Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
As we get used to work or study from home, the promise “comfort of our home” ironically introduced to us another challenge — distractions from the home. Before we realize it, these things have consumed much of our limited time and reduced our productivity.
How can we adapt and combat such struggles especially as we conform to the new way of working, learning and teaching this time of pandemic? Get to know these common home distractors so we can build a plan to win over them.
Social Media
In this era of the pandemic, connections are made and built through social media. Unfortunately, this is one of the strongest sources of distractions. On average, a person spends 3 hours in their social media account each day which eats up our time especially by updates and posts, including social media activities which aren’t part of our agenda.
Smartphone applications
Truth be told, smartphones are almost considered human necessity. Once upon a time, phones were just used for mere communication. Today, however, phones are entitled to be “smart “, giving us a bunch of applications that supposedly help us with work and study. Unfortunately, these “smart” applications also include gaming apps, shopping apps, and apps with advertisements that can distract us as well.
Binge-watching
Back in the day, people only had the privilege to watch their favorite movie by one means: to go and see it in the nearby cinema. Nowadays, with our smartphones and cable connections, we have more means to watch our favorite movies. Unfortunately, accompanied by the difficulties in controlling our desires to watch movies now, its accessibility makes us start indulging in it which shifts away our focus from the real work.
News Media
While it is advisable to stay updated with what’s happening around us, unfortunately news too can be a source of distraction, not only for worry it may build in us but also the entertainment gossip news brings. This becomes truer now as we all become curious on the whereabouts of favorite celebrities which is most of the time an unnecessary thing to learn.
Household Members
While valuing the people around us is important, let’s admit that with working and studying at home, they too can make us unfocused on our task. There are times we can get distracted with the chatters the other members of our family do or how much relaxed they are or maybe when one of them calls you out to help with house chores while you are working.
Getting accustomed to the art of working from home has never been easy, but it’s possible.
By being familiar with the things that can distract you, you may be able to start building an action plan to lessen their negative impact to your productivity. Be mindful of your surroundings, what you need to let go, and go slay those giants!