Coping with distraction at work

It’s almost midday and you have just managed complete the first task on your long to-do list.

You still have a proposal to write, a client to talk to, an order to vet and 10 other activities to be done before you leave the office at 4pm but here you are surfing Instagram and following all the mentions on twitter. How are you going to achieve this before 4pm? since, you have to submit a daily report to your supervisor?

It’s no longer a hidden fact that digitalization and social media are here to stay. They are not just staying; they are also filling up our time and making us less productive as against the other way round.

Well, nobody has said being on social media is a vice, but I have come to notice that if not curbed and properly monitored, social media could be a time waster. For Instance, my typical day starts with a prayer at 5am in the morning after which, I proceed to check all of the social media pages I manage.

This singular activity of checking pages that I manage on Instagram alone could take me up to 6:30am. When I discovered this this activity was a major factor that contributed to my getting ready late for work, I started setting alarm for that activity. So now I have a maximum of 20 minutes to do whatever I want to do social media and get ready for work.

Of course, social media and digitalization has more advantages than disadvantages but here are some tips that could help you balance your time and overcome its distractions.

1. SAY NO TO MULTITASKING

Don’t even think you can be checking your Instagram feed on one side and working on another tab. You’d end up just wasting time and achieving nothing. Same goes to opening multiple tabs on your laptop and thinking you can juggle between two or more task.

Just set out to achieve one task at a time. If you most important task is finishing a proposal you started the previous day, just keep working on that, don’t even bother to add another task to that till you are done. Remember that the school of thought that says women are better multitasker doesn’t apply when it comes to productivity.

2. TURN OFF NOTIFICATION POP UPS

You want to work smart and fast? Simply turn off all notification pop-ups both on your phone and laptops. If it’s possible turn off your data plan while you work and if that’s not possible, simply put your phone away from your reach while you work.

I’m sure it’s because of digital distraction that some organisations put a restriction to their internet services that makes it impossible for you to access social media platforms using the office internet service provider. Some even go to the extreme of making sure workers mobile phones are kept in a secured place during work hours. Remember to set out specific time to respond to emails.

3. GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK

The truth is no man can work straight for hours without a break so you’d be telling yourself the greatest lie if you think you can work from 9-5 without a single break. Set specific time to rest and relax. Your rest time is actually the best time to catch up on all social media notifications and emails. Remember to keep to the time you have allocated for the break and go back to work as soon as the break period is over.

Remember that it’s totally impossible to keep up with whatever happens in the digital world so stop trying to. The earlier you realise that it’s no offence if you don’t reply to all your whatsapp chats especially the group chats or you don’t have to like every photo on your instagram feed the better for you.

Instead of trying to keep up, let your goal be to be focused on the task that you have at hand. It might seem impossible when there are up to 200 messages on your whatsapp group, 50 emails and all other social media notifications but by constantly practising all of these tips, you’d see that overcoming digital distraction would be much easier.

Article written by Oizamsi