I won't deny the fact that technology has brought a lot of benefits to the human race, but not without several challenges that can hinder our productivity if we aren't careful or disciplined enough to manage our time properly, prioritize our tasks, and maintain a healthy balance between our digital and offline lives.
Staying focused while working online has become a daunting task in this digital era, and it didn't start now. I remember during my secondary school days when we visited the cybercafe for research assignments, it was always difficult to stay focused on what I actually went for because while browsing, different stuff always popped up on the screen, and I couldn't just prevent myself from checking since I was new to using the internet.
Today, we don't have to visit the cafe, and even though we aren't new to the social space again, we still struggle with this one thing called distraction. With the constant sound of notifications, social media updates, and endless online distractions, it's a huge struggle to stay on track, therefore causing a lot of people to be unproductive these days.
However, we have seen a lot of people come up with different strategies to stay focused in a bid to be productive, and I actually admire them because sometimes the temptation to get off track is always high, and it can require more than these hacks and tips to grind out results. I have actually seen cases of people learning about these hacks but still can't keep their head in the game.
They easily get distracted, and that's because their mindset doesn't align with the effort they are putting into staying focused. I always say that it requires more than just hacks to stay productive; you must have cultivated the mindset that's focused, motivated, and resilient.
For me, my hacks are quite simple, but they've helped me stay productive with my online tasks over the years.
My first hack is turning off my phone notifications with the help of my phone's "focus mode." I have a lot of apps registered in the focus mode setting, and once it's turned on, all those apps go silent until the focus mode is turned off again.
I have these settings scheduled from 9am to 5pm daily, and throughout that time, I try to achieve everything I need to do both online and offline. I don't receive unnecessary notifications since the majority of those social apps are inactive, but when there is a need to retrieve something from any of those apps, I can schedule that particular app to be active for just 5 minutes, and it won't exceed that time.
Creating a realistic task list is another thing I do to stay focused/productive. My online tasks aren't much, plus it's not always the same every week, so I try as much as possible to list down the things I want to achieve.
This list has been very helpful because it helps me take down my tasks according to their importance at that particular time so I don't get to leave important stuff while focusing on less important things.
Finally, working in a conducive environment has been a great help to me. I find it difficult to be productive in an unorganized environment, so keeping things tidy is very important to me. Once my space is intact, it's easy for me to stay focused whether offline or online.
These hacks and a few others have helped me over the years. Although there are days when I get too tired to keep up with my online task, it's a sign that I need to take a break, which I don't hesitate to do immediately because pushing myself would only make me mentally and physically inactive in the end.
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