{"id":68893,"date":"2019-11-01T08:59:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T12:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=68893"},"modified":"2020-12-02T16:19:46","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T21:19:46","slug":"i-am-easily-distracted-at-work-how-can-i-be-more-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/creativity-culture\/i-am-easily-distracted-at-work-how-can-i-be-more-productive","title":{"rendered":"I am easily distracted at work. How can I be more productive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the space between work and not-work becomes ever more blurred, questions about how to do this thing we plug away at for 30 or 40 or 70 hours a week become all the more expansive. In <\/em>Work Flow<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, we delve into the novel dilemmas created by the new ways we work, as well as timeless questions about ethics, gender assumptions, and toxic work situations (and how to escape them). How we work is an important component of how we live\u2014and we\u2019re here to help you do better at both.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something messing with your flow? Unload your work problems here, and you\u2019ll not only feel heard but you\u2019ll also get unbiased, real-world advice. (That\u2019s something your work sibling\/spouse just can\u2019t offer.) Tell us everything: <\/em>ideasbywe@wework.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every morning I wake up, I promise myself that I\u2019ll be better at managing my time. I get into work and make a list of what I need to accomplish\u2014but inevitably, an hour or three later, I find myself already distracted by social media, side conversations with coworkers, emails, unexpected tasks that my boss sends my way, or whatever comes into the picture to occupy my energy and attention. By the end of each day, I find myself hopelessly behind, and it\u2019s getting me down. I feel like I just don\u2019t know how to manage my time right. Or maybe I\u2019m just lazy and unproductive? What can I do to increase my efficiency and productivity and get done what I really need to each day? My manager hasn\u2019t complained (yet), but I\u2019m afraid of getting a bad performance review.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think you\u2019re lazy and unproductive. More likely, you\u2019re overextended and oversaturated with information, demands, and distractions, which means you don\u2019t have the focus you need to get things done in a linear fashion. Like everyone in the year 2019, you\u2019re dealing with a wealth of data and communications and opinions being thrown at you all at once, and you\u2019re supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff, the good stuff from the bad, but it\u2019s all coming at you in a flurry, so you\u2019re in triage mode, just dealing with whatever\u2019s the biggest emergency, whatever mandatory meeting pops up, or whoever asks you the most urgent question. Constantly addressing the thing right in front of you means that you never have time to get to the end of your to-do list\u2014if you even have time to look at it\u2014let alone get ahead. Rest assured, this is not the qualm of a lazy person. (And I doubt that lazy people write into advice columns all that often.) It\u2019s the problem of an ambitious 21st-century person who\u2019s, well, dealing with the 21st century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That you write a to-do list each morning is a really good start, and I think you should commend yourself for that. You know at some inherent level that writing down your priorities is key to actually getting them done. I believe it\u2019s going awry for you because neither your to-do list nor you, writer of your to-do list, takes into account the fact that your day is bound to move you in directions you don\u2019t expect, which it seems like it pretty much always does. It\u2019s OK to have flexibility in a to-do list\u2014it\u2019s just a fact of life that things change. The bigger problem, though, is that you don\u2019t feel in control of your own day\u2014so that\u2019s the major thing you want to address: How can you not simply become more productive but gain ownership over your day so that you make it feel better and more productive for you<\/em>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 strategies to increase your productivity at work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Create an \u201cI did\u201d list<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, take a day or week and document what\u2019s going on, hour by hour, to figure out where the bulk of your time is going. You\u2019ve got your to-do list; write your \u201cI did\u201d list right next to it, and figure out what\u2019s happening. Instead of \u201cfinish report on marketing strategies,\u201d maybe you got sucked into a hole of tweeting and retweeting after something happened on your social media account. Maybe you couldn\u2019t write the important email that was top priority because you got called into a team meeting to talk about a new client. Whatever it is, write it down. This will give you valuable insights about how you\u2019re spending your time. There are plenty of time trackers<\/a> you can implement to help figure out where all your energy is going, but be wary of falling into the app trap of spending a lot of time there instead of on your actual work. I\u2019d start with the old-fashioned method first, just to really get a firm grip on your day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Find ways to say no <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once you know where your time is going, look at what you might change. There are some things you can easily eradicate\u2014don\u2019t suddenly start shopping for new face cream when you\u2019re on a deadline\u2014but other things, like being asked by your boss to hop into a meeting with her, you\u2019re going to have to do (and they really are priorities, just not those you could identify in advance). Return to your \u201cI did\u201d list and figure out which of those things you could have said no to, and which were imperative that you actually did. And if you could have said no, how would you have gone about it? What you\u2019re creating here is a kind of future guideline for how to handle distracting situations, so when they come up again, you can act as you\u2019d prefer, protect your own time, and focus on the most important tasks at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Create boundaries <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If people are always coming by and asking you questions that distract you from the task at hand, consider noise-canceling headphones and implementing a system<\/a> that lets passersby know clearly whether you\u2019re open for business or \u201cclosed\u201d and focused, head down, in an important project. I\u2019ve heard of an office where employees had flags at their monitors they could raise when they didn\u2019t want to be interrupted. Consult a manager to talk about the more office-wide distractions you face and how it might be best to incorporate a system into everyone\u2019s workday\u2014the key, of course, is that it not be as distracting as your distractions! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there are the distractions we carry around with us, in our pockets. Yes, I\u2019m talking about phones, and to some extent our computers, too. There\u2019s so much information coming at us at all times, but you can take measures to limit it and regain your focus. Take Instagram and\/or Twitter and\/or Facebook off your phone during the workweek. Put your phone on airplane mode for part of the day. Put your phone on silent and then put it away\u2014check it only to reward yourself after accomplishing something. You might silence Slack notifications, or update your status on Slack to indicate you\u2019re in the middle of something and don\u2019t want to be interrupted. And you can use apps like Freedom<\/a> on your phone and computer to block the websites you find yourself turning to when you shouldn\u2019t be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Avoid multitasking <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s proof that shifting back and forth with your priorities, or trying to do them all at the same time, i.e., the dreaded \u201cmultitasking,\u201d actually decreases productivity<\/a>. But \u201cbatching,\u201d i.e., blocking off a period of time to do a bucket of work can be time economical. You\u2019re in the right state of mind to get a bunch of these associated things done, so go for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus on hitting your priorities one at a time\u2014until completion. True, you can\u2019t always do this, and even though most of the advice out there is to focus on the biggest (most important, or \u201cworst,\u201d<\/a>) task first, it can be fulfilling and energizing to cross off your list a slew of little, simple tasks (like responding to emails) first thing in the morning, to put yourself on the right track and make you feel productive. Look at your time available, too, and slot in the work that fits: If you have only 15 minutes before the next meeting, what\u2019s the most obvious thing you could finish in that time period? This is really about what works for you. Only you know if you\u2019re a morning person, a night person, or a person for whom procrastinating is part of the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Take smart breaks and reward yourself <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fact is, workdays are busy! Things happen! You can\u2019t always get done what you thought you would. But you\u2019ll be more able to address what\u2019s coming at you if you take self-care breaks<\/a> occasionally, rewarding yourself for the things you are making headway with. Make sure to take lunch. Drink water. Get up and stretch. If you finish a big project, go for a short walk outside, get yourself a coffee or tea or a treat. This stuff will energize you more than, say, turning to Facebook and getting sucked into a swirl of endless, and relatively meaningless, scrolling. Some people have great results using a timer. Set your timer for, say, 30 minutes, and once you\u2019ve worked solidly for that amount of time, take a five-minute break, and then start your timer again. At the end of a day of this, check your to-do list against your \u201cI did\u201d list. When you find those things pairing pretty closely (hey, no one is perfect), you\u2019re onto something. Oh, and definitely make sure to cross off everything you got done. It feels great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more ways to increase your productivity, try these eight seemingly counterintuitive tactics<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n