In a world that is more connected than ever, it can be hard to stay on task. Emails, texts, coworkers, and calls can all easily pull you away from whatever you are trying to get done. To an extent, you need those things for the job now.
But if you can’t manage them effectively, they can lose you precious hours. The Harvard Business Review shared some thoughts on what workers can try to have better time management. Here are some of their top tips.
Don’t Hop Around Between Tasks
It might feel like you are staying on top of everything to do a little of each thing at a time. But the reality is each time you step away from a task, you lose track of where you were, and you lose your momentum. It’s better to keep the ball rolling while you are in the zone.
Be Unavailable
You might be stuck in the office, but certain body language can definitely give off the social cue that you do not want to be disturbed. Even something as simple as keeping a pair of headphones on (even with the sound off) can indicate to others that you don’t want to chitchat right now.
Ditch the Open Office
There are plenty of complaints about open offices, chief among them is that it is so easy to get distracted. Even if someone is not speaking to you directly, you are getting exposed to conversations that pull your attention. If possible, find a meeting room or somewhere private to get somewhere to focus on big tasks.
Avoid “Reply All”
This one is more leading by example, but stop using reply all to emails that don’t need it. If your message is only pertinent to one or two people, trim the conversation down to just them. And hopefully, others will follow your lead so you have one less email pulling you away from work.
Airplane Mode
The simplest way to not get distracted by texts, calls, and emails is to not receive them. Obviously, you don’t want to make this an all day thing, but if you need an hour or two to focus, airplane mode can limit your distractions.
Distractions might seem minor at first, but they add up over time. Start curtailing them now to reclaim your time and productivity.
For the full list of strategies you can utilize to stay focused on your work, read what the Harvard Business Review has to say here.
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