People usually overestimate the time they actually will be working.
So when you think about your day, you have 24 hours, its enough time to accomplish almost
anything you want.
Especially when you just read a self help book, or you feel so inspired to finally do
what you have been dreaming about for years already.
You pick up a pen and a notebook and start planning your day!:
You are going to wake up at 6, spend the next half and hour taking shower and having a breakfast
and then you will start working.
Wait a second, you don't need to waste so much time on shower and breakfast, why not
just do it in 10 minutes, and then you will spend the next 6 hours working.
Of course you need a lunch break after that, 20 minutes should be enough, and then you
will get back and work for another 10 hours.
But whats actually going to happen the next morning is that, first of all, you will not
wake up at 6 am, secondly instead of 10 minutes, you will spend at least an hour and shower
and breakfast and thirdly after 20 minutes of work, you will find yourself binge watching
on youtube or checking your instagram.
It has happened to me, and probably to you as well.
So if you don't want to find your self in this situation, be realistic about how much
time you will be working, never plan working 5 hours in a row when you perfectly know that
you cant survive for more than 30 minutes without checking your instagram.
And that drives me to the second point which is - create Focus periods.
You don’t have to work for many hours in order to be productive, 1 hour of intense
focused work is way much more efficient than 5 hours of shallow work.
But during this hour, you cant do anything other than working, even replying to calls,
so you have to put everything aside and completely focus on the job.
Here is why it works, when you simply plan to work for the next 5 hours, every now and
then you check your phone, take short breaks, watch youtube little bit like you are doing
now.
You might not realize that but at the end of the day, you will spend more time on those
distractions than actually working.
Now, compare that if you only plan to work for 1 hour.
First of all, 1 hour isn’t a lot of time and most people will be able to hold themselves
from all of these distractions.
If your phone rings, if you get another message, if you receive the email that you have been
waiting for the last few days, your brain knows that at this specific time you will
be able to check them all out and it will get much easier to stay focused on your work!
And secondly, every time you give in to a distraction and switch back your attention
to the job, That distraction leaves a residue on your attention and reduces your cognitive
capacity and you will need another 20 minutes in order to be as focused as you have been
before getting distracted.
Thats why in 1 hour of intense focused work, you can accomplish much more than in 5 hours!
So, if there is a project you want to work on, don't simply say that, once I am getting
back home after my job at 5 pm, I will rest for 1 hour and will work for the next 6 hours
until midnight.
Yes, that sounds inspiring!
But You certainly will not do that, because you will be tired, exhausted, something unexpected
might come up as usual and you wont even work for half and hour which is what happens every
single time!
And before going to bed, you will feel bad about yourself because you procrastinated!but
then you decide that you should not give up and you will give it another shot tomorrow!
Unfortunately the same story repeats tomorrow and after tomorrow and so on and so forth!
In summary, Be reasonable about how much time you will be working, therefore plan a focus
period that is no longer than an hour for each task.
You might not find yourself working for long hours but you certainly will be achieving
results!
By the way, If you are out there on instagram, feel free to follow me because I post additional
content out there!
you can find the link in the description
and now its your turn, whats your biggest distraction and how do you keep yourself focused?
Lets me know in the comments below!
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Thanks for watching and I will see you in the next one