by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on November 29, 2016
In today’s world, fighting against distractions is never easy. With many technological devices that you have at your hand, you can’t easily say “NO” to using them all the time.
The sad part is..
It keeps you away from getting the right job done. If you’re a student, it hinders from you from preparing for your next exam. If you’re a professional, it kills your productivity at work.
As a millennial, you can have many excuses as you can think, but you can do something about distractions.
Your first action is to identify why you’re easily distracted.
Let’s get started.
1. You set an unproductive morning routine.
It’s ironic.
You wake up early in the morning, and you say to yourself you want to become productive.
But the first thing you try to find is your mobile phone.
You get up just trying to look for it because it’s missing.
Let me tell you this.
Your first tasks early in the morning is critical because it can make or break your day.
The top entrepreneurs and CEOs have their morning routine set to keep them warm and get ready for the entire day.
They set it right early in the morning that’s why they become productive in their entire days.
Truth.
It’s not about the distractions out there; it’s just about your mindset.
One question, what do you do early in the morning?
2. You make excuses on top of your first excuse
Trying to make excuses is only a waste of time. Even lying to someone just to make him believe in what you say won’t even make you productive.
I’m poor. I don’t have enough resources.
I can’t do my presentation tomorrow. I can’t communicate well.
My friend asked me for a date. I can’t say “NO.”
So on and so forth…
It’s not the technology that distracts you all the time. It is your dozens of excuses that keep you away from accomplishing your most important tasks.
The moment you think again of your next excuse, be reminded with how much time you waste thinking about it.
3. You allow many people to access your time
It’s easy to setup meetings and chats nowadays. You can do it online, but nothing can be compared to offline interactions.
Sometimes one meeting with a person can take 3 to even 5 hours of your day, depending on who that person is. The closer you are to him, the more time you have to spend talking.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-social.
The point is you have to limit your accessibility to certain people whom you think you can really get value from.
It’s not being selfish or rude; it’s respecting your own time and saying to yourself, “I have more important things to do.”
This makes more sense if you have numerous urgent tasks and it’s either getting you to nowhere or to another level of your career.
4. You do what you think is important first
Procrastination is doing on what-you-think-is-important instead of your TRUE urgent/important things.
If you combine your 10 minutes social media chat with your long lost friend every hour, that’s a total of 120 minutes or 2 HOURS of your day.
The wiser thing to do is to setup a date with her, spend 2 to 3 hours of your time chatting with her offline. That’s better than spending 2 hours every day.
You’re not becoming legalistic here. You’re trying to make use of your time well.
Time is gold.
Make it count.
YOUR TURN
What are the things that keep you distracted or make you unproductive?
Leave a quick comment below.
I’ll be around today to reply to comments and answer questions.
The Author
