Overcoming the top workplace distractions

Overcoming the top workplace distractions

It is an accepted fact that no matter how hard an employee tries, they are never able to give their 100% attention towards their job. Many individuals consider distractions to be a method to get away from stress and refresh your mind. Unfortunately the problem occurs when these distractions turn into addictions.

Even though distractions may be difficult to eliminate, it can be managed up to a certain level to boost your overall productivity. These tips can help you to control the main sources of distraction at your workplace.
Smart phone mania

Almost every individual owns a smartphone that provides him an answer to information, entertainment and social interactions. This device can be helpful at keeping you one step ahead at your workplace, but the worse scenario is when this turns into an addiction. Most of the applications available on smartphones mainly social media and gaming, makes the person not realise the time spent, which causes an employee to waste a considerable amount of time that affects his overall productivity.

While many people think switching off your phone is the easiest option, another may think what if there is an urgent message. In that case it is suitable to allocate a time to go through your phone, may be once in two or three hours, and at the same time have a time limit for this checking. This technique would help you to balance both situations effectively and efficiently. Another tip that can be implemented is switching off your data or Wi-Fi connections in order to prevent notification alerts that tempt you to peak in to your smartphones, or just simply keeping the device away from your reach.

The endless grapevine

There is always that word of mouth that travels around the workplace, which most often gains a person’s attention. Being a part of this makes an individual spend a large amount of time thinking and chatting on the related subject, making him diverge from his expected task.

As humans we cannot cut ourselves away from this but can control our involvement in it. It’s always better to keep yourself involved with work and filter the talks that enters one ear through the other. On the other hand it can be used as a tool to scrutinize the organisation, helping one to understand the trending situation. Unfortunately it is up to the individual to prevent it from turning into a distraction.

The knock, the calls, the work and continuous chitter chatter

No matter how much we wish to work in a peaceful work environment without any interruptions, there is always that call, mail or some sort of disturbance that diverges our concentration. Even multitasking can turn into a distraction, as it reduces the level of focus given to the specific task up to a certain extent. Another famous distraction can be that loud colleague who is known for his chitter chatter or the one who always has a doubt.
A person may wonder if denying these distractions can turn out to be rude and self-centered, but there is always a polite and acceptable way of doing it. It is never wrong to say “I’ll get back to you once I’m done with this”, “give me some time to get back to you” or even politely deny a request with a proper reasoning.

One needs to understand that it is important to have a small break in your daily work in order to refresh the mind, at the same time know how to balance these activities with the daily workload and prevent it from becoming a distraction.

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  • Last modified on Monday, 04 September 2017 07:02
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