10 Tips for Razor Sharp Concentration
Scott is obsessed with personal development. For the final x years, he's been experimenting to detect out how to learn and think ameliorate. Read total profile
Writing to-do lists and keeping a schedule may proceed you organized, but does information technology really assist yous get more done? I believe that organization is important, but what you really need is focus. Existence able to sit downwardly and concentrate intensely on your work for a few hours. Even a one-half hour of focused effort can get more done than an entire day of distraction and multitasking.
Hither'south some tips to go into a state of deep concentration where work flows easily:
1) Cut Off the Dissonance
It may be obvious that distractions aren't helping your focus, but do you actually cut them out? I'll admit, information technology tin can be tempting to put the e-mail alerts on, turn on the IM and respond every request sent your way. Merely in the stop information technology is only preventing you lot from concentrating.
Getting into a state of concentration can take at least fifteen minutes. If you are getting distracted every 5, you can't mayhap focus entirely on your piece of work. Answer your due east-mails at scheduled times. Request that people don't interrupt y'all when working on a big projection. If you lot are required to respond phones and drop-in's immediately, schedule work when the office is less busy.
two) Construction Your Environment
The place you piece of work can have an touch on your power to focus. Try to locate yourself and so you are facing potential distractions such as doors, phones or windows. This way you tin take a glance to appraise sounds that would otherwise break your focus.
3) Clarify Objectives
Know what your goal is conspicuously before yous start. If you lot aren't sure what the finish event is, the confusion will make information technology incommunicable to focus. Before I write whatsoever articles, I define the primary focus of the article and go a brief mental picture of the structure. Unclear objectives often result in having to redo sections of work.
4) Divide Blobs
Big blobs of tasks that take no clear start or end bespeak destroy focus. If yous have a large project that needs work, clearly identify a path that you lot will apply to get started working on it. If the sequence of actions isn't obvious, it volition be difficult to concentrate. Taking a few minutes to plan not only your finish upshot, but the order yous will consummate any steps, tin can salvage hours in wasted thinking.
5) Know the Rules
Get clear on what the guidelines are for the chore alee. What level of quality exercise you need? What standards do yous need to follow? What constraints are there? If you are writing a plan, get articulate on how much commenting yous need, what functions yous want to use and the flexibility required. If you lot are writing an article, decide on the length and style.
If the rules aren't articulate from the outset, yous will slip out of concentration as you ponder them later.
6) Ready a Deadline
Deadlines have both advantages and disadvantages when trying to force concentration. A borderline can make it easier to forget the non-essential and speed up your working fourth dimension. If you lot give yourself just an hour to pattern a logo, y'all volition keep it simple and avoid fiddling with extravagant designs.
Fourth dimension limits have disadvantages when they cause you to worry about the time you have left instead of the task itself. I recommend using a deadline when:
- Time is limited. If you merely have a mean solar day to complete work that could easily have weeks, chunking it into specific deadlines will strip abroad everything that isn't crucial.
- It'south easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. If your task could hands expand to accept new features or ideas, use a deadline to keep it under control.
- To avoid procrastination. A tight deadline can save you lot if you are worried about procrastinating.
7) Break Down Roadblocks
Roadblocks occur whenever you hit a tricky problem in your work. This can happen when you run out of ideas or your focus wavers. Break down roadblocks by brainstorming or planning on a slice of paper. Writing out your idea processes tin keep you focused even if you might become frustrated.
viii ) Isolate Yourself
Become a hermit and stay away from other people if you want to go piece of work done. Unless your work is based on other people they will only pause your focus. Create a individual space and pass up to talk to anyone until your piece of work is finished. Put a sign on your door to steer away drop-ins and don't answer your phone.
9) Healthy Body, Sharper Mind
What y'all put into your body affects the way y'all concentrate. Nobody would wait peak performance if they showed up drunk to work. But if you lot allow yourself to get chronic sleep deprivation, overuse stimulants like caffeine or eat dense, fat foods your concentration will suffer. Try to cut out 1 of your unhealthy habits for just 30 days to see if at that place is a difference in your energy levels. I've found even minor steps can create dramatic changes in my ability to focus.
10) Exist Patient
Earlier I write an commodity, I often sit at my desk for a fifteen or xx minutes before I put finger on the keyboard. During this time I feel a strong urge to get out or practise something else. Simply I know that if I am patient, I'll stumble upon an thought to write almost and enter a land of flow. Without a little patience, yous can't accept reward of flow when information technology rushed through y'all.
If you need stiff concentration I recommend periods of 90-120 minutes. Any less than that and you will waste too much time getting started before the flow can go along. More than than this is possible to sustain focus, but yous volition probably benefit from a quick break.
Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/10-tips-for-razor-sharp-concentration.html
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