We all waste some amount of time due to distractions, counterproductive habits, procrastination and indecision. A lull and pause in activity is a kind of natural break during work that helps us rest and regain our mental and physical energy. However, prolonged breaks can help us lose precious hours and our overall productivity in a day. This loss adds up quickly and makes us lose sight of our goals.

Hence, today’s WorthWorkin4Wednesday blog talks about a few simple but profound mental strategies that can help us reduce ambiguity and unnecessary workload and win back a few hours every week for ourselves and for the things that are important to us and for us. Let’s dive in:  

The problem of wasting of time and loss of productivity is a serious problem in a culture centered round efficiency and results. For instance, a survey by Udemy states that workers tend to lose almost 2.1 hours per day and 10.5 hours per week.

The Possible Reasons behind the Loss of Productivity

One of the major reasons behind losing precious work hours is a complicated mix of external factors and the subsequent internal responses and temptations. External distractions can be the onslaught of technology and constant barrage of information and entertainment via social media.

Moreover, the demand for attention and assistance from coworkers and family members are also another behind disruption in our work routine and goals. Furthermore, unforeseen circumstances like emergencies and the subsequent need to readjust priorities also throw off one’s original plan.

The above mentioned factors resultantly numb our sensibilities and problem-solving skills, impair our focus, add to our procrastination tendency and distract us from the actual and important tasks. Once overwhelmed, our mind starts focusing on irrelevant details and overcomplicate tasks. This impairment weakens our decision-making and execution power, leading to errors, delays and failures.  

Equally importantly, once distracted, it takes additional time for a person to regain the lost focus and get back on track. A recent report reveals that once interrupted, it takes a person an average of 23 minutes to get back on track. Hence, this theft of time means extended work hours, additional exertion and expenditure of energy, loss of personal and family time and eventual mental and physical exhaustion. For organizations, the loss of productivity means lower profit margins.  For instance, the above cited study also reported a startling finding that is, employees chose to waste 32% of their work hours on Facebook, which means a subsequent loss of 28 billion for the employers.  

Thus, there is a need for us, as employers and individuals to preserve our mental focus and energy, stay on track and be more productive. Here are a few mental strategies that can help us keep our mental focus and create more hours for ourselves and families in a given week:

3. Simplify

Our minds tend to complicate things more than they actually are. One reason behind this tendency is yet again our excessive use of and reliance on technology and the bombardment of information, relevant and irrelevant. Distractions, overwhelm, tiredness, and confusion are some of the other reasons behind the perceived complexity of tasks. Furthermore, our inner biases also prevent us from going for the simple solutions. 

Also, the influences surrounding us, such as peer pressure, marketing, propaganda, also prevent us from seeking and embracing simplest approach and solutions. We are made to believe that a simple solution would be dumb and/or ineffective one.

Thus, we tend to invest in apps and gadgets, subscribe to programs and system that only add to the complexity of a problem and hardly deliver results or the desired outcomes. This could be a diet or exercise plan, a home organization or cooking technique, a productivity app or a software for work. In reality, these complex mechanics and things take us further away from our goal.   

However, the most effective way to do something is to do it in the simplest and uncomplicated way, and adapt a simple and straight forward approach. Be it your work or your diet, fitness or your home organization routine, the most effective explanation, system, solution and strategy would be the simplest one. A simple and basic approach is not only easy to implement but easier to follow and sustain, such as cleaning on the go, waking up and going to sleep at the same time, opting for shorter email responses than lengthier ones, listing down your tasks and ticking them off, etc.

2. Prioritize

You have gazillion things to do in a day and a week. But it would be a challenge to get all of them done effectively and completely.  That’s why it makes sense to set your priorities and tackle things accordingly.

Most of us seem to have the tendency to go for the most urgent tasks to avoid repercussions. It could be an impending deadline or a bill near its due date. But this would mean that the important tasks would keep getting sidelined for the most urgent ones, and by the time you would get to them, you would be way too physically tired or mentally saturated to focus on the important task, a task having a positive and far-reaching effect on your career, relationships or your mental well-being.  

Thus, you can choose to spend all of your day in getting menial tasks done around the house, or dedicate some of that time and effort towards installing a swing on your porch for your kids, or creating a reading nook for yourself. Likewise, you can choose to spend all your morning at work towards responding to emails, surfing the social media, or you can read an informative article relevant to your field or towards generating new leads for your business.

The attempt to do things in haphazard and random order would only create more panic, mess and tiredness, and would also leave a lot of things incomplete or sidelined. Thus, it is up to you to decide which things are more important than others and worth taking care of first and then structure your time accordingly.

3. Accelerate

Time is a precious commodity; therefore, our pace matters. It’s true that many things require concentration and close attention to detail and haste means errors and sloppy work. However, many tasks in our work and domestic routine happen to be simple and straightforward. This means that we don’t need to dedicate a lot of time and attention towards them.

However, if we still try to give them more time and attention then needed then we would only waste our time and energy. These tasks would only create distraction and inertia and stop us from moving towards the more important work. However, getting the smaller or not-so-important tasks and routine work and obligations quickly out of the way would free up more of our time and energy for the more important, interesting and rewarding stuff.

The Takeaways

As human beings, we are designed to pause, take breaks and relax. So, it’s OK to be unproductive sometimes and let an hour or two in a given say slide by in idleness and distraction.  But this kind of downtime becomes a routine or distracts you from your goals, then it becomes a serious problem. Luckily, there are a few mental strategies you can adapt that can help you keep track of your goals and your time. They would not only prevent you from losing sight of your goals but also help you gain more hours in a day and week but also acquire more mental and physical energy, clarity and focus.