It makes time, clears your head and gives you a good feeling, if you can work in a concentrated manner. But how do you do that, if you are in a busy work environment, or you are constantly haunted by the feeling that you have so many other things to do? ….
This is what you do:
- Choose each day the highest priority task, and begin with that, especially if it is one that you dread (the “Eat the frog” technique – getting over the worst jobs first);
- Do the important task at the time that you have the most energy;
- Ring-fence the time in your diary; reserve 1/3 more time than you think you need;
- Do one thing at a time, and stay focussed until you have finished. If you have problems focussing, work with a timer (for example 20 minutes focussed work – 5 minutes break (the Pomodoro Technique);
- Are you disturbed by background noise? Use a good headphone set and play music that helps you focus. Classical music, from Bach or Mozart, is suitable for this. There are various playlists on Spotify for various moods, such as ‘Brain Food’ or ‘Maximum Concentration’. You will need to download Spotify 🙂
- You can also invest in a ‘do not disturb’ lamp (see for example) that you can fix to your computer. That way, colleagues will know that you want to be left alone. You can also do this, of course, with a little flag or Post-it Note or similar. It is often the simple things that can make a big difference.