How to Improve Focus

Improved focus can easily provide you with one or two extra hours each day. Saved time can be spent however you like: Socializing with friends and family, learning new skills, exercising or simply getting more work done. The choice is yours.

But first, we have to learn about some ways to improve our focus and minimize distractions. As always, there is no magic solution. But, we have a lot of concepts, techniques and ideas at our disposal to experiment with. Depending on your work and personality type, some will yield better results than others. However, it’s really worth exploring a lot of options here, as improving your focus will compound over your life.

Here are some ideas from my personal experience to get you started:

Turn Off Frequent Sources of Distractions

You can temporarily mute your phone, disable push notifications, or even disable the internet connection if your work allows it. It will avoid any temptation to react to incoming distractions.

Ensure Your Environment Is Quiet

Choose a quiet work environment if you can. If that’s not possible or if you are more productive with people around you, strongly consider using noise-canceling headphones. Music can be helpful for some people if it’s not perceived as distracting.

Learn About Time Management Concepts

One popular concept is the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. However, there are countless other tools you can test. Some people like to use timers like Pomodoro to boost their focus while also accounting for regular breaks.

Prioritize and Separate Your Work

Working efficiently requires you to break down your tasks and rate them in terms of their benefit. This is related but not limited to the Pareto principle. Ideally, you should focus on high-impact tasks first before handling less important work. Even if you could not complete all tasks in a given day, it gives you some peace of mind to know that you completed the important tasks.

Ask for Support

It helps to have coworkers, family members and friends on your side when it comes to avoiding interruptions. Tell them how much it means to you when they avoid interrupting you during work. Of course, there should be exceptions for urgent interactions, like emergency cases. But, you can also tell them that you will have more time for them if you can get your work done faster.

Invest in Your Health

Being healthy and well rested is essential for your ability to focus. All the usual health factors apply: Getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, mostly eating healthy and so on.

What is your experience with focus and time management? Can you recommend some concepts or techniques that I have not listed above?

Note: You can also find this episode on YouTube and Spotify.

#TimeManagement #Focus #Distractions #Reflection #SoftwareEngineering