One of the reasons why you’re here is probably because you’re suffering from the exact same thing and trying to look for a solution to it. Yep, staying focused as a millennial is really difficult. We’re constantly bombarded by new things popping up on our phones every few seconds: someone sending you a message, a meme, or a news notification about this random celebrity, or more recently checking the news if WW3 is going to happen anytime soon. It could be that you’re bored, it could be that you are distracted, and sometimes it could be because you have so much to get done that you don’t want to face it. But the bottom line is, it can be really hard to stay focused.
We know how frustrating it is for the motivation to stay in place while you’re under heaps of work, so this is why we decided to compile you a list that could help you out while you’re working, working on your projects or even studying.
Here are 5 brain hacks that we hope will keep your distracted Bahraini mind focused the next time you start working:
- Turn your war zone into a distraction-free zone – If your desk is too cluttered, then you’ll be distracted by the amount of things around it. In order to stay focused, keep your desk clean – you don’t have to get rid of everything, instead, you can keep the things you actually need to be piled and put the rest in a desk drawer or shelf. Oh and have them within your reach, so that you wouldn’t lose focus on what you’re doing. The same applies to your computers. In one folder, put all of the relevant files to the project and tasks you’re working on. Learn how to use shortcuts, switching from tab to tab can be brain tiring and super distracting! Here’s a useful guide on how to declutter and organize your desktop.
- Plug-in your headphones – If you work in a busy office, or god forbid – next to a construction site, it’s really annoying and frustrating when you try to work. What you can do is, get some headphones and listen to some background music. Sometimes music can pump up your adrenaline and make you work twice as hard! You can create your own YouTube Playlist, or even use SoundCloud, Spotify, Anghami or Apple Music to help set your mood for work.
- Make use of the resources out there! Well, the number of tasks you need to get done can get really overwhelming, no worries though, we sympathize! But what if there’s a way to make those tasks easier for you? There are plenty of productivity tools out there that help you stay focused throughout the day, like RescueTime, Pocket, IFTTT, Trello, Basecamp, Asana and more.
- Move around, take a break – Sitting on that chair is not just going to cause you back pain, but it literally sucks out your positive energy. Move around and stretch, it will refresh your mind and gets you back in the mood. Research has actually shown that stretching your body boosts your level of oxygen flow to your brain which in turn gives you more energy. And don’t forget to take a break, a 30-second break can actually make you 13% more productive! One tool you can use to stay active it Hayatech.
- Prioritize your tasks by creating a to-do list – Sounds super basic, yet it has been proven to be effective. List down the tasks you need to complete and then rank them from most to least important. Why is this effective? Prioritizing your difficult and urgent tasks gets you to work on them and get them out of your way. When you reach the easy tasks, you won’t have much of a hard time to finish them up because they’re easy!
Final thoughts – remember that you’re not alone! Don’t get frustrated when you can’t finish up your tasks or you’re too distracted, acknowledging it is always the first step! Working on combating them through the methods mentioned above is the second step.
