How to improve Focus at Work (Compilation)

18 Proven Ways to Stay Focused That Increase Productivity

The only sure way to get everything done is to do one thing at a time.

By Deep Patel August 29, 2018

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Productivity doesn’t happen by accident. Accomplishing all the things you need and want to
do requires forethought and planning, along with a continuous supply of motivation and
focus.

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Do you ever think how amazing it would be to do everything you set out to do each day, so
you could relax and know you’ve accomplished your daily goals? However, we often face a
mountain of work and feel overwhelmed and unproductive. By day’s end, we throw in the
towel, feeling defeated by our to-do list.

Take charge of your time and energy, and learn what to focus on and what to let go. These
18 proven tools will help you stay focused and amp up your productivity so you can kill it
every day.

1. Set daily goals.

Get organized by dividing your day into goals, each with a clear purpose. Think of this as a
detailed to-do list of prioritized daily tasks. Keeping a to-do list is the simplest and easiest
proven tool to ensure you stay focused and increase your productivity. Set reasonable
targets for each day. All you need to get organized is a pen and paper, or even just an app
on your smartphone.

Related: How to Accomplish More in 4 Days Than Most People Do in 4 Weeks

2. First things first.

You only have so much time and energy, and chances are you’ll never have enough of both
to accomplish everything (you think) you need to do every day. What you really need to do
is focus on the most important tasks first. Not everything on your list is urgent.

Take a moment to identify your Most Important Task (MIT). This is the most critical thing
you must get done -- get it off your plate first thing. By knocking out your biggest task, you’ll
ensure that you’ll have a productive day no matter what.

Related: The 5 Best Productivity Apps for Entrepreneurs

3. Set deadlines and stick to them.

Deadlines can be a great way to control procrastination, but research has found that self-
imposed deadlines don’t work for true dawdlers. Instead, hard deadlines that are evenly
spaced out are most effective. So, if you’re struggling to find your mojo for a project, set
firm deadlines with your boss or client, and make sure they are reasonable and sufficiently
spaced out to accomplish the task.
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Related: 10 Tools for Getting More Done Every Day 

4. Keep tasks manageable.

Sometimes less is more. In order to up your productivity, you need to break big projects into
manageable chunks. Think of it this way: you don’t eat a three-course meal in one bite, do
you? Just as we eat a meal in multiple bites, try breaking tasks down into smaller and
smaller chunks, so you can focus on one area or one subject at a time. You’ll stay motivated
and avoid distractions.

Related: How to Build a Side Hustle Into a Massive Success

5. Train your brain to do deep work.

To truly harness the full power of your mind, you need to train your brain to do deep work.
This is the ability to produce at your peak level for extended periods of time. It may sound
easy, but we rarely do it.

You can start by setting aside a couple of hours each day during which you can completely
focus on one task without interruption. Doing so will allow you to more fully engage your
brainpower and make significant progress and important breakthroughs on a critical task.

Related: Finding Your Focus Through 'Deep Work'

6. Compartmentalize your time.

Zoom through your tasks by giving yourself some “do not disturb” time. Tell those you work
with that you won’t be available for meetings or appointments during this time. Carving out
focus time minimizes interruptions so you can engage in deep work.

Compartmentalizing your time allows your brain to isolate a task, so you can completely
focus on that one thing without constantly breaking your concentration for something else.

7. Put away your cell phone.

Our smartphones and mobile devices have become a pervasive part of our lives, to the
detriment of our productivity. Research has found that U.S. consumers spend at least 5
hours a day on their mobile devices, with about half that time spent on social media,
messaging and entertainments apps. By simply putting your phone away for periods of time,
or at least turning off notifications, you’ll gain hours of productivity and focus.

Related: Low Productivity? You May Need a Digital Detox.

8. Monotask.
By now, most of us know that multitasking isn’t really a thing, and yet we still struggle to
stop doing it. It seems like we have too much going on to focus on one thing. Do yourself a
favor and give monotasking a try. Try looking at your calendar at the beginning of each week
and assign yourself a specific focus each day. One day might be focused on administrative
work, while another is concentrated on an upcoming project.
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Related: Forget Multitasking. Real Productivity Comes From Singletasking.

9. Practice mindfulness.
Practicing mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase the ability to focus and
enhance learning and memory. Research shows it can even prevent age-related mental
decline. According to one 7-year study, practicing mindfulness meditation is associated with
improvement in sustaining focus and attention. Even more important, participants had
increased feelings of emotional well-being and performed better on tasks.

Related: Mindfulness Isn't Just a Trend, It's Key to Being a Better Leader

10. Know your body clock.

Schedules give our days structure and a timetable to revolve around. However, not
everyone functions on the same timetable. We all have natural rhythms that influence our
ability to focus and produce.

The key is to match your highest priority work to your most productive hours of the day. Pay
attention to your body clock. Most people tend to be most alert in the morning, and our
concentration often starts to slide in the afternoon.

Related: How to Wake Up Early Without Sacrificing Your Sleep

11. Put away your cell phone.

A growing body of research indicates that we naturally work in cycles of 90 minutes. During
these cycles, we’re better able to engage and focus. This is followed by lower frequency
brain activity for about 20 minutes, when we’re apt to feel “brain fog” and may have a
harder time concentrating. Harness this natural cycle by working in 90-minute increments,
and give yourself a break in between.

Related: How to Make a 5-Hour Workday Work for You

12. Take mental breaks.

A strategic break can be an amazing boost for your brain. Even a short break can give you
that burst of inspiration and creativity you’ve been looking for. Taking a brief break from
work allows your mind to reset and restores your motivation. When you feel mental fatigue
setting in, try stepping away from your desk for a few minutes. You can try stretching, going
for a walk or spending a few minutes outside enjoying nature.

Related: 10 Telltale Signs You Need a Break From Work

13. Set a timer.

Train your brain to hyper-focus on a task by using the Pomodoro Technique. Named for the
tomato-shaped timer (although you can use any timer, including the one on your
smartphone), you first decide on a task you want to accomplish. Next, set your timer for 25
minutes and work diligently for that time. Take a short break (5 minutes) when it rings, then
reset the timer and go again. After 4 Pomodoros, take a longer (15-30 minute) break.
 How to improve Focus at Work (Compilation)

Related: Can Creative Breaks Boost Your Employees' Productivity?

14. Exercise often.

We all know exercise is good for our bodies, but it’s also good for our brains. Working out
has been shown to be an effective way to improve our attention, increase our learning
potential and boost our memory. Exercise improves our mood and reduces feelings of stress
and anxiety. But studies have also shown that people who work out have greater volume in
the parts of the brain that control memory and thinking.

Related: Exercise Is One Thing Most Successful People Do Everyday

15. Declutter your workspace.

A clean and tidy space has a way of putting your mind at ease and increasing your ability to
focus and go full-bore throughout your day. A desk in disarray will make your brain feel as
cluttered and overflowing as your inbox.

Researchers have found that when there is too much stuff in your field of view (like a messy
desk), it has a measurable impact on productivity. They found that too much clutter causes
people to lose the brain power necessary to focus.

Related: There Is No Tidy Way to Deal With a Hoarder on Your Staff

16. Use the two-minute rule.

If a task will take less than two minutes to complete, do it right away. Don’t let these tiny
tasks build up for another time, and don’t add them to the bottom of your list. Take two
minutes and just do it. You may be surprised by how many things you can accomplish in just
a few minutes, such as sending an email or cleaning up your desk.

Related: 7 Life Hacks to Be Productive Instead of Just Busy

17. Give yourself a caffeine boost.

Many of us joke that we need a cup of coffee to jolt our brain awake in the morning. Studies
have shown that caffeine, which is a natural stimulant, may do just that. Coffee and other
caffeinated drinks are cognitive enhancers, improving your mental focus and concentration.

However, the more you drink caffeinated beverages, the more your body gets used to the
stimulant and the less impact it has on you. Limit your consumption to one cup a day, and
save that second cup for times when you really need it.

Related: An Army Scientist Is Working on a Formula for Optimal Caffeine Intake

18. Switch tasks.

Have you ever been hard at work on a project, feeling totally focused, but after a while you
feel like you hit a wall? It’s like your brain just locked up. It could be you’ve been focusing on
one thing for too long, and now your brain needs a change of topic.
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Try switching tasks to something else for a while. Switch it up by working on an entirely
different task. Giving your brain a variety of things to work on can help you stay alert and
productive for longer.

17 Tips to improve focus and concentration

With so many things screaming for our attention, it is very difficult to keep focused on the
task at hand. In this article, we look at several proven strategies to effectively improve your
attention span on things that matter.

I just try to concentrate on concentrating.

— Martina Navratilova

1 Aerobic activity
Studies performed at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois have demonstrated
that aerobic activity improves the coordination of important brain networks. Prof. Art
Kramer who supervised these studies has said that "The higher the connectivity, the better
the performance on some cognitive tasks - planning, scheduling, dealing with ambiguity,
working memory, and multitasking". These skills decline with aging, and aerobic activity,
such as brisk walking staves away such cognitive degradation. It is also one of the highly
recommended tips for raising smart kids, since physical fitness leads more compact white-
matter in the brain. More compact white matter is associated with faster and more efficient
nerve activity.

2 Water
A research study conducted by Caroline Edmonds and other researchers in the Department
of Psychology at the University of East London reported that feelings of being thirsty can
negatively affect cognitive performance and consumption of water by such individuals
immediately brought their performance back to those of the non-thirsty individuals.
Another research study published in the Journal of Nutrition reported improved mood,
concentration, and mental skills in women who were well hydrated as opposed to those
who were even midly dehydrated. Although the study was performed on women, it is likely
to also be true of the effects of dehydration on the cognitive abilities of men.

3 Limit caffeine
Caffeine can give you a temporary boost, but note that it is also a dieuretic, meaning it
works as a dehydrating agent and naturally leads to reduced focus.

4 Set aside time to deal with worries

 How to improve Focus at Work (Compilation)

Negative thoughts can creep in while you are supposed to be focused on the task at hand. It
is crucial that some time of the week may be allocated for dealing with worries and other
concerns that do not have any bearing on the task at hand. Needless to say, you should also
follow effective time management strategies to allocate time slots for any other tasks that
might try to distract you from the

5 Remove distractions
Get rid of all possible distractions. Mute all alerts. Silence the surroundings. Close the doors
and windows. If you are working on a computer, work in the fullscreen mode on the
application that you are working on. Minimize, or better close, all windows on your screen.

6 Plan ahead
If you have a task to complete, plan ahead. Allocate a time for it, and make sure all the prep-
work is done before you start working on it. Sharpen your pencils. Set up your folder
structure. Make the necessary calls. Do anything that leads to improved focus on your task.

7 Subtask
Break down large projects into smaller tasks and take baby steps towards your ultimate
goal. The parts are usually less daunting than the whole. Completion of smaller tasks also
provides a sense of accomplishment and keeps you motivated for the long haul. The larger
project doesn't seem incomplete as long as you are checking off subtasks.

8 Set the rules

Define the quality of the deliverable you are willing to live with. Everything is not expected
to be perfect, and nothing is perfect. So set the rules and guidelines that will ensure that
you are not stuck up on some step of the project.

9 Set a deadline
Having a fixed timeline for completion is a sure shot way of getting things done. If you
cannot set a deadline on a project, then most likely the project does not matter much
anyways to be worthy of completion. This is also a great strategy to identify the tasks that
you should be working on, so that you can say NO to most other projects that come your
way.

10 Patience
Set reasonable timelines, make steady progress and be patient. Everyone has heard "slow
and steady wins the race", but very few people trust it. It might seem that the days and
weeks are passing by, and that you are moving slower than the rest of the world. But have
patience, and believe in yourself. If the task you have undertaken is worthy of your timeand
energy, you will conquer it.

11 Solitude
Isolate yourself from the world. Unless the task requires collaboration and inputs from other
people, lock yourself up and don't come out till the planned task is complete. Move the
interactions and inputs from other people to the "prep-work" phase and get it done before
you actually set out to do the task at hand.
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12 Remove uncertainties
Any meaningful project is bound to have uncertainties. Even something as simple as
shopping for an item can propel you into a sea of options that they take away your energies
and distract you from the project. Remove uncertainties by planning ahead. Set a fixed
budget, a fixed time, a fix set of criteria, and stick to them no matter what.

13 Work on one thing

It has been proven time and again that multi-tasking is a myth. Your brain, just like a
computer can think of and focus on only one thing at a time. Set one specific, clearly
defined, measurable and timed objective and work towards it. Ignore everything else that
comes along the way.

14 Re-focus
It is a fact of life that you cannot focus for longer durations of time. Your energy, willpower,
and concentration wane as you spend more time on the task. Limit to shorter time-slots and
take frequent breaks. If you are not multi-tasking or taking on more than one projects, it will
be easier to re-focus when you get back onto the project.

15 Avoid procrastination
If you ever find yourself postponing the planned task to work on something else, ask
yourself: Is this the best use of my time? Do I really have to do this other thing right now?
More often than not, you will answer in the negative. There are many reasons we
procrastinate, but there are strategies to overcome such tendencies

16 Meditate
Studies have shown that people who regularly meditate can focus better than those who do
not. Meditation gradually strengthens the mental faculties to focus on one and only one
thing. And this ability to focus can then be useful for completing those difficult tasks that
require attentive effort. A recent study at the Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte found that
meditation training for only 20 minutes per day can improve performance on cognitive tests
significantly.

17 Put the smartphone away

A recent study by Kaspersky Lab proved what we knew all along: Smartphones distract and
decrease productivity. In the absence of a smartphone, participants improved their
performance on tasks that required focus and concentration by over 26 percent.