on multiple tasks. If you do want to multi-task, choose tasks that are not overly attention-seeking when mixed up with high attention-seeking tasks. For example, monitoring the status of a file upload might be less attention-seeking when you are replying to an email. However, switch back to focus on one thing at a time when you realise your focus is drifting and getting easily distracted.
Limit your browser tabs
Have you got 50 tabs opened in your browser? We have all been there. The number of tabs you have opened in your browser is equal to the number of times you can get distracted when you are working on something. Therefore, keep the tabs to a minimum.
The Pomodoro technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method in which you do focused work during 25-minute intervals — known as pomodoros — and take a five-minute break. It’s easier to commit to 25 minutes of work at a time than a whole day of non-stop work4.
To-do list and group tasks
Breaking a large task into manageable tasks helps you to focus on one thing at a time, which requires a shorter time to complete. You can group those manageable tasks and do them in one sitting. You can use a to-do list to do this grouping and tick as you go. The idea is to keep your tasks organised where you can allocate a reasonable time (depending on the individual) to whizz through them efficiently.
Ask for help from others
If you are living with your family or friends, you can ask them to remind you, if your 5-minute tea break turns into a half-an-hour chore every time they see you.
Check your email through your computer
If you have an unavoidable requirement to check your email, whether its personal or office email, always use your computer to check your email if practical. The chances of you seeing a clickbait notification popping up on your phone screen while checking your email is pretty high and can easily distract you.
Practice mindfulness
Practising mindfulness help you to focus on the present moment 5, even in situations where distractions are present. Mindfulness can also improve your ability to focus and pay attention to one thing at a time. You can add practising mindfulness to your daily routine.
Wrap up
Whether it is big or small/ helpful or unhelpful, distractions always drift you from your original goal. It is important to understand we can only minimise distractions, not completely avoid them (unless we live on Mars on our own- I still doubt there won’t be any distractions though). Coming back to a task after getting distracted always ends up costing you more, because it will take you some time to get back to where you left off (e.g., switch cost). When you are working from home on your own there are no visible cues to stop you from getting distracted. However, I believe those points we discussed help you to regain your focus while keeping distractions at bay.
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- https://support.apple.com/en-bw/guide/iphone/iph21d43af5b/ios ↩︎
- https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spans ↩︎
- https://www.verywellmind.com/multitasking-2795003 ↩︎
- https://www.todoist.com/productivity-methods/pomodoro-technique ↩︎
- https://drarisworld.wordpress.com/2019/06/22/four-foundations-of-mindfulness-in-theravada-buddhism/ ↩︎
