How to Stop Getting Distracted and Improve Your Focus

I’m a pretty organised person now although in the past, I used to get sidetracked by distractions at work. So I thought I’d share my tips on how to stop getting distracted that work for me. They’re easy and practical and make a real difference to your focus and output instantly.

These are the tips that have worked for me, especially since starting my own business and working from home. Now it’s even more important than ever to not waste time.

You might be looking for better ways how to concentrate on studies or how to focus better generally and these tips apply for that too.

Learn How to Stop Distractions with these Tips:

1.  Plan Ahead

It’s so important to know exactly and clearly what you need to get done before you start. Then you can set a plan to achieve it.

You also need to find a way of planning that suits your style. I can tell you that for me, it’s using my Erin Condren LifePlanner. (PS you can get $10 USD off a LifePlanner with this affiliate link!)

Every Sunday morning I spend 20-30 minutes planning all of my personal and work activities for the week ahead. It’s a precious bit of ‘me time’ that allows me to stay organised and sleep well that night knowing I have a plan for the week. You can watch my weekly planning videos here to see how I actually plan.

You might like to try this, or writing a To Do list each morning. Or a bullet journal or planning on your smartphone or online. Find what works for you, try a few different methods. Is it one long To Do list? Or planning specific tasks by the hour?

Find what works for you and then stick to your plan! It will really help you with how to concentrate better on your goals, if you’re unable to concentrate or unable to focus usually.

2.  Turn off distracting Notifications.

When I’m working, I shut down all of my social media accounts so the notifications.

This isn’t always easy, bearing in mind much of my job is social media management but I try to make it work!

I also recommend going into the Notifications screen in Settings in your iPhone and turning off Notifications for the period of time you’re working. If you can, put your phone on Silent mode altogether.

You are much more efficient when not constantly checking your phone when it beeps.

3.  Set the Scene

Do you work best in complete silence? Or with background music on? For me, it’s a bit of both.

There are days when if I really need to concentrate and I need total silence to stop getting distracted easily and get things done.

I plan ahead and work out in the week when I’ll have silence and schedule those tasks in those times.

4.  Find a Rhythm that works for you

Are you more productive in the morning? Or are you more of a night owl?

What time of day are you most efficient? Is there a pattern? If there is, plan your tasks according to it.

For me, I’m more productive first thing. I think clearer and work faster then. So I plan my most difficult or time-consuming tasks to happen early morning. Working this our helped me so much in how to be focused as I played to my strengths.

5.  Don’t try to do too much

Sometimes you need to accept that you can only do so much done in one day. Break down your big tasks to a few per day so that they’re more manageable. As soon as a task is complete, tick it off and move on to the next one.

If a task is too big and is making you feel overwhelmed, break it down into smaller chunks. Sometimes that feeling of being overwhelmed by a big job puts you off starting it and wastes so much time.

I write both big and small tasks in my planner in two separate lists each day so that they’re in a priority order. When I’ve checked off the main ones, I move through the smaller ones. It helps me how to focus on work that is the most pressing first.

This really works for me and I get a great deal of satisfaction when I tick each task off. Even the smaller ones. Give it a try!

Do you have tips on how to stop getting distracted and how to stay focused at work or studying?

I would love to hear your ways to improve concentration!

Read next:

• How to be more focused and Organised
• How to Drink More Water at Work + Free Water Drinking Tracker
• Want more time for the things you love? Join my free challenge for mums!
• What is the Best Day of the Week to Plan + Free Weekly Planner
• Are You Disorganised Or Doing Too Much? Learn From My Mistakes!

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This post has been updated and was original published on December 15th 2016.

Disclosure: this post on how to stop getting distracted and how to concentrate on work contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase, I receive a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay.