As someone who has struggled with distractions, I’ve always looked for ways to improve the way I spend my time.

Running a business is demanding but can also be extremely rewarding if your time is managed properly. When I did not manage my time properly I made personal sacrifices which resulted in resentment towards the business. After years of trying exploring techniques to balance my time my relationship with the business has greatly improved resulting in a healthy work/life balance.


The Impact of Distrations

In an article from Atlassian, the illustrate how much of negative impact distractions in the workplace have.

56

Interruptions per day for the average employee

3

Minutes spent working before the average employee switches tasks

2

Hours spent on average recovering from distractions per day

80

Percentage of distractions per day that are considered trivial

36

Times the average employee checks their email in an hour

16

Minutes spent refocusing after handling an incoming email.


I’ve personally experienced much of the above and recall a time where my day would take complete ownership of my life due to allowing myself to get distracted and external factors control my time. The following are some of the easy and accesisble tips that I’ve found to help me live a less distracted life.

1. Meditate

One review of 23 different studies found that in general, people who’ve been meditating for just a few months perform better on tasks that test their ability to shut out distractions, while longer-term meditators show a markedly improved ability to maintain focus for especially long periods of time.

2. Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Invest time in removing distractions from your working environment to optimize how your time is spent. Distractions can come from people, devices, and yourself.

3. Use Timeboxed Intervals

Timeboxing is a heads-down approach to focusing on a task within the confines of time. Timeboxing can be used for both work and play. Timeboxing Much relates to a psychological principle called Parkinson’s Law, which states that work will expand to fill the time you allow for its completion.

4. Plan Your Objectives

The simple concept of planning combined with other methods will drastically help you both set and reach your objectives. Breaking down your tasks and prioritizing what will be most impactful ensures you will close out your day feeling fulfilled resulting in less stress.

5. Limit Work In Progress

Leveraging from production and agile methodology work-in-progress or WIP refers to the number of tasks being worked on at one time. When focusing on starting a task and driving it to completion you can accomplish more. This method eliminates the buildup of tasks and bottlenecks.


In summary, there are a million ways to get distracted and many effective ways to avoid getting distracted. Building a healthy practice in which you learn from your failures to develop healthy habits can be immensely impactful for living a fulfilling life.


A value of ours at Nolte is to Help Others Grow. To embrace this value, each member of Nolte produces content for Nolte Lightning Talks on our YouTube channel. This article is an excerpt from my lightning talk presentation (video below)

Have a great tip on how you stay focused or have any questions for me? Leave a comment below and I reply ASAP.