Kick Distractions or Else

If you enjoy personal and professional growth and genuinely want to live the life you imagine for yourself, then you must take responsibility and kick those distractions keeping you down. Distractions come in many different forms and come with their own set of consequences too.

 

Sensory or External Distractions

These include environmental and digital distractions such as your cell phone, browsing the web or social media websites, and your workspace, including those around you. While you may enjoy working at the coffee shop, constant interactions and noises are likely hurting your quality and time management.

 

Emotional or Internal Distractions

These are the distractions that your brain is telling you as you are working. These thoughts are self-sabotaging and can easily guide you in the wrong direction if you listen to them. Controlling your emotions is possible and will help you in life in many ways. Try studying stoicism to help you if you need extra assistance with this.

 

Personal Distractions

This is the category that you need to be the most mindful and honest about. No one but you truly know what is keeping you away from working at your best. It would be best to take accountability and ownership of your actions and things around you to be successful. If you wait around for others to solve the problem for you, you might as well throw your goal list in the trash.

 

The following are six tips designed to kick distractions so you can stay focused and on path: 

 

Set Clear Boundaries and Limitations

Fully understand what you are capable of and your limitations for each work requirement or personal goal.

 

Be Mindful and Realistic About Your Surroundings

In other words, create a workspace optimal for the tasks you plan to do and be realistic about your personality and what you can handle. For example, if you know, you will get too chatty with your clients, keep your meetings short, follow a list of bullet points to keep you on track, and only do them over Zoom or the internet.

 

Simplify and Automate Your Processes

Use technology and other resources to automate processes that don’t need your complete focus and attention or ones you know will only distract you in the long run. Utilize tools, cell phone applications, or Google Chrome extensions such as StayFocused that allow you to set time limits or block websites for a certain period of time — giving you the control and confidence you need to stay focused.

 

Be Honest and Stop Self-Sabotage

Stop negative thoughts before they control your actions. Most internal distractions are false and a result of low self-confidence, lack of knowledge, and experience. Experiment more, try more things, and gain as much knowledge as possible so you can learn yourself inside and out and gain back control of your life.

Multitasking Is A Lie

In the end, to kick distractions successfully, you must practice self-control and discipline. If you don’t, your business and personal goals will suffer.

How And Why You Must Remove Distractions

The key difference between a successful entrepreneur and an unsuccessful entrepreneur is action. In order to take action, you must remove the distractions preventing you from doing the work to achieve your goals.

 

Successful entrepreneurs understand they must remove distractions for three key reasons:

  • For Better Time Management and Productivity

Distractions only take up your time and resources, therefore, reducing your productivity. Removing distractions prevents you from wasting this time on things that ultimately don’t matter.

 

  • For Better Creativity and Quality Work or Products

Zero distractions mean you gain more time to develop a deeper focus and concentration that allows you to work better and produce higher quality work. It fuels creativity and inspiration.

 

  • For Proper Business and Personal Organization

Removing distractions means removing possible frustrations, stress, and constant confusion of wondering where you left off last. Keeping your personal and business life organized. Organization allows you to stay focused and on track to accomplish your goals. When you have a clear path and understanding of what needs to get done, it’s easier to achieve it.

 

Follow these four tips to help remove distractions to achieve your goals faster and easier:

 

Establish Realistic Work Hours

If you can create your own schedule and work hours, take advantage of it and be realistic and honest. If you know you are a night owl, for example, then don’t expect yourself to work by 6 AM.

 

If this isn’t a good time for you, no matter how good you are at getting up on time, you won’t be working at your best or produce your best work. Schedule your work hours during times you know you will be fully rested and ultimately distraction-free.

 

Understand Your Limits and Willpower

In other words, if you know you won’t stop looking at your phone, then you must put your phone in a separate room. Create strategies that work with your weaknesses to ensure you don’t limit your success. If you want it, you will find a way to work around your downfalls.

 

Stop Multitasking

Believe it or not, multitasking is a distraction. Every time you switch between a different task, your brain needs time to reset even if you don’t notice it.

Positive Attitude

Let Others Know Your Goals and Needs

The more you inform people upfront about your intentions, the less likely they will keep you from them. If they do, then they are not there to support you, and best to keep them out of your life.

How to Identify Over the Top Goals to Make Them Reasonable

If you aspire to be a mover or shaker or achieve your dreams at all, you need to be the one creating the distractions, not entertaining them. Implement these tips and tricks into your daily routine to keep distractions from interfering with your dreams.

 

 

Nope: Productivity and Being Busy Are Not the Same

The main idea of productivity is always to work smarter, not harder. Just because you are active, working hard, and doing stuff does not mean you have used your time wisely enough to be productive. Unfortunately, a myth equates being “busy” to being highly productive, while not being “busy” equals laziness.

linkedin laptop

However, the most productive people can easily seem lazy with this mindset when they got all their work done already and get to take the rest of the day off.  Remember, the formula for productivity is your output over your input. If your input significantly outweighs the output, you need to adjust and fix your to-do list.

 

Here are a few tips that many successful entrepreneurs follow to be more productive and less busy throughout their day:

 

They Remove Absolutely Any and All Distractions

When it is time to work, take responsibility and remove the distractions you know will disrupt you. Get rid of distracting music. Don’t work where people are walking around and talking. Keep your workspace clean and organized. When distractions are removed, you can stay focused, concentrate and create momentum to get your work done faster.

 

They Create Many To-Do Lists and Know How To Prioritize

Start each morning with a to-do list to tackle each thing you need to get done. If you need to reach out to a customer and also complete a big assignment for the day, then you need two separate to-do lists. Don’t allow yourself to go with the flow, or you will find yourself doing pointless tasks throughout the day. Successful people prioritize their to-do lists and stay on track by sticking to them.

 Steps to Develop Your Overall Content Marketing Plan

They Take Time To Evaluate Their Work, Efforts, And Company Mission

It’s essential always to schedule time throughout your day to evaluate your actions and compare them to your goals. You could be busy all day yet only wasting your time and resources when that time would be better suited doing something else more important.

 

Take five or ten minutes every now and then to make sure you are still on your to-do list and that the goals you need to get done relate to your company mission or ultimate goals. Simply ask yourself, “Did the tasks I do today chip away at any of my goals or get me closer to where I want to be?” If yes, then keep going. If not, adjust your to-do list.

 

They Work in Batches

Working in batches means putting similar tasks together and get them done at the same time. This means less time is required to go back and forth between different tasks, and to keep the concentration and momentum you need to get done fast.

 

They Automate Repetitive Tasks

Finally, productive people automate repetitive tasks using technology, hiring a virtual assistant, or creating templates to make their work that much faster. Create templates for emails, repetitive tasks, accounting, inventory management, and customer management software to keep track of mundane and tedious tasks.

Don’t put out more effort only to achieve no rewards. Compare your efforts daily to your mission to ensure your productivity matches your intentions to live a more successful life.