7 Tips for Improving Focus and Eliminating Distractions

Many of us face multiple distractions throughout the day and week. Learning to focus is a skill we can all benefit from! Today, we will give you a few tips on how to improve your focus:

1. Prioritize your physical needs
   1. Eating healthy, moving during the day and getting enough quality sleep are all essential to helping our minds concentrate effectively
   2. Spend some time evaluating if there are small adjustments you can make here to improve your physical well being
2. Identify and minimize workspace distraction triggers
   1. Turn off applications you are not using
   2. Turn off notifications that you don’t absolutely need
   3. Clear workspace of clutter
   4. Use noise cancelling headphones to minimize outside noise
3. Choose one task to work on at a time
   1. Give every priority your complete attention rather than attempting to multi-task
   2. Spend 30 minutes each week identifying the top priorities that need to get done
   3. Spend 10 minutes at the end of each day assessing how you did and if you need to adjust your schedule the next day
4. Set up a system of time goals and reward to build your ability to focus
   1. Give each major task a time to focus on it
   2. More complex tasks or projects are mentally exhausting so give yourself small blocks of time when you are at your best to focus on these
   3. When you are able to achieve a small goal, reward yourself with something meaningful
5. If you’re having trouble powering through, take a real break
   1. When you are mentally stuck or emotionally exhausted you need to relieve the stress
   2. You do this by moving and getting oxygen circulating through your system or focusing on small wins and things that are positive
   3. It is NOT good to stay sitting in front of your computer for hours on end with no movement
6. Reduce your information intake
   1. Consuming social media, news articles, blogs, etc. during your work day causes mental distraction
   2. Depending on what you read it can also cause you to feel depressed or demotivated
   3. Keep yourself focused on positive thinking and only consume information that is helpful
7. Acknowledge deeper issues that could be affecting your focus
   1. If stress and worry from a deeper issue is hurting your ability to concentrate, don’t ignore it
   2. Take a few minutes to identify what is weighing heavy on your mind and make a list of your worries
   3. Then go back to the Zorro circle; what can you control?

We take back power when we focus on what we CAN do rather than worry about what we cannot change.