Kathy’s Home & Garden Tips – Get Rid of Distractions

We talked about reaching our business goals last week.  Many times, we find ourselves constantly multitasking. We shift our attention to responding to communications and managing interruptions, instead of making progress on our tasks. When you change what you’re doing several times an hour, you cause more stress and have to work harder to make up for the time wasted. We need to develop the ability to focus on a demanding task- without allowing distractions. This will produce better results in much less time. 

The first step is acknowledging you have a distraction problem. Be aware every time you catch yourself breaking away from tasks. Jot it down each time it happens, along with the reason. After a few days, you will probably see a pattern. Set a specific time to check emails, phone, social media, etc. If people interrupting you are the problem, set parameters. You can print a sign for your door “Working on a big project now, available 11-11:30.” Most people will understand and respect your boundaries.  A lot of our distractions are simply a way to get away from tasks we don’t enjoy, are boring, or repetitious. A good way to deal with these is to schedule them early in the day. Say to yourself, “As soon as I get this not-so-fun stuff out of the way, I can move on to something more interesting.” Give yourself a treat when done; a 15- minute break with a cup of coffee or snack. For more demanding projects, formulate a plan with specifics. Many distractions will come around if we don’t have a roadmap. When you can tick off specific bullet points, it will make you eager to move on to the next.

Distractions can cause burnout quickly. Even though we are busy and working many hours every day, we feel we are not accomplishing what we need to. Learn how to deal with these distractions and get your work done!

KATHLEEN WEAVER-ZECH & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO