Posts Tagged ‘distraction’

The Productivity Threatdown

Fans of Steven Colbert are familiar with his “Threatdown” segment, an irreverent countdown of the five greatest threats facing the United States at any given moment. As I watched this segment one night – instead of, you know, working on the project I was desperately trying to get done – it occurred to me that the “threatdown” was one of the five greatest threats facing my productivity, at least right… Continue reading

July 10 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: constraint, distraction, goal, limit, perfectionism, procrastination | 17 comments»

Managing Your Social Network Addiction

Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Friendster, Tumblr, Xanga... the list goes on and on. And if you are any sort of tech savy, there is good chance you are a member of multiple social networks. Even I have accounts with at least 5 of these. While there is a lot to be gained by using these services, there is also a lot to be lost. In case… Continue reading

June 18 2009 | By Ibrahim | Tagged: addiction, distraction, social-media, social-networking, time | 33 comments»

Unplug For Greater Productivity

We've all experienced those days when we sat down at our desk with a long list of things to do, and yet somehow hours later we realize that we haven't done much, aside from checking our emails 5 times, spending hours at Lifehack.org, and instant messaging everyone we know. For those days, when you can't seem to beat the buzz, the greatest possible way you can ensure productivity… Continue reading

June 11 2009 | By Ibrahim | Tagged: distraction, focus, paper, unplug | 24 comments»

Your Guide to Apps that Eliminate Distractions

As I sit down to write this article tonight there's a fly buzzing around the room. It's driving me insane. Every few seconds it makes a pass by my ear and I lunge out to try and bat the life out of the thing. I can't finish a sentence without this pest distracting me from the task at hand. I'm not good at killing flies. My wife's grandmother has a… Continue reading

January 12 2009 | By Joel | Tagged: distraction, freeware, software, writing | 12 comments»

Working in Project Space

One of the givens in David Allen's Getting Things Done is that you can't "do" a project. Instead, Allen recommends you break projects down into immediate "next actions", discrete doable chunks that can be "cranked through" with a minimum of effort.

While this approach works pretty well for a lot of tasks, it falls short for a lot of creative people for whom the "meat" of their work cannot… Continue reading

April 14 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: creativity, distraction, gtd, procrastination, Productivity | 18 comments»

How to Cope with More of Those Pesky Distractions

Using "concentric defenses" to keep off interruptions you can't avoid in other ways

Most of the articles you read about dealing with time- and attention-wasting distractions concentrate on avoiding them altogether (shutting yourself away, better organization, better time allocation) or not adding to their number yourself (minimizing responding to e-mails and IMs, filtering phone calls, avoiding gossiping). This is fine. But what about those that simply get through such defenses: the… Continue reading

February 6 2008 | By Adrian | Tagged: defense, distraction, focus, interruption, Productivity | 5 comments»

Tips and Tricks for Distraction-Free Writing

If you do a lot of writing, you already know the benefits of a distraction-free writing environment. It's hard to keep yourself on-task when there are noise, people interrupting you, or the ever-present temptation of Desktop Tower Defense only a click or two away on your PC. It's especially hard when you reach a rough patch and it's so much easier to do something else than think your… Continue reading

January 16 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: concentration, distraction, software, tool, writing | 38 comments»

How to Use Time to Make 2008 the Best Year Ever

Of all the things people cite as the reason they don’t start or finish something—write that book, lose the weight, build the business, or invent the widget—time lands squarely at the top of the list every time. What clients say time and again (sorry) is that becoming conscious about how they use every hour actually creates space for beginnings to take hold and completion to become routine. Before you even… Continue reading

January 2 2008 | By Lisa | Tagged: distraction, goal, new_year_resolutions, time | 16 comments»

10 Tips for Razor Sharp Concentration

Writing to-do lists and keeping a schedule may keep you organized, but does it really help you get more done? I believe that organization is important, but what you really need is focus. Being able to sit down and concentrate intensely on your work for a few hours. Even a half hour of focused effort can get more done than an entire day of distraction and… Continue reading

July 26 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: concentration, distraction, flow, objective, Productivity | 88 comments»

The Monitor Curtain: A Distraction Blocker

Sometimes my LCD monitor is the biggest distraction at home or office. Think about emails, IMs, my Firefox browser with interesting articles loaded, flashy icons here and there. What is a solution? How about create a Monitor Curtain? A Flickr user Inkedmn has posted a photo of his monitor and it caught my eyes. He uses some paper clips, sticky tape, and couple of A4/Letter papers to create… Continue reading

January 18 2007 | By Leon | Tagged: distraction, Productivity | 14 comments»

Are You Working on Your Goals With Unfinished Business?

When you set out on your journey to achieve your goals and your dream, one of the first things that you need to ensure is that you start on a clean slate and do not have hidden ghosts in your closet. This ensures that there are no distractions of any kind that will trouble you once you have started your journey towards your dreams. To ensure that you do… Continue reading

September 20 2006 | By Leon | Tagged: distraction, Management, Productivity | 2 comments»