How to Stay Focused at Work

Getting distracted at work happens quite often and is something that plagues many employees on a daily basis.  When you work in an office with other coworkers, distraction comes easily.  This often leads to loss of concentration and an inability to stay focused on the task at hand.  There are continuous visits and phone calls and emails to respond to.  Focus is something you must fight for at work.  It’s not something that comes easily and so you have to take certain steps to get there.  If you want to stay focused, make sure your surroundings make that as easy as possible.

First off, plan your day ahead of time so you can know what your objectives are and what goals and tasks need to be met to finish your work in an efficient and timely fashion.  You can write out a list and refer back to it and check things off as you go.  Make sure your top priorities and most pressing tasks are first on the list.  This will keep you motivated to indeed complete the list.

Manage your emails so that you’re not distracted while working.  While important emails flood in at all times throughout the day, you might consider designated certain time periods to check said emails.  This will allow you to avoid being distracted from more pressing matters.  Try setting up email folders and set up a filter that allows emails to go directly to those folders.  Then you can see what emails are more important than others.

Not getting lost in personal distractions is a great way to stay focused at work.  Try to avoid checking personal email and stay away from certain social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  If you really want to check those sites or shop on line, take lunch at your desk and do it then.  Don’t take long personal calls; set your cell phone to silent.  Unless, certain personal phone calls or emails are pressing, try and avoid them throughout the day.

Considering using earphones might also be a good way to block out distracting noise around you.  Sometimes background noise can make it difficult to focus on reading and writing important documents and getting your tasks done in a timely fashion.  Silence is often key to staying focused.

If you share your calendar with others, block out personal “working” sessions for yourself so that others know not to interrupt you.  If you set aside time for yourself, you can focus on the task at hand.

Avoid water cooler talk.  Don’t just “shoot the shit” with coworkers all day long and participate in office gossip.  While you might want to vent to a colleague about your boss or someone else, don’t spend too much time doing it.  Additionally, you don’t want to be seen as someone who speaks poorly of coworkers.  You can’t trust everyone you can confide in so be weary of that.

Organize your desk regularly.  Make sure you have plenty of file folders and other necessary organizational tools nearby at all times.  If you allow your desk to become chaotic, you can easily loose important documents in the clutter.  This can leave you feeling overwhelmed.  Cleaning up your desk on a regular basis and getting rid of documents or sticky note reminders for tasks that have already past is a great way to stay focused.  Order a tack board so that you can paste important information on it that is readily accessible.  Or consider a dry erase board, where you can organize the most pressing tasks in order and easily look up and see it and refer to it regularly.

If you are using Outlook or another database that allows you to set up tasks and calendar appointments and reminders use it effectively.  Instead of constantly writing sticky notes all over the place, stay organized electronically.  Or keep a notebook handy.  Use sticky flags to mark certain pages that need your attention.

Set up a comfortable work station.  Make sure you have a comfy chair.  Use a back or leg rest if needed.  Consider using gel mousepads and wrist wrests to make yourself more relaxed while typing away all day long.

Keep certain snacks and water handy on your desk at all times so that you can grab them for sustenance throughout the day and don’t have to constantly be running out to the store to find things to eat and drink.  Consider making your lunch beforehand and bringing it to work so you don’t have to leave the office in the middle of the day to go grab something to satiate yourself.

If you’re allowed to listen to music while at work, maybe you should try it?  Often soothing sounds can help you stay focused on the task at hand and additionally can block out the noise of surrounding coworkers.

If your company uses an internal IM system, make sure to set it as “unavailable” or “in a meeting” when you need time for yourself or even consider logging out of it at times.  You can often also set it to “do not disturb.”  This is a great way to stay focused at work.

Make sure you don’t have a million documents, Excel spreadsheets or Internet browsers up and running at all times.  When you are done with a document or website close out of it so that you are not constantly going back and forth between documents all day.

While it’s often difficult to stay organized at work with meetings and phone calls and the surrounding noise of coworkers, these simple steps above can really and truly help you stay focused at work.  Your main objective every day is to complete your tasks in a timely and efficient manner so do whatever you need to do to achieve that and some of the tips I’ve mentioned today are very useful in helping you do so.

So what are some of your favorite ways of staying organized at work?  Is there something you use in particular that I haven’t mentioned here today? Leave a comment and let me know what you find is the most effective measure for staying focused at work.

Here are some articles you might want to check out about staying focused at work:

“12 Ways to Boost Your Concentration at Work”: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/12-ways-boost-concentration-work/story?id=19449004

“7 Ways to Stay Focused at Work”: http://www.mensfitness.com/gear/fashion-and-trends/7-ways-to-stay-focused-at-work

“5 Ways to Keep Yourself Focused at Work”: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/five-ways-to-keep-yourself-focused-at-work/

“10 Ways to Reduce Interruptions and Stay Focused at Work”: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-ways-to-reduce-interruptions-and-stay-focused-at-work/

Until next time…