Did you know that the average attention span in today’s day and age has dropped to eight seconds?
But let’s face it, it’s not difficult to get distracted when we are surrounded by constant notifications.
Yes they can be useful reminders for us, but are they all really time sensitive?
Just imagine how much information is delivered to our screens every single day?
We’re constantly feeling overwhelmed and as if we’re juggling 785 different things – because we are! It’s one thing being loaded with extra work by unrealistic managers, but it’s another when it’s our own doing.
A lot of the time at work, we feel like we have a lot on, because we try to do too much at once.
But remember, not everything has be done all at once. It’s okay to finish one thing before starting another. And you don’t need to drop what you’re working on for the next thing as soon as it comes in.
Not everything has to be a priority – by definition, if everything is a priority, then nothing is in fact a priority.
And as much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us are nosey-parkers, and in the age of instant messaging, we seem to NEED to know who has messaged us and why; and we NEED an instant response.
But remember when we used to have to wait a whole week for the next episode of our favourite show, that left us on a cliffhanger? Somehow, we still survived.
Here are some tips to help limit your distractions, and help you feel less overwhelmed:
At the beginning of each day, create a to-do list for the day; rather than having one huge list of everything you need to accomplish in general.
Turn off your social media notifications.
If you’re not meant to be on-call after office hours, turn your work email notifications off on your personal phone.
If you’re in a position to do so, switch your email push notifications off and check your inbox when you have uninterrupted time to do so, instead of dropping what you are in the middle of doing, to click on the newly received message.
Remember, you’re not a machine. You’re only human, and you can only do what you can do – and that is perfectly okay. After all, slow and steady wins the race.