10 Quick Tips for Avoiding Distractions at Work

We keep checking email, instant messages in our smartphones or office PC, and even social media, whenever we get the urge or any new notification.

Allotting specific times to check your phone's messages and email, like in a two to three-hour intervals, can boost your productivity by 40%.

Use some visual aid like a pair of headphones to signal to your colleagues that you'd rather not be disturbed during that time.

It's not a good practice to block time on other people's calendars without first discussing or getting buy-in.
You can block your calendars in such a way that others who want your time only have a certain time window to book, leaving the rest of the time for your work that needs focus.

Close all loops in a meeting, taking care of actionable points, further steps to be taken, responsibilities assigned and due date decided.

Don't use the Reply All feature, as it is less noisy to only email people who need to be informed.

If there is too much distraction at your main office desk, opt for a third space to do your focus work, in the office, a cafe or even at home if possible.

Turn off all your push notifications from your smartphone and only check for any new update at your own time, manually.

Newer versions of smartphones have a built-in Do Not Disturb feature that limits your phone buzzes to only the essential contacts.

You can also turn on the airplane mode feature to silence everything.

If possible to implement, strip away the unnecessary approval layers, which are the cause of delays, paperwork, and poking.

Urgent but not-so-important work is one of the leading causes of distraction, as the unanswered phone and unread email look like work but actually pull us away from real, deep work which could be productive.