In virtually any line of work, you have distractions that you must overcome. An entrepreneur will especially have distractions that he/she will have to overcome. Some of these distractions are ones that you cannot control but still must find a way to overcome them.
For instance, if you have a family, especially with children, you cannot directly control what they do with their time. Sure, as a parent, you can set ground rules on what they can or cannot do, but anyone with free will, they can choose what they want to do, including not following the rules.
This means that they can make noise, such as playing loud music, and other distractions that can hinder your concentration and focus on your work. Additionally, there may be times when your spouse wants to run the vacuum cleaner or other equipment to clean the house; obviously, you have to take time to keep your house clean and tidy, and this often involves noise.
So, what as an entrepreneur who works from home can do? Well, you can talk to your family about how important a quiet environment is to your work and find a way for all to be satisfied with the arrangements you set up regarding work and noise. In addition, you can use earbuds or cotton balls to help cut out the noise that is made and that is unavoidable.
If you have pets, they may also make noise, and earbuds or cotton balls can help to cut out the noise as well. Additionally, it may be wise to keep them out of your work area if possible, then spend some time with them on your work breaks and when you are not working.
Other distractions that are out of your control include neighbors working in the yard (such as cutting their lawn, trimming hedges, etc.) and your landline phone ringing. In both cases, using earbuds or cotton balls can do much to reduce the noise and keep your concentration level high on your work. If you use an answering machine on your landline phone, you may wish to turn the volume down or even mute it so that you don’t hear any messages that are left on your answering machine.
Some distractions you can’t directly control, but you can find ways to overcome them. Whether it’s talking to your spouse and/or children about the importance of a quiet environment, keeping pets out of your work area, and using earbuds or cotton balls to help reduce or eliminate the noise you can’t avoid, even distractions you can’t control can be overcome so you can keep your focus on your work and produce the highest quality work in the shortest time possible.
3 Key Distractions That Kill Productivity
In order to be the most productive we can be and achieve the greatest success we can achieve, we have to be focused and committed to our work at all times. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to remain focused and committed to our work each day due to distractions that occur.
Each distraction that succeeds in diverting our attention away from our work causes us to be less productive than we should or expect to be. Learn about three key distractions that kill productivity below.
One key distraction that kills our productivity is email. Specifically, it’s the logging into our email accounts, getting a notification that we have an email, then our desire to check out what the email says. In truth, most emails are not THAT important to have to check out immediately.
The few that are, those you can take a moment or so to review if needed, but the rest of them can wait until you complete the current task you are on, then take a few minutes to go over email in between tasks, during lunch, or during a scheduled break.
A second key distraction that kills our productivity is social media. Like email, social media involves logging into our accounts, then getting a notification that we got a message or there’s new content that has been posted, and our innate desire to find out what that message or post says. This takes away our focus and time on the task we are currently working on, and, in most cases, the social media message or post can wait. Wait until a time when you are done with your current task or even after your workday is entirely over before you look at social media posts and messages.
A third key distraction that kills our productivity is worrying, especially about future tasks, family matters, etc. Worrying can cause us to lose focus and do lower-quality work because we are worrying about a future task and its difficulties that we are dreading handling. Worrying can also be about issues away from work, such as at home with the family, etc.
All types of worrying cause us to lose focus on our current task, which leads to us taking longer to complete it and becoming less productive in the process. This will only make our peers and superiors question our capability of doing high-quality work quickly and will only close the door to greater opportunities and success we could have by being more productive.
