Stay focused on your tasks and see your productivity increase.

Here are 12 tips to stay focused at work.

1. Plan your day.

Prepare a list of all the things you need to accomplish for the day the night before so you’ll have something solid to keep you on track and remind you of what needs to be done.

2. Use timeboxing.

Instead of working on something until you have completed it, try giving yourself a block of time (for example, half an hour) to work on it, after which you will either be finished your task or allocate a time box to work on it some more another day. Then move on to your next task. This will ensure that you are able to spend some time working on all the tasks you have decided to tackle on your list. It will give you deadlines to work toward and ensure that you don’t get so caught up working on one task that you forget about the other things you need to get done. In addition to helping you stick to your plan, it will also keep you engaged working on different projects throughout the whole day. See 11 Ways to Get More Done Using Time Boxing for more tips on how to use timeboxing to manage your time effectively.

3. Use headphones to block out noise.

If you live in a noisy household or have to deal with the sounds of construction work or lawn mowing outside your home, wearing headphones or ear plugs can be an effective way of blocking out distracting background noises. They are also good if you generally work best in silent environments.

4. Limit your websurfing and email-checking time.

If you spend a lot of your time working, researching, and communicating on your computer, try to limit the time you spend visiting non-work-related sites (Facebook, blogs, news sites, etc.) and checking email. While they may be interesting, they can easily eat up hours of your day. If daily doses of the internet are really something you can’t go without, try checking the essentials at lunch or timeboxing 15 minutes to spend scanning them as a break. Don’t check them first thing in the morning or it could easily never end. Only let yourself start after you have a few tasks completed or underway.

5. Filter your email.

Setting up filters for your inbox can be a great way of sorting out what’s important and urgent from non-pressing, personal items. By categorizing your emails by project, priority, and context, you’ll be able to focus on the email that matters rather than having to sort through hundreds of unread messages.

6. Set your Internet Messenger status.

If you use an instant messaging service, such as msn or Skype, and insist on keeping it open, set your status as being away or busy to reflect the times when you don’t want to be disturbed. You can get back to your friends when you are less busy.

7. Find the best time to do repetitive and boring tasks.

Leave doing your repetitive or boring tasks to the times when you have less brain power. For example, if you are more alert at the start of the day, work on tasks that require a lot of thinking early on, and leave the tasks that can be done via auto-pilot for near the end of the day.

8. Limit the time you spend doing personal things during work.

It’s important to separate your work life from your personal one. If it’s not an emergency, don’t let personal things like phone calls with friends and errands interrupt and cut into your workday.

9. Cut out water breaks.

Instead of going to the kitchen to refill your glass of water every hour, try filling up a water bottle at the start of the day. This will limit the time you spend getting up for water and the time associated with stopping and restarting each task every time you do this, which will lower the amount of times you need to break your focus.

10. Organize your workspace.

Being able to find what you need without having to spend too much time looking for it is an important part of staying focused on your work. Create a filing system for your papers and have all the supplies you need nearby and readily reachable so that they will be easily accessible to you. Then you won’t have to break your concentration to get to them.

11. Make yourself comfortable.

If you sit for long hours at your desk, it would be a good idea to get a comfy chair and ergonomic keyboard, and any other items that would improve your comfort level in your workspace. They will improve your focus by allowing you to work for long stretches without breaks and physical discomfort.

12. Close programs you’re not using.

Keep only the applications you are using open so that you don’t waste time having to search for the ones you need. Once you have gleaned the information you need from a website, close it. This will keep irrelevant windows (and navigating through them) from distracting you.

Follow these tips for more focused and productive workdays.

Tags: Productivity