Most productivity killing distractions are the result of technological advancements. It is common to see people obsessing over social media platforms, even though technology also helps us perform better at our jobs.
A 2014 Pew Research Center survey reported that “46% of employed online adults say the Internet has made them more productive at work, while just 7% believe it has made them less productive”. Even though technology can be productivity killing distractions, it can change if used properly.
9 Productivity Killing Distractions to Avoid
In this article, we will talk about few productivity killing distractions and give solutions to avoid it.
#1 Keep Email Access in Check
Did you know that the French are so particular about work hours that they do not even check emails after 6 PM? Most of our technological woes comes from a perpetually flooded inbox. Tim Ferriss, a self-help guru, recommends that emails should be checked just twice a day to have a smooth working schedule.
Emails are a huge productivity killing distractions and it can be kept in check by using tools like Sanebox and Hubspot Pro. If you need to communicate with customers, vendors or sales prospects, it will be sometimes necessary to remain available via email most of the time. To avoid it and get some time for yourself, use email marketing services like Vero, Customer.io or Klaviyo.
#2 Social Media is a Headache
Oh boy! The nature of productivity killing distractions cannot be better explained. Social media is a great way to stay connected to family and friends but they also suck away valuable time from your day work hours.
Most of us, even without realising it, are addicted to social media. Unless platforms like Facebook and Twitter are methods to bring business sales or leads or both, they should be kept at bay. Even if they are a strong business generation platform for you, schedule some time to deal with them, do not get addicted.
Make use of apps like Buffer and Tailwind to engage with your followers. You can allow brands and individuals to schedule posts on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook and Google+ for weeks in advance. As such, even if you are on vacation, you can still engage and market your business without worrying a bit.
#3 Email Refresh Syndrome
It seems like emails are the top productivity killing distractions, really! If your work entails being on emails every moment of the day, you could be suffering from the email refresh syndrome.
What is the email refresh syndrome? It is the tendency to hit ‘refresh’ every few minutes to get new email updates. Find your way around this by setting the auto-fresh button to every 30 or 60 minutes? This way you can scan the inbox quickly and respond to urgent matters accordingly, and address the rest of the emails at scheduled times.
When you begin work, address all the urgent emails in the beginning. While winding up work, respond to the remaining emails.
#4 Unscheduled Appointments
Taking unscheduled appointments are big productivity killing distractions because they cut into our productive hours. It also sends a message to the individual that your time is not valuable.
Surely, sometimes when there is an emergency you need to take last minute appointments but do not make it into a habit.
#5 Unexpected Office Visits
I do not mean you should be unfriendly or ignore family but remember that there is a reason why you have an office separate from your home. They are two aspects of your life and you need to keep them separate. Unexpected visits take away from your production and also sets a bad example for other team members.
#6 Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Jeff Atwood, the author of Coding Horror says, “one of the quickest ways to increase your productivity on the computer is to go commando: stop using the mouse”. It is amazing what a few keyboard strokes can do than a mouse. Mouses are productivity killing distractions and by switching to keyboard shortcuts you can cut the reaction time in half.
#7 prefer Templates
One of the unknown productivity killing distractions that we do not realise is the amount of time we waste in repeating the same actions over and over again. But, the right use of technology can help to eliminate redundancies. For example, typing the same email copy may seem easy enough but with a repository of various templates for different kinds of emails, hours can be saved every month.
The same process can be applied to business documents. Recycle the existing documents rather than creating something from scratch, unless the situation mandates it.
#8 Avoid Graveyard Shift
Ban technology from your bedroom. Keep laptops and mobile phones away from your sleeping quarters. Working through the night on systems impacts our health negatively. Get proper sleep and rest at night. You will be raring to go in the morning.
#9 Have Curated To-Do List
Avoid generic to-do lists as they are more of productivity killing distractions than otherwise. Often the generic ones get filled with never-ending laundry list of trivial items. Instead, highlight big projects using apps like Trello or Asana, and break up the projects into smaller easily tracked parts. Categorize and weigh the importance of specific tasks to enable you to better manage the priorities.
Endnote
Identify the productivity killing distractions and find ways to counter them.
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