We are living in the age of distraction. This is also the age of knowledge workers? And the irony is that Knowledge workers are hell-bent on building products with the sole aim of robbing you of your focus. Okay, this might be exaggerated but it is a known fact that social media companies deliberately build features which are addictive by design.
You have to have to have deep focus if you want to accomplish anything positive and meaningful. I have been through the phases where I could not focus for more than 10 minutes. I slowly came up with techniques to take control of my brain and my focus. These are things which have worked for me so far :
No social media on my phone.
Social media is junk for your brain. So it is wise to keep it away as far as possible. As a rule,?I don’t?have?twitter, facebook, instagram on my phone. The only thing I have is WhatsApp as it is essential for communicating with friends and families
Dont?check mobile first thing in the morning.
As a rule, I check mobile after 1 hour of waking up. This ensures that my brain has ample time to boot and switch on. This results in a calmer brain which positively affects the productivity
No more than 10 open tabs at a time
This is a neat little trick which has helped me with my work.?When working or researching on the internet, it is very easy to get distracted and get drowned in the sea of hyperlinks. And before you know you end up with dozens of open tabs.
Limiting the number of open tabs is easier on the brain as it prevents information overload.?For me, I have found that 10 open tabs are ideal. More than 10, I get distracted, less than 10 my work is hampered. I use x Tab plugin to limit the number of tabs
These are simple but very effective tricks. I will update this posts as I discover more hacks.