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Psychological Tips to Stay Focused at Work

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 09:58:46 +0000

Psychological Tips to Stay Focused at Work

We’ve all had those days at work where the day just drags on. You are not focused and a quick snooze seems to be the order of the day. Unfortunately, you cannot just decide to go lie down and have to come up with ways to remain focused and alert.

We all want to have every item on our to-do lists ticked off at the end of the day. Having a plan might get you there. Randomly multitasking can both exhaust you and have you end your day with minimal work completed.

To have improved productivity at work will require you to be in the moment of every task. Let’s look at some tips to have you achieve your goals at work.

Do not procrastinate

This is a big one. When we have a daunting task ahead of us, we tend to do everything else but it. It is important to just start. Leaving it till the last minute will result in both frustration and mediocre work.

Important tasks like writing a personal statement challenge the heck out of a person. In this instance, use a personal statement editor. This is just one example but try and find ways to make these tasks easier and get it done.

Get the small tasks out of the way

Those little irritating tasks that take up so much time, get them done. By doing this you can focus on more intense projects. It is difficult to focus on your larger projects when you have these nitty gritty tasks on your mind.

Take short breaks

Source: Unsplash

You are not a super human so you need to give yourself short breaks to recuperate. Just make sure these breaks are short enough to not let yourself go into a slump. The intention here is not to be mistaken for a lunch hour, where you take a longer break.

This is just to clear your mind and refocus as soon as possible. If you find yourself reading the same sentence over and over again, take a break.

Get help

If you are really struggling with your workload, there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Depending on your job, it can be anything from professional writing help to having someone do your filing. Everyone can do with a little help and when you are overwhelmed, ask.

Use these tips to get your focus right at work. It can at times be a challenge but it definitely works better with some structure. Making to-do lists without actually auctioning it will be a waste of time. By being productive at work, you will be noticed and possibly given better work opportunities.

Everyone knows that person who says a lot but never delivers. Do not be that person. If you want to grow within the organization, you have to deliver. These tips of course also apply if you work for yourself. By improving your work ethic, you can have more sales and bigger success.

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

By John Batton on September 6th, 2016
John Batton is a content writer at Personal Statement Writer. His life credo is “Write what should not be forgotten”. John`s dream is to become a famous writer and publish his book.

The post Psychological Tips to Stay Focused at Work appeared first on Luxafor.

Roundup No. 6: What about a productivity diet?

admin — Tue, 31 May 2016 07:43:38 +0000

Roundup No. 6: What about a productivity diet?

Your Brain Has a "Delete" Button—Here's How to Use It

It turns out, there’s scientific proof behind the saying “practice makes perfect.”

Your ability to learn something new depends on strengthening neural connections. For example, the more you practice speaking a foreign language, the stronger the circuits get, and the more fluent you become in that language.

Judah Pollack, co-author of The Chaos Imperative, and Olivia Fox Cabane, author of The Charisma Myth, compare this process with a garden. “Imagine your brain is a garden, except instead of growing flowers, fruits, and vegetables, you grow synaptic connections between neurons.”

The opposite happens when you stop practicing a skill or thinking about something – glial and microglial cells prune inefficient neural connections to make way for new paths. “Your brain cleans itself out when you sleep—your brain cells shrinking by up to 60% to create space for your glial gardeners to come in take away the waste and prune the synapses,” say Pollack and Cabane.

Practice and think about the things that are significant to you, and your brain gardeners will strengthen those connections and prune the ones you don’t use. Read more on how to make your brain garden bloom on Fast Company.

The Productivity Diet: 10 Foods That Boost Brainpower

Eating nutritious meals isn’t just good for your health, but it’s also one of the easiest ways to boost your productivity. Brain-boosting foods affect both the brainpower and success of a company. According to an analysis of 20,000 employees, those who ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables were 20% more likely to have higher productivity.

Take a look at this list of foods, collected by Anthony Karge on Knote, that can boost your brain health. Learn how they impact your productivity and consider including them in your daily menu! 😉

Why Summer Flex Hours Make You More Productive

When summer knocks on your door, you happily let it in, open your mind, and let the warm breeze boost your mood. An overall happiness takes over your body and mind. With all the beautiful senses that come with the summer, there’s another one that isn’t so delightful – absent-mindedness. This makes it hard to concentrate and directly affects your productivity.

“Companies that adopt shorter hours at work during the summer have largely found that productivity isn’t affected […] People are also a lot more focused at work since they have less time to get everything done. So there’s more motivation to work hard while they are at work, knowing they get extra free time later,” says Inveiss.

How to Work Better and More Efficiently as a Team

Not everyone can lead a team – supervisors require special skills. But it’s not just the person in charge who has to be educated about teamwork. Each group member’s perception of this concept can make things happen more efficiently.

“A team can be successful only when it can achieve a bigger goal and function more effectively while the individual team members work together rather than working individually,” says Sravani on the WiseStep blog. To set and achieve common goals, there should be effective communication and coordination between each team player.

If you’re interested in creating a successful team, you should read 14 useful tips and methods. Make each member of the team happy! Cheerful people are more dedicated and this characteristic can create an outstanding ability to find the best solution quicker than working individually.

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

The post Roundup No. 6: What about a productivity diet? appeared first on Luxafor.

Experiment: 3 Ways to Minimize Interruptions at Work

admin — Tue, 17 May 2016 13:00:14 +0000

Experiment: 3 Ways to Minimize Interruptions at Work

Did you know that the average person gets interrupted every 3 minutes at work? From coworkers that want to chat, to incoming emails, to Facebook notifications, there’s no shortage of distractions in today’s workplace.

Working in an open office space can be especially distracting, as there’s nothing separating you from everybody else. And we at GreyNut can attest to that. Our open office plan allows for plenty of collaboration and communication, but we’ve all longed for some peace and quiet at some point.

The good news is that there are plenty of tools that can minimize interruptions. Our sister company, MapOn, decided to experiment with 3 of them: headphones, a Luxafor Flag, and a paper “do not disturb” sign. Here are the rules of the experiment:

3 programmers (who are busy and prone to interruptions) participated. They were each given one tool to try out.
The programmers had one month to test the effectiveness of their assigned “do not disturb” indicator and report their findings.
20% of their day needed to be kept open for communication and impromptu discussions.

Which method works best? And if you’re wondering how to minimize interruptions at your workplace, what would work for you?

0-10 days into the experiment

Source: Unsplash

So far, so good for every method. The experiment is fresh and everybody in the office respects every “do not disturb” indicator.

There was even a poster put up about what each Luxafor light means.

The test subjects (programmers) are happy and they report that interruptions have gone down by 75%.

11-20 days into the experiment

Source: Luxafor

Disruptions are slowly increasing all around. About 10% of staff completely ignore each “do not disturb” indicator either because of an urgent need, or they simply don’t care. Everyone else continues to comply.

The programmer with the paper sign finds that it’s easy to forget setting up the sign in the morning. And he doesn’t always notice when it falls down.

The Luxafor poster is helpful in reminding people to not interrupt when the light is flashing red. There are people that interrupt anyway, but many hold off and remember that the light will turn green later. Since the Luxafor is automated, the programmer doesn’t forget to change from red or green depending on availability.

Headphones are the most effective so far, as everybody can see that the programmer wearing them doesn’t want to be interrupted. With music playing, he also doesn’t hear distractions going on around him.

The only downsides are that the programmer is more isolated from the rest of the group, and he sometimes forgets to put headphones back on after taking them off.

20-30 days into the experiment

Source: Luxafor

The “do not disturb” sign is now pretty much ignored by everybody. It gets dropped on the ground, forgotten about by the programmer, and ignored by everyone else.

The Luxafor and headphones continue to perform the same – interruptions are lower and both methods are easy to use. Since the experiment started, interruptions have gone down by 72%.

Which method works for you?

If you’re looking for ways to focus and avoid interruptions at work, each of the methods we tested has its pros and cons.

A paper sign is free and so long as people remember to actually use it and respect it, it’ll get the job done. The downside is that it’s easy to forget about, and people might not take it seriously.

Headphones are very effective. You can block out noise and coworkers won’t want to bother you when you have them on. The downsides are that a good pair is expensive, being cut off from the rest of the office feels isolating, and it’s easy to forget putting them back on after taking them off.

Plus, listening to music has different effects depending on the person listening and the task being completed. Some might find that music helps them work productively. Others might find it too distracting.

The Luxafor can be automated, so you won’t forget about setting it up. There are, of course, people who will ignore the red light and interrupt you anyway. The Luxafor can adapt to the Pomodoro technique for Mac users, so coworkers know that even if the light is red, they’ll be able to drop by and chat soon enough.

One downside is that it still doesn’t block out the noise and potential distractions around you. But hopefully people will know not to chat with you when they know you need to focus (or you can always wear headphones!).

At the end of the day, it depends on your company culture and the type of work you do. Creative professions might require more open communication and collaboration than data-entry work, for example. We also suggest adopting guidelines, and making sure everyone is on the same page about respecting other’s time and focus.

What do you do to avoid interruptions at work?

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

The post Experiment: 3 Ways to Minimize Interruptions at Work appeared first on Luxafor.