Your desktop or laptop may have the applications you need for work, but it also features so many on-screen distractions that it’s easy for you to lose focus on important tasks. Here are a few tricks to help you avoid distractions at work and boost your productivity.
Monitor productivity levels
Start by tracking how much work you complete on an average day. There are many useful apps for this. For example, Google Chrome has an extension called RescueTime, which records your most frequently visited sites and tracks how much time you spend away from your computer. This app will provide you with a productivity rating and a detailed log of how you spend your time at work.
If you discover you’re wasting a huge portion of your day on social networking and other online productivity killers, you’re more likely to make conscious adjustments to how you manage your time.
Block sites that waste your time
Visiting non-work-related websites hinders productivity. A quick five-minute break to check your Facebook feed may not seem like much, but a few of those per day add up to a lot of time.
If you and your employees have trouble staying away from social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, then it’s a good idea to block access to them using URL filters.
Alternatively, you can use browser extensions like StayFocusd or Strict Workflow, which allow you to set a limit on how long and how often users can visit non-work-related sites.
Get rid of clutter
You can also decrease distractions and increase your output by deleting old files, uninstalling unused programs, and organizing documents into appropriately labeled folders. Doing so makes finding files easier and improves your computer’s performance as well.
As for the clutter in your email inbox, Gmail and Outlook both have features that filter out unimportant messages. Simply enable Priority Inbox on Gmail or Clutter on Outlook to get a clean, spam-free inbox.
Stay on track with to-do lists
To-do lists help you break down large projects into manageable, bite-sized tasks. Plus, crossing things off the list is surprisingly satisfying since it gives you a sense of accomplishment and total visibility over your progress.
You can choose from a wide variety of digital to-do lists like Google Tasks or Trello, which allow you to set deadlines for small tasks and write clear instructions for each. What’s more, they’re incredibly easy to use and are great for keeping track of your workflow.
Use keyboard shortcuts
Mastering keyboard shortcuts makes it easier and faster to perform functions you’d typically do with a mouse. There are more than a hundred useful shortcuts, but here are the most common shortcuts you should keep in mind:
Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V, Ctrl + X – copy, paste, and cut selected itemsCtrl + Z – undo an actionAlt + Tab – switch between open appsAlt + F4 – close the active app
For more of these, take a look at this updated list of advanced shortcuts for Windows.
In this digital age of short attention spans, focus is key to achieving business success. Drop us a line today if you’d like to know more about how tech can help improve focus and overall productivity for you and your business staff.