20 Oct How to Make Time for Deep Work in a Distracted Environment

Being more productive is quite essential for both personal and business tasks, as it enables you to do more and move at a faster pace. Though achieving optimum productivity is one of the goals for any business, it’s easier said than done. Now, there can be multiple reasons that might be hurting organizational productivity. From multiple meetings, deadlines to multiple distractions at work; all of these might be taking a toll on productivity. If you are to achieve business objectives, it’s essential to improve focus and enhance daily productivity.

Luckily, there are a few steps that can help you get back on track. Let’s take a look.

Practice Discipline

This is the hardest thing to achieve for many people. Most people who try to be more productive end up procrastinating and that leads them nowhere. Often, they’ll blame their surroundings and the workplace for distracting them from essential tasks, but instead of blaming your surroundings, it is a much better choice to adapt and build better self-discipline. With this approach, you will be able to take control and directly impact your task management pace.

If you have no idea about what you could do, we are going to cover several options that will certainly allow you to find more time for deep work.

Remove Common Distractions

In today’s world, there are plenty of distractions you can face in your workplace. One of them can be your colleagues and the way they behave, and we are going to talk more about that later, but for now, we are going to focus on some things that are in your immediate surroundings.

The web – This is the problem that all modern employees have. While connected to the outside world, people tend to lose a lot of time on social media networks and entertainment websites. This is a huge time loss and, furthermore, you become more relaxed during these activities and have difficulties returning back to work.

This is the self-discipline part we have already mentioned above. It is crucial that you start controlling your access to places where you can waste time. Turn your mobile data off, if required. Simply focus on your to-do list and start tackling one task after the other.

Mobile devices. In the past, only those who really needed you would contact you on the phone. Now, we live in an era of instant messaging, wherein everyone stays connected via email, social media, and other native messaging applications. All of these are distractions that will severely impact your ability to perform deep work.

Therefore, it is best to put your smartphone on silent mode while you are working. If you are still tempted by the notification light on the phone, it might be even better to put it on airplane mode. This will make you completely unreachable for periods of time, allowing you to completely focus on the task at hand.

If you are worried about people not being able to reach out to you, simply tell them that, during particular parts of the day, this is going to be impossible.

Once you address these two problems, you will be able to more easily focus on your daily tasks, without wasting time and focus in the whole process. But, remember, there are software tools that can actually help you, so make sure you use them.

Use Software Tools

Not everything on your computer is a distraction – you can make use of some software tools to improve your productivity. Let’s take a look at a couple of options that will help you create better plans and become more productive.

Easy project management software – It is likely that your company is using a project management software, but it is time to take a look at it from a completely different perspective. You need to create a schedule that will let you tackle all your projects more efficiently and you can even use time tracking to measure your progress. Doing this will motivate you to move forward.

Block unwanted websites – Use Stayfocusd to block access to all the unwanted websites while you are working. This handy Chrome extension will help you stay focused and enter the deep work mode to get more things done.

The Pomodoro Technique – Use this technique to stay more focused on your work. The technique involves working for a short burst of 25 minutes, followed by a 5 minute break. While practicing Pomodoro, you are most likely to enter the deep work mode and do meaningful work. Take a look and install the Google Chrome extension; it will skyrocket your productivity levels.

By utilizing these tools the right way, you can take better control of your working hours, and become a productive powerhouse. Doing this will help you achieve better results, and sink into deep work, no matter what your surroundings look like.

Rest

One of the definite ways to improve productivity is restful sleep. Yes, when we are under a lot of stress, so falling asleep is quite challenging. Intense stress releases a combination of hormones called adrenaline and cortisol, the reason why you feel both anxious and sleep deprived. If you start practicing meditation, physical exercise, or any other relaxing activity, you will find a drastic improvement in your sleep quality.

Once you shift to a good sleeping pattern, you can make unconventional plans that will allow you to achieve more. For example, you can come to work before anyone else and use the silence to your advantage to get more work done with impeccable focus.

This is also related to the above-mentioned self-discipline, therefore, start making small moves towards creating a good sleeping schedule; you will start realizing how the quality of your rest is improving your ability to focus.

Communicate

You should always notify your colleagues about your working plans. When you have a lot on your plate, let them know that you want to stay isolated from all the other office activities until you are done. Also, bring a pair of noise cancelling headphones, they will be quite useful when things in the office are hectic.

By taking all of the above-mentioned steps, finding time for deep work is going to be completely possible. It is important to start with self-discipline and fix everything that you can control. Afterwards, communicate with colleagues, who will understand you and help you in the whole process, allowing you to stay more focused on your daily tasks.