You may be reading this from work or from home. Sometimes both coincide. Due to the health crisis caused by COVID-19, we could observe the accelerated adoption of telework in our country and in the rest of the affected countries. In Spain this option has increased by 11.2% during the first quarter of 2021, as we can observe in the dossier Telework and mobile work in Spain and the EU published by ONTSI (National Observatory of Technology and Society). We still do not know when the pandemic that is shaking the country will come to an end, but what we do know is that we have had to adapt quickly to this format and to all the situations that working from home entails, which leads us to have a series of distractions that can be avoided.
How can we avoid distractions at work and be more productive?
Domestic distractions have been common since long before teleworking was introduced into our lives. Sometimes we have had difficulties at home to perform tasks that require some concentration and the same can happen if you work without leaving your home.
That's why in this article of our blog we show you some guidelines to avoid distractions and be more productive while teleworking. Let's go in order.
Work Environment
Imagine that your office space has to be in your own home. Look for the best place to be able to organize yourself and adapt the work space in such a way that it does not allow you to waste time and avoids the greatest distraction (a private room is not the same as the living room).
Take into account aspects such as comfort, lighting and noise.
Recommended:
- Isolated room (if possible)
- Work table: Large, clean and tidy.
- Comfortable chair: It will improve your posture and help you telework better.
- Predetermined height: Place the instruments you use for the work according to your body and do not force the postures or in the long run it will create problems and body pains.
For more details, this document of the Complutense University of Madrid may be of interest to you.
Objectives
Set yourself some guidelines with the objectives you want to achieve.
These objectives may be:
- Diaries: Set a goal every day and focus on it.
- Weekly: Throughout the week you can generate different objectives and set the exact days to achieve them.
- Monthly: They may be the most advisable to start with. At the beginning of the month you leave it fixed and it helps you in the organization.
Setting a goal serves to motivate and commit you. Moreover, as you meet these objectives, your attitude and motivation will improve and you will be able to raise the bar on those goals. The result will be beneficial for you and your work. These goals can go hand in hand with things in your day-to-day life at home.
Communication
By not seeing people in the office, contact is lost and certain situations of isolation can generate stress or anxiety. Working remotely in the XXI century has several advantages and one of them is the communication tools such as Skype, Google Meet, Zoom or Teams that allow us to stay in touch with our family, friends or coworkers. Being in constant contact with your coworkers will allow you to stay on top of everything. Distractions may be due to notifications from your colleagues, but that is not all bad (sometimes).
Planning
It is not the same as objectives. In this section we refer to the elaboration of a list in such a way that it helps to prioritize the tasks you have to carry out and establish the order of the day. This will allow you to distribute your time and be more productive.
You can do this the old-fashioned way with agenda and pen or use the tools that you think are appropriate for it. It is convenient to organize the tasks in descending order, prioritizing the most important ones and focusing on them.
The best tools to avoid distractions at work
As you may know, there are millions of applications for both cell phones and computers that allow you to block sites or applications during your workday so you can concentrate more. These are some of them that you can use, free and very intuitive:
FOCAL FILTER
This is a program compatible with the following operating systems WindowsYou will be able to block access to web pages for as long as you consider necessary. These sites will be disabled until the time you specify expires or you restart your computer.
STAY FOCUSD
This is a browser-compatible extension Chromewhich is able to restrict access to websites that distract you. Once you download it, you will be able to block pages, and even specific sections or domains, according to the day and time you want.
POMODOROFocus
It is an extension of Chrome (and also on the web) that helps you to apply the Pomodoro technique, which if you don't know it, we recommend you to investigate it because it is very worthwhile. It does not block pages and applications, but it helps you to better optimize your study time and to be more productive.
These are just a few tools that can help you in your day to day teleworking and of course there are many others for computers and cell phones. Use the ones that suit you best, don't forget your goal.
BEWARE! Distractions are an enemy, but...
At home you will have to face the temptation to lose your concentration with everything around you, cell phones, pets, external noises, family, neighbors, delivery people, appliances and a long list of unforeseen events that we do not expect.
The most dangerous thing you can have at home to concentrate on is yourself.
We hope it has helped you and that while teleworking you can stay focused on your work.
And remember that for everything we can help you, you can count on our great team.
Good luck!
