How To Avoid Getting Distracted By Your Computer At Work

Most of us use computers at least part of the time in order to try and increase our productivity and get work done. It’s this belief that Microsoft have built their business around, and it’s this fact that has ensured their incredible success. Most of us have a PC running Windows, and most of us will spend a lot of time running Word to write documents on said PC, or Excel to create spreadsheets.

In this office this is even more true and hardware and software are some of the most important investment areas for any company hoping to increase their output and their profits.

The problem though is when this productivity tool becomes a distraction – which is all too easy when you have a machine that can do a million different things and has access to the world-wide-web and pretty much every film and article on the planet. The secret to getting a lot of work done, or encouraging your staff to get a lot of work done, is to harness the productivity aspect of your devices while limiting their potential for distraction. Here we will look at how you can do just that.

 

How To Avoid Getting Distracted By Your Computer

Use YouTube

This might sound like the mot counter-intuitive piece of advice out there. How can using YouTube help you to be more productive, when it’s largely YouTube that causes the distraction in the first place? The answer is simple: it means enjoying YouTube on your terms.

One of the reasons we often find ourselves getting bored and turning to YouTube when we should be working, is that work can often feel so dry and so dull. In short, we can’t hold our focus that long on something so dry as a spreadsheet.

Instead then, why not use YouTube in order to watch something non-distracting but still entertaining? That might mean watching a sports game that you enjoy, an action scene or a computer game with the sound off. You can watch this while you type, and in doing so you’ll find you’re better able to focus for long periods. Being able to touch type of course is a requirement however.

 

Use Comfortable and Varied Seating

Likewise, we also often find ourselves becoming restless because we’re stuck in an upright position for ages looking at the same environment. Our brains crave variation and excitement and this just doesn’t deliver.

To help yourself stay more energetic and switched on then, invest in good seating that you will be able to relax in for long periods of time without becoming uncomfortable. Better yet, provide different places to sit – the best offices give their staff laptops and let them sit on the couch to work from time to time. Then when you get bored, you can take a change of scene and find yourself reinvigorated.

 

Use Desk Toys

Desk toys might seem like fun novelties, but actually they serve a fun purpose. That purpose is once again to provide a distraction that you can control – by giving your staff something to do with their hands (or yourself) you can help to avoid Facebook being loaded up.

Use a cats cradle for instance while your e-mail loads up and you’ll have something to do that won’t completely consume your attention.

 

Take Breaks

Even if you do manage to keep your work a little more engaging and interesting, you are still not going to be able to focus for hours on end without any kind of break. Make sure then that you give yourself some times to rest and you will find that it allows you to come back to work reinvigorated. Many businessmen and women are very clued in when it comes to time management, but just as important is energy management. If you don’t think about amount of energy you’re giving yourself at any given time, then you will find you end up burning out and getting nothing done.

 

Unplug

The final option if nothing else will work is to unplug. That doesn’t mean to unplug entirely from the computer, but rather simply to unplug from the aspects that are distracting.

Sometimes having a couple of hours with the internet off can be enough to allow for some real focus. It might just prove to be the most productive part of your day…