Avoiding distractions - answer to a question

A reader sent a message to me a coupe of days ago and I thought - ah, there is going to be a lot of Internet / social media / TV watching going on today - what perfect timing to ask this question... what am I talking about? Well the Royal Wedding of course. I must admit I wasn't going to watch it, the timing was just a little wrong for me to see it all, but I did down tools and see the dress ...

So - what on earth am I talking about - well I'll let you read the question yourself:

Any chance you could tell us how to overcome wasting time on
irrelevant stuff like social networking e.g fbk.
How can we avoid procrastination during exam season...my exams are in
two months and i've got soo much to do but i keep getting distracted
by fbk and youtube. I know i shouldn't be on them as they are
hampering me achieving my full potential but the distractions are too
much.
Thanks,

Let me say this - what a great question and believe me I say this - you are not alone with your concerns about not wasting time on distractions such as social media, television, royal weddings, or drinks out with your friends. The question is balance.

How can you balance what you know you should be doing with what you are doing to avoid it.

Some thoughts:

1. Treat your study time as your job. Similarly if you are looking for work, looking for a job is your job when you are out of work. Studying should be treated in exactly the same way. An average and productive day for most people is only 6 hours. You may think you are working "in the office" for 8 hours or more per day, but take out the time you spend in the kitchen, lunch, breaks, loo, on the telephone and answering emails and you will struggle to do any more than 6 hours of productive work in every 8.

2. Only have in front of you what it is you are working on. Do you need to be in front of the computer? When I need to read and concentrate on something I turn away from the screen and use the desks return. I have my computer on mute so I cannot be distracted by the "new message waiting" noise that usually accompanies spam arriving as well.

3. If I am studying or writing an article or paper I work in 30 minute blocks. If I am distracted by telephones or colleagues coming into the office I re-start my 30 minutes... Did you know it takes you 8 minutes of determined concentration after each distraction to get back to the same level of thought processes you were in before you were distracted? Well it's true and would explain why you could get to the end of a day and decide you didn't get much done - because you probably didn't.

4. Don't turn on the emails, facebook, social sites or anything else first thing in the morning or when you first turn on your computer. Assuming you are using it for study purposes. Limit yourself to half an hour at lunch time and again during the evening. Put it like this, most workplaces don't allow facebook etc so you have to limit yourself during work days... use the same principle.

5. Use a time log - don't forget there is one on the website for your use ... I use one all the time so I can keep a track of how much time I spend on client work. Keeping a track of how much time you spend on each and every activity will soon prove how much time you currently waste. http://www.motivateme.info/downloads-and-free-stuff

Just a couple of suggestions, all of which I know work for me. Hope they do for you.

Best

Elle

p.s. apologies for not being online much over the last couple of days, but have been stripping out 2 rooms in redecorating. I love re-decorating it makes you decide just what is important, what you want to keep and what can go... clearing the clutter :-)


Comments

[home stagers in toronto]

I get motivated by seeing creative and well maintained things and this is what keeps me going.

[Elle]

Excellent, always works for me too. Makes me want to raise my game to even higher standards.