METHODS FOR STAYING FOCUSED AT WORK

One of the reasons The Guild is so successful as a coworking space is because it allows members to escape distractions, focus on work, and have access to everything they need to navigate the workday. 

If you’re struggling to stay focused throughout the day, here are some tried and true methods that might help you out.

The Pomodoro Technique

This popular time management method requires you to alternate pomodoros—focused work sessions—with frequent short breaks to promote sustained concentration and stave off mental fatigue. Here’s how it works: pick a task, set a 25-minute timer, remove distractions from your immediate workspace, and work on your task until the timer goes off. No matter what, when the timer goes off, take a 5-minute break.

Both perfectionists and procrastinators find this method useful. It’s easier to commit to 25 minutes of work at a time than a whole afternoon of non-stop work. Give it a try and see if it works for you!

Eat The Frog

No, we’re not actually suggesting you eat a frog. The “Eat The Frog” time management method focuses on prioritizing the jobs on your to-do list. It was developed and described by Brian Tracy in 2001, and is based on these famous words by Mark Twain: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

According to Tracy, if you start your day doing the most important and “worst” tasks (eating your frog), everything else will be easy to get done afterward. This may be a task you tend to put off because it’s difficult, intimidating, or boring. According to this technique, you should label your tasks based on their priority.
Task A: the most important task of all your jobs (your frog)
Task B: the second most important task that you should work on after completing Task A. Task B is less important than Task A, but also necessary.
Task C: other tasks that you could do, but they aren’t essential, and you wouldn’t suffer consequences if you didn’t do them.
Task D: jobs that you can delegate to someone else or eliminate.

Better start ranking your to-do list!

Flowtime Technique

This is a variation of the Pomodoro method that aims to offer more flexibility. It was developed by Dionatan Moura, a software engineer, back in 2015. In the Flowtime management strategy, you set a timer and use it as an experimental timeframe for your assignment. This could be anything between 10 to 90 minutes.

After the time runs out and you feel that you cannot focus anymore on the task, you take a break. However, if you think you can stay focused for a bit longer, you’re allowed to continue working. With this technique, the next time you approach a similar task, you’ll know whether your initial choice for the time allocation was right or not. You can then adjust it accordingly.

This method is more relaxed in terms of time allocations for work sessions and breaks. It’s important to keep a record of your start, break, and end times. If you do, you’ll learn how much work time your tasks take and whether you were interrupted or not.