The 5 most common distractions that many people face every day
We live in a world where almost everyone is in a hurry, whether it’s getting to a meeting place on time, sending work notes on time, navigating traffic to avoid being late for work or school: these are just a few. of the common scenarios that reflect how hectic our schedule has become. With so many things to do in 24 hours, we rarely get a chance to do it all. When did things get so complicated?
Sometimes you have to sit down and honestly ask yourself: When was the last time you felt good because you were able to clear your to-do list? Can’t you remember? That’s not surprising at all.
Now, if we spend hours rushing from one meeting to another or working from one project to another, why do we never get to finish anything? This is because there are so many distractions in our world now and we are constantly multitasking. Ultra-productive people know that to achieve a great deal, and more importantly, to feel good about their achievement and be balanced, you must be single-minded in your approach. Remove distractions so we can focus on completing the things that really matter.
These are some of the most common distractions that many people face every day.
#1 Unnecessary meetings
You know there’s a problem in our work culture when there are now books called ‘Death by Meeting’. This is a Patrick Lencioni book and it is awesome. Have you ever wondered how much time you’ve wasted sitting in meetings where your attendance seemed pointless or a waste of time? Where it seems to be a meeting for the sake of a meeting that goes on for centuries mostly made up of dribbling and then at the end no real actionable items emerge?
shoot me now Here are some tips for effective meetings:
Make sure there is a clear desired point and outcome to be achieved before you go to the meeting
Try to have stand up meetings
Set a time limit, where as soon as the time is up, everyone gets up and leaves; there’s nothing like a little pressure to get a result.
Ask: do I really need to participate in this meeting?
Ask for the agenda before the meeting and have the pre-reading materials sent to you.
#2 Email
We are now in a culture where people expect instant answers. Someone sends an email, and if you don’t reply in 10 minutes, they wonder if you’re okay. This is a productivity killer. How many times a day do you check your email, honestly? 10 times a day, 20? Are you open all the time, desperately waiting for the next devastating email to arrive? Seriously, most emails are a waste of time and don’t get me started on the need for people to email the world over.
Tips:
Set specific times each day when only then do you check email. For me it’s 11am and 3pm and I check it for about 30 minutes at a time.
Condition others not to expect instant answers from you (unless this is your job, of course). If you don’t condition others, they will expect you to live up to their conditions.
Configure rules and filters
Ask someone else to review them for you. I have a virtual assistant that manages my email for me and sorts it into one of four boxes: Action, Review, Archive, Delete. I’ve given you a clear set of rules to follow and you clear out the clutter. (Stay tuned for a later blog on how to do this effectively)
Finally, turn off that damn popup that has mail or the ‘ding’ or the little envelope. As soon as it’s there, you know you can’t help but check it out. Curiosity will get the best of you
#3 Social Networking Sites
Can’t resist looking at your phone or logging into your PC to check your Facebook, Twitter or YouTube? Social media is fun, but it can be a huge time waster, especially when you start to lose track of how much time you spend updating people with your status posts, reading your timeline, or tweeting to people.
You can help minimize the time you spend on social media by designating a set amount of time each day for online social sites.
Within 15-20 minutes, you can update your status or send a few tweets, and once the time is up, log out so you don’t get distracted by social media notifications and get to work.
It’s going to take a lot of self-control to pull this off, you know you’ll do it, but you’ll thank yourself for practicing restraint, especially after moving from project to project.
#4 Office chatter and random distractions
Have you ever noticed how a 5 minute small talk with a coworker can stretch to 30 minutes, even a full hour? There’s nothing wrong with socializing, but when it starts eating up your time and affecting your productivity, then you have to do something about it. Minimize office chatter by letting colleagues know about your need for focus time. Hang a sign/symbol on your doorknob or outside your cubicle to discourage people from talking to you and to send a signal that this is not a good time to interrupt your work and learn this phrase:
“Bill, I’d love to talk to you, but I have a pressing deadline right now, can we chat later?”
People will tend to leave you alone when you say you have something urgent to complete with a deadline. We are conditioned to respond to urgency in this day and age.
#5 Multitasking
You really should have this at the top. How big is your to-do list? Massive, I bet, if you’re like most people. Now I don’t really like making lists, they are ineffective and can be very overwhelming, there are much better systems based on results, values and priorities, but this is for another time. Still, even this is better than nothing for most people who just let all the things they need to do rummage endlessly in their heads and live in this constant state of reaction and drama.
I’m just going to give you some advice here. I can add many more but I consider this one so vital that if you did it it could change your life completely. It is a question:
“What is the one thing I could do right now that if I did it and made great progress it would do more to advance my life and career than anything else?”
Now do that.
So, you guessed it, ask the same question again and do that.
then ask again
You understand well????
If you allow them, these distractions will absorb a large part of your life and can prevent you from reaching your potential at work and in life.
Here are the 3 real themes to practice in your life:
Focus on simplicity and take strategic action on one thing at a time.
Set up your environment around you and systems to eliminate distractions and ensure you stay on track.
Remember, that you are not risking your life like most people, you are extraordinary and you are not going to follow what others do like a sheep. So condition the people around you to your way of working. If you don’t, they will expect you to conform to their ways and to the norms of society, which are totally ineffective.
One of the best things I learned when I started my growth journey at a young age was to become ultra-productive and it’s a skill set and habit that has taken me a long way and allowed me to outperform most others. around me. Any successful person loves time management. Do yourself a favor and become a master of time.