Each day we have responsibilities we need to complete. This includes work commitments, household maintenance, family obligations, or personal development tasks. Whatever you want to do, you need to remain focused to be productive. Yet we often fall into traps that decrease our productivity and hinder our progress working toward these goals.
We live in a world full of distractions. It often feels that the moment we face a challenge we divert our attention elsewhere. This can stop us from doing everything we need to do, and it’s certainly going to make us less efficient.
Logically, we know we shouldn’t engage in activities that make us less productive. Yet we keep doing them and allowing our productivity to suffer. In hindsight, I am able to look at my daily life and identify the things that make it hard to cross items off my to-do list. Then, my goal is to remove these distractions. To get them out of my life, I need to understand why I keep falling into these traps.
1. Scrolling Social Media
One of the biggest ways we distract ourselves is with social media. This especially holds true in modern times when many of us are working on computers and we all have smartphones in our pockets. When we get a moment of free time, we find ourselves scrolling through timelines. This can expose us to people who have more exciting lives, beautiful pictures, and a bunch of sponsored content.
That temporary break from reality can have lasting impacts on your mood and place your attention on the wrong things. Now, it’s harder to regain focus and you’re less productive.
Why Do We Keep Going on Social Media?
Social media seems like a quick distraction, but humans are social creatures and we need to feel connected. Content on social sites tries to mimic the connections we’d build in the real world, and it is a quick way to feel a sense of inclusion. Plus, the engagement online can validate our feelings and make us feel important. Positive reactions on social media can produce levels of excitement that become addictive, making you want to come back to your timeline over and over.
2. Constantly Jumping Between Tasks
Want a surefire way to feel burnt out? Keep switching between two tasks. Rather than focus on one thing at a time, we try to do multiple tasks in less time. Usually, this becomes mentally exhausting really quickly and it doesn’t even result in high quality work.
As someone who is a chronic multitasker, I understand the need to cross items off my to-do list. I also know the frustrations caused by my mistakes, and when I try to juggle multiple tasks at once I tend to find a lot of errors in my work. Still, the allure of accomplishing twice as much seems compelling.
Why Do We Keep Multitasking?
Multitasking is known to increase stress, which has been measured with an increase in the hormone cortisol. Inherently, this seems bad, but humans are also biased when it comes to new and novel experiences. When you’re trying to write an essay and your phone keeps vibrating with new texts, your brain wants to see what’s new. Then, you start to balance two tasks. When you allow your life to be infiltrated with multiple stimuli, you’re prone to jump from task to task.
3. Saying Yes to Everything
Whenever I’m really busy, I start to ask myself one question: why did I agree to do some much? My busiest days usually have a few essential tasks mixed with a bunch of nonsense that I agreed to do. Now, I have twice the stress and less free time.
The worst part, I could have just said no. Or, I could stop doing non-important tasks and explain that I am too busy. I almost never do this, and usually force myself to complete everything I agreed to do. Then, it seems I don’t learn my lesson. The next time I am asked to do something, I say yes.
Why Do We Keep Saying Yes?
The people who obsessively say “yes” to everything might have some anxieties that need to be addressed. Often, they fear they’ll disappoint others. This can come from a need to feel accepted or the fear that the relationship is contingent upon being helpful at all times. In other cases, particularly at work, the need to say “yes” can stem from a fear of looking unproductive. Saying “no” can make you look lazy, but this is only true if you’re doing nothing else. Sometimes you need to say no, and it’s best not to find out the hard way when your work suffers.
4. Skipping Breaks
It seems we live in a time that applauds workaholics and “hustle culture.” People are encouraged to keep working and maximizing their productivity during all hours. The funny thing? That doesn’t really work. It leads to more stress.
Many workers will skip their morning breaks, work through lunch, and forgo their vacations. This seems to be especially pertinent in America, but anyone can fall into the trap. It appears as if working more will allow us to get more done, but it doesn’t create an environment where people work effectively.
Why Do We Keep Skipping Breaks?
Many people fear taking time off because of their position at work. There are stigmas attached to taking breaks: other people don’t do it, bosses seem to applaud breakless work, or it will slow your career growth. To make matters worse, many offices don’t operate under the assumption that people take breaks. Despite offering vacation time, they book all 52 weeks of the year with projects. Your commitments don’t stop just because you’re not in the office. However, there are benefits to taking time off. It makes employees happier and more efficient, but they may need to advocate for themselves if they want to take the breaks the deserve.
5. Procrastinating
When given the choice between an easy, relaxing task and a difficult but stimulating task, people often choose the former. It’s easy to understand why people would want to do easier things, but you’re only making life harder when the challenging tasks are unavoidable. So, people fall into a cycle of procrastination. They have fun first and avoid responsibilities until absolutely necessary.
We’ve all procrastinated at times, but when it’s part of your routine it’s going to have serious repercussions on productivity. Not only that, it can make a challenging task more stressful once you’ve added an unnecessary time constraint to the process.
Why Do We Keep Procrastinating?
Procrastination is more than just a lack of motivation, though that comes into play. Typically, procrastinators need to improve their self-control to overcome obstacles preventing them from being productive. Such obstacles include exhaustion and an inability to think longterm. People stuck in the present moment may not be able to see the benefit of taking immediate action for a longterm result. So, the benefit of procrastinating can outweigh the benefit of getting to work. If you approach your tasks with more fears and anxiety, then they appear to be increasingly difficult. Without an ability to think longterm and address fears, procrastination will appear superior to hard work.
Stop Sabotaging Productivity
Everyone struggles at times, and we all need to be aware of the things that distract us from working effectively. This will allow us to work more productively and accomplish tasks without breaking focus. Logically, we know certain things aren’t helpful, but there are also reasons people get sucked into bad habits.
Anyone who has a lot of responsibilities knows how important your focus and motivation can be. When you catch yourself losing focus, it’s time to start identifying behaviors that are demotivating and counterproductive. Sometimes, this requires us to understand why we are engaging in certain actions. Knowing the cause of bad habits can be the path to your success.
It’s also important to remember we’re all human. Not only are distractions expected, they’re often not your own fault. Fortunately, there are ways to improve your productivity. Self-awareness and concrete goals will allow you to determine habits that detract from productivity. With this frame of mind, you will replace your bad habits with productive ones.