Having a morning routine sets the tone for my day. I can remain focused on slow living by spending those first few hours prioritising myself. By training, I get to move my body and build it stronger daily. Doing my skincare and body care gives me an extra slot of self care in the morning to pamper my skin. Then if I have time before I need to log into work, I like to spend time digesting the Word. With those three things ticked off, I feel that I can seize the day.
Once I log into work, that is where the true battle begins. I’m bombarded with emails, notifications and messages from colleagues. Then I have this small device a.k.a my phone that can either suck me in or keep me focused on the tasks ahead of me for that day.
Staying focused in a digital world is something that will be an ongoing battle for everyone. We have technology at the tip of our fingers. We can instantaneously have access to the entire world in less than 30 seconds. Phones, tablets, laptops, computers, TVs, and all the smart devices out there make it easy for us to stay connected. At the time, they have made it difficult for us to stay attentive.
Our attention spans are shrinking every day. It makes it hard for us to focus on a task for a period of time without being distracted. When was the last time you attentively watched a movie without scrolling on your phone or doing another task? It’s okay, it happens to me too often. Luckily, it’s not impossible to improve your attention span.
Time Management Techniques
One thing about me, I can get easily distracted by my phone. I think it got worse as I got older and more involved with content creation. These tips that I’ll be sharing with you today are things that I have implemented in the last five or six years. They have helped me stay focused and increase my attention span.
Friends and family tell me all the time that ‘you’re so disciplined with your time’. That makes me laugh because I’m a creature of habit. Unfortunately, if I am not disciplined with my time, I will never get anything done. Everything that I have achieved in life is because I thrive off routines. Sometimes I fall off routine and it can take me a couple of weeks to get back onto it. Despite that, I always make sure to get back onto it because that is how I perform my best.
One of my favourite time management techniques is time blocking. I utilise this for my passion projects and my 9 to 5. My favourite approach for this is the 90/30 rule.
Working in 90 minute block intervals and then having a 30 minute break. In that 30 minute break, I do whatever I want. Most times, I’ll get up and move around for blood circulation, get a drink or a snack. The most important thing is to use that time to decompress. During that 90 minute interval, I focus on one task only. I prefer to listen to movie soundtrack instrumentals to keep me focused.
I don’t always get this right all the time. However the days that it clicks, I can get three to four hours of solid work done in one 90 minute interval.
Stay Focused By Turning Off Notifications
In order to make that 90 minute interval work, I make sure that most of my notifications are turned off. On iPhone settings, you can choose which notifications can have sounds or vibrations. For me, any sound is a distraction because I can’t help myself to peak at my phone. For a majority of my apps, they are set to vibrations and banners. This allows me to stay focused on my task and take care of those during one of my 30 minute break intervals.
Add Focused Time Slots
I wish I had known that these focus time modes existed on my phone years ago. Usually, I remove all forms of distractions from my work space and set my timer to 90 minutes to focus on a specific task. Once I discovered focus time modes on my phone, I started to create statuses and schedules for each focus. You have an option whether you would like to allow certain notifications from apps and/or calls and messages from certain people. Next, you can select focus to help you remove further distractions from apps when that focus is on.
Currently, I have four focus time modes scheduled on my phone: do not disturb, fitness, sleep and work. Automatically, they turn on and off across all of my devices. I use it as a signal to prepare myself for the upcoming slot for a particular activity. As it turns off and silences all notifications, I can stay focused at the task at hand and minimise any digital distractions during that focus.
If you feel that you are still getting distracted during your 90 minute intervals, try to create focus time modes on your phone. I guarantee that you will more productive and get more done with these in place.
Plan A To Do List
If you don’t know this about me already, I’m a planner to a T. Yes, I’m one of those girls that actively uses a planner to organise my days, weeks and months in advance. It really should be an Olympic sport.
Having a to-do list is another reminder of all things that I would like to accomplish for that day. When I tick things off that list, it makes me feel good, it’s proof that I got things done and that I was able to seize the day. Some people prefer to write their list the night before and I prefer to do it in the morning before my 9-5. There are some non-negotiables that are a must each day and I mentioned some of them earlier in the post. Those are already pre-set on my daily list. As I do work a 9-5, I commit to get most of these things done during my 5-9 before and after work. Those of us who work 9-5s, this is where we have to be more realistic about what we can achieve in one day.
Some of us have different sets of responsibilities than others. The only person who knows what you can and can’t achieve is you. For this reason, I like to limit it to 3 or 4 tasks. This ensures that there are moments of self care and down time to avoid eventual burnout.
Schedule Breaks & Digital Time
Lastly, it’s important to schedule breaks and get that digital time in. During your 30 minute intervals, you can use that time to log into social media and catch up with what is happening in the world. I actually use my first 30 minute break in the day to digest the Word, if I didn’t have time before logging into work. In addition, I have all my social media posts due for that day scheduled within that 30 minute slot so I can have at least five minutes of digital time.
Scheduling breaks is crucial not only for your mental and physical health, but also for better concentration and creativity.
We live in a heavily digital world and that is never going to change. It is something that you and I are going to continuously adapt to as things evolve. Instead of fighting against it, work with it to stay focused and minimise distractions.
What are some of your favourite tips to stay focused and not get distracted? I hope that this post has given you some new tips to improve your attention span. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to join the community and never miss out on a post. Find me on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok for more powerlifting and wellness content.
Until next time,
Folakemi
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