Distraction at work has increased manifold. The reasons can be anything from shrinking office spaces, to open office culture that promotes 'visual noise' or even to push-notifications and instant messaging apps.These distractions are leaving people more stressed out and also cause a loss in overall productivity.

Distraction at Work

Time Management

Most of our email is replied on the spot and has incomplete information, which leads to a lot of back and forth dialogue.To minimize this, reply at a suitable time when you can provide sufficient details, clear action items, due date or deadline if any, and maybe an alternative.

Minimize your follow-ups

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%.

Mindless Scrolling

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

Signaling That You Are Busy

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.

Calendar-Time Booking

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

Productive Meetings

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

No "Reply Alls"

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.

A Third Place

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

Push Notifications

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.

Airplane Mode or DND

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

Bureaucracy Blues

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.

Seemingly Urgent Work

Executive Summary The average employee is getting interrupted 50 to 60 times per day, and most of these interruptions are unimportant. As a result, people are spending little time in what psychologists call "the flow state", a space where we're most productive.

Seemingly Urgent Work

Asynchronous Communication: What It Is & Why You Should Care About It

Asynchronous communication

Real-time communication drawbacks

The asynchronous workplace

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The philosophy of working "smart"

Find the to-do list app that work for you

Prepare in advance