@Natalie Larino -
I have a hard time believing that you aren’t well organized given the events you support!
The following works for me:
- Start the day with exercise to fully wake up and get energized.
- Block time off in my calendar for must-do, high-value work - ideally during the morning as that’s when I’m sharpest
- Resist the temptation to stay up-to-date on social media - turn off notifications and so on
- Use a visible work board to get a sense of progress as I knock work items off
- Don’t book 100% of your capacity or you will not accomplish all the important stuff you hoped to - always build in some free time for unplanned emergencies
- Build it breaks and go for a walk
Kiron
Haha that’s too kind Kiron! Recently, I’ve made it a point to shut my phone off during the day and that has made a HUGE difference. I think eliminating as many distractions as possible is something I’m going to continue working on.
Thank you for these suggestions they’re really helpful! I’m definitely going to start my week next week with these tips in mind. Especially your point on blocking time off in my calendar for must-do, high value work. I already keep a list tracking my daily schedule but I think going the extra mile of adding these items to my actual calendar will better reinforce my focus.
Hi @Natalie Larino,
Something that might be helpful is to have a designated area for work.
If that can’t be a separate room, have a particular spot in a room that’s only for work (Example: Working in the bedroom - allow yourself to only do work at the desk and nothing else (no checking social media, watching YT, other distractions), and no where else in the room/home).
Shutting your phone off is a good step! I keep my phone outside of the room where I work. I’ve tried working with my phone in the same room, even if it’s off/set to airplane mode, but I’ve found that having the phone in a totally separate room, out of reach, is just a lot better for my productivity and focus.
In addition to blocking out your time for must-do work, I’d try to set a time for when you must stop work for the day.
It’s easy to feel there’s more work to do. The thing is, there will always be more work to do. But, it’s important to get sleep, to rest, so that you can wake up the next day, energized and ready to go again!
So, set a deadline. What I do is set a reminder on my computer to remind me to wind down to stop for the day. I think knowing you must stop at a certain time will also help with staying focused. Doing this also allows you to go from “work mode” back to “at-home mode.”
Michael Sohn
Audio:
Binaural Beats:
Ambient music:
No notifications.
No phone near computer when possible.
Shure. To stay focussed
→ work with a metronome (yes, a metronome ) at 72 bpm 4/4 as a background noise that keeps you in the flow and let's you feel how time flys by. What feels strange at first will become a very nice timeserver soon. You're done earlier with what you wanted to do. :-D
→ timebox tasks whenever you need a kicker throughout the day
→ have many, many s m a l l breaks in between
→ don`t forget to laugh. work / collaborate with inspiring people all over the world.
especially when they are used to live and work in a flow because they play instruments ;-D
Timing is nothing new to them then and makes working together fun and interesting.
Hi @Caspar von Gwinner,
Your metronome trick sounds interesting. I’ve never heard of using one to help with productivity!
Michael Sohn
