{"id":7320,"date":"2019-04-18T08:02:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T05:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.teamweek.com\/?p=7320"},"modified":"2024-06-15T07:41:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-15T07:41:09","slug":"how-to-get-back-on-track-when-you-get-distracted-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/how-to-get-back-on-track-when-you-get-distracted-at-work","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Back on Track When You Get Distracted at Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ll never forget my first office job. I worked for an online bed and breakfast directory that thousands of people used to book B&B stays in Canada. I invoiced customers, created and updated their listings, and answered the occasional phone call. Although the computers were all internet-enabled, there was no Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram yet, and the texting feature on our phones was, strange as it sounds, text-only. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the most productive four years I ever spent. Why? Because there were no distractions. No Facebook alerts to throw your concentration off-course and if you wanted to share images, you built a website.  I\u2019m going to stop before I date myself further, but the point is that the distraction potential back then was a fraction of what it is today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, our phones make so much noise that they sound possessed: breezy text alerts, chipper Slack notifications, beeps from Facebook Messenger, you name it. There is also a trend towards open-concept offices. They are supposed to encourage communication which, by the way, is also distracting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake about it: distractions can kill productivity. You may think that you\u2019re only taking a few seconds out of your workday to read the text that just came in, but it takes a lot longer than that to get back on track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Find<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brain, Interrupted<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A study by the University of California, Irvine found that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds<\/a> to get yourself back on track after being interrupted. This means that even if you\u2019re lucky enough to get distracted only a few times a day, you lose an hour of work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Get<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even the possibility <\/em>of interruption can have a deleterious effect on your ability to focus. An article in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research<\/a> found that if your smartphone is close at hand while you\u2019re working, your performance can be affected even if you don\u2019t receive any messages or notifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what can you do? From Instagram and Snapchat to YouTube and Facebook, distractions appear to be a part of life today, and if someone or something shakes you out of the zone, it\u2019s going to be an uphill battle to get back into it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the bad news. The good news is that there are steps you can take to limit the opportunities for distraction so that you can remain as focused and productive as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notifications? Just Say No!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You have probably heard the saying \u201cFool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.\u201d Apply it to distractions. If you forgot to turn off Facebook notifications or Snapchat alerts before starting work for the day and a familiar \u2018beep\u2019 interrupts your concentration, don\u2019t let there be a second time: turn off all non-necessary notifications<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t use your phone for work purposes, I recommend putting it on the \u2018Do Not Disturb\u2019 setting and putting it somewhere that requires you to make an extra effort to get it, such as in your coat pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re working on a task that doesn\u2019t need Internet access, such as running numbers on a spreadsheet or writing a report, unhook the Ethernet cable from your computer or turn off its Wi-Fi. You can plug back in when you\u2019re done. If you need the Internet to do your work, there are browser extensions and apps available that block certain websites, such as Facebook or YouTube, so that they can\u2019t distract you further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep It Classical<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Horror novelist Stephen King once said that he wrote many of his books while listening to Metallica and other heavy metal bands. Unless your job is writing about rabid St. Bernards and prom queens with telekinetic powers, try classical music instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to this article<\/a>, a study at a university in France found that when students attended a lecture with classical music playing softly in the background, they absorbed and recalled more information that students who listened in silence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Listening<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve tried this at work using headphones, and it does make a difference. Not only are you listening to soothing classical music, but you\u2019re less likely to be interrupted because people normally hesitate before bothering someone wearing headphones. When interruptions do occur, I find that I\u2019m able to get back on track pretty quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try White Noise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

White noise has been used to improve learning in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A new piece of research<\/a> published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience<\/em> suggests that white noise has a positive effect on the brain when it is doing memory tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers asked participants to remember photos of different scenes while listening to white noise, one of three other sounds, or no noise at all. They found that listening to the white noise (in this case a \u2018sh\u2019 sound) improved their memory of the images compared to the control sounds or silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some great apps that you can install on your phone or tablet to keep your mind focused and minimize the effects of distraction. They include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n