How To Get Rid Of Distractions While Working From Home

If you’re struggling to get focused and avoid distractions, know that you’re not alone in this battle. You may have started this work-from-home experiment with high hopes of calibrating both your work responsibilities and your downtime aspirations, but instead, you’re just plain distracted. Here’s how to get rid of distractions while working from home.

The logistics of finding a comfortable space and making it clear to your roommates/spouse/children that you are working is a painstakingly learned art, rather than a formulaic science.

Moreover, amid the current COVID-19 crisis, our definitions of productivity are going through a transformation. A lack of physical office space and casual conversations have collapsed the normal structure of what keeps us collectively on task, or what some experts call “private paternalism.”

We’ve compiled the following tips that would help steer you in the right way. Let’s discuss!

Let Go Of What You Cannot Control

Live and let live – this tip may seem out of a self-help book. But it applies to time management just as much as shedding emotional baggage.

To avoid these uncomfortable feelings, your mind will seek out distractions. Sometimes this will mean diving into a huge time-waster that leaves you confused at how you ended up off task for hours.

Something outside of you is pulling you away from yourself or a goal. But the distraction is actually on the inside.

By letting go of what you can’t control, you will open yourself up to opportunities. The more you try to exert control over something completely out of your hands, the more stress you’d feel!

Warm Up Your Brain Cells | How To Get Rid Of Distractions While Working From Home

It’s okay to need some time before you get started checking things off your to-do list. If you allow your brain to warm up a bit before “eating the frog,” you’ll feel more motivated and less tempted by distractions.

Dear virtual co-workers, always start the day with a few rounds of a word game before diving into your need-to-do’s. Granted that such games deliver very little output.

But what it^ does do is maximize a time of the day where distraction can easily swoop in!

Establish Boundaries

Just by the way: Do things like in-person office meetings help dictate your schedule? If this holds for you, develop strict parameters for yourself when working from home. You may opt for focusing on guarding the time when you’re ‘on the clock’.

Consider what characteristics of the office suit you best, and adapt them to your new work space. This can apply to the organization of your home office, or how you set expectations with family or roommates.

Furthermore, personal quirks are important. You must strive to create and maintain boundaries that represent your personality, and allow you to be your best. Along with your space, consider the times when you are naturally most productive.

If your freshest thinking is before noon, save meetings or intense work periods for the first part of the day. Cross off the day’s objectives as you complete them.

Deep Focus | How To Get Rid Of Distractions While Working From Home

If you’re prone to reach for devices when the stress sets in, try your best to create safeguards to ensure you aren’t tempted by technology.

Yup, the Captain-America-type focus.

This can be particularly difficult when working from home, considering it’s all on you to fight off these urges. You have to bring the discipline to keep these distractions away from you at home just like you would in the office.

Some people try to turn off their WiFi routers when they need to deeply focus. If it’s not possible for you – since it’s work from home and requires a computer with stable internet connection – don’t do it. Treat this one as a mental exercise during break time!

A Little Advice Before We Let You Go

Know your triggers. Be aware of certain workplace stressors, which trigger your most time-wasting behaviors.

Oftentimes, you’re not able to recognize these stressful emotions immediately. So, pose a few helpful questions to yourself, such as:

What was it that stressed me out just now?
What am I trying to avoid here?

A purposeful amount of self-reflection will prevent you from falling down a rabbit hole of YouTube playlists instead.

During work hours, try to fight the urge to multitask.

There are a million distractions when you are hunkered down at home—that pile of dishes from this morning, the siren call of Netflix on your computer, and, scattered around you, your devices buzz with notifications.

But when you get down to it, not all of these distractions are important. More likely, your mind assigns significance to tasks and activities that sit several notches down on your to-do list.

Let’s put some paint to canvas here: Distraction is actually just confusion about what matters. This isn’t something that we came up with; someone actually said it. We can’t remember who though. (Look for the source when distracted!)

People prone to constant multitasking are not, as assumed, short on attention, but need to improve their prioritization skills. If this sounds like you, pinpoint your most important tasks and make sure you address them before the day is over.

Well, there you have it guys! This was all about how to get rid of distractions while working from home. If you have any questions, leave a comment in the section provided below. Good luck!