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Our level of productivity is not always consistent and sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to focus on the task at hand.  To make things worse, this thing usually happens when you need to be productive the most!

Sometimes we go through phases wherein not only our level of productivity fluctuates but also the quality of our work.  That guilty feeling that you could have done better can be very upsetting.  

From experience, I have found that one of the most effective ways to increase your productivity is to eliminate distractions.

It is fairly easy to lose focus and that’s when you start thinking about countless other things while you are supposed to be focusing on writing that important assignment or study for that test tomorrow!

Clear, clear, clear

Before embarking on a new assignment or task, clear both your desk and your mind of any material that pertain to past completed assignments.  It is a proven fact that your productivity will increase dramatically if you tidy up your working space and start out with a clean organized desk. This also goes for your computer desktop. Make it a habit to clear, organize and delete any extra files/icons that you may have lurking on your desktop. Learn to put your files in the appropriate folders as soon as you create them.

Nowadays we are spending too much time online. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when you’re trying to concentrate on a particular task, you will be more productive if you set specific times for when you check your email.  Email, IM, etc can be very distracting and will kill your productivity in an instant.

Our mind is constantly working and organizing things for us. It is very common to be working on something when you suddenly remember that you still have to pay those bills, get in touch with family, do the laundry, etc.
A good way to eliminate these “personal alerts” is to write down the tasks that you need to do. It doesn’t matter where you write them, just as long as you do. That way your mind will be at rest and will not start sending you reminder messages when you’re trying to concentrate on other things.  Dedicate a specific time for when you need to complete these tasks and more importantly stick to it!


Collect before you act

Another highly distracting habit that some people have is to start a task or assignment, without having collected all the necessary data that they need.

This is not good practice, because most of the time you will start working on your assignment only to realize that you still need to do further research on a particular area. So you typically would have to stop, go do the research, possibly identify other issues that you’re still unclear on and before you know it you’ve spent a whole afternoon stressing on the missing information. 

Drafting an outline helps a great deal in these situations.  An outline or a plan will help you identify the areas that you need to research before you actually start writing your assignment.

It is preferable, that once you start writing you have ALL the information that you require close at hand.  In this way, your end result will be much more cohesive.

Distractions come in various types, so make sure you identify what yours are and attempt to eliminate them while you’re working on a particular task.  Productivity needs a clear mind in order to flourish.