May 21, 2013
Pulling an all-nighter to meet a deadline? Don't worry. Put on the coffee, take a deep breath and follow these tips to stay sharp and get the work done.
You can barely keep your eyes open, yet you need to meet that critical deadline. You had no idea it was going to take this long, be this difficult or that so many things were going to go wrong. It doesn’t matter, though, because sometimes you just need to push through. You can blame it on poor planning, ridiculous demands or both. Whatever the reason is, it’s irrelevant now because no excuse in the world is going to change things. You need to do the work now!
If you're running on no sleep, try these seven tips to stay awake, focused and on task.
Our ability to concentrate and stay on task becomes extremely diminished when we’re exhausted. Drifting around the Web and checking your email for the 100th time will keep you from getting the work done. Simply turning off email won’t work, since you will turn it back on. Disable your email and the Web altogether. The best way? Disable your wireless connection, or pull the data cable.
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Music helps ... but it needs to be instrumental or music with lyrics that you don’t know (so your mind doesn’t focus on singing). Secondly, make sure the music rocks. You want it to have lots of energy. Listening to lullabies, or music that makes you want to cry in your beer (you should not be drinking beer if you’re that exhausted), does not help at this critical time.
Napping may sound counterintuitive, but trust me, naps work. If you have kids, you know what 20 minutes of snooze time can do. It works for adults too. Yeah, you have a critical deadline ... every minute counts, right? Yet I’m telling you that you need to get some sleep, even a little bit.
It’s true. Even 25 minutes of sleep will give you more energy than a cup of coffee and loud tunes. Set the alarm to very loud and go lie down for 20 to 25 minutes. You’ll be groggy when you wake up, and you may feel the urge to suck your thumb, but start pushing forward. After a few minutes you'll be cranking away again, and even feeling pretty refreshed.
Do I need to say more? Knock back some double espressos, Mountain Dew, Red Bull or whatever it takes to keep you going for the short haul or for that last push.
Push-ups and sit-ups will wake you up. Do them hard and do them fast to get the blood pumping and your metabolism up. If you can’t do push ups and hate the idea of a sit-up, then find some stairs and go up and down them a few times. Run in place. Put your back to the wall and do squats. Whatever you do, get your heart rate up.
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Stand up.When you’re sitting, it’s easy to slump. If you can, stand while you're working. Find a counter or build up a low counter by putting a box or something on it to create a counter you can work at. If you have something you can do while walking around and talking into a tape recorder, or writing on a pad of paper, do it.
If you ask people who are drunk to say the alphabet, they will mess up every time. If you ask them to repeat one letter at a time, after you say it, they will nail it. It's the same with your work. If you have to work on a full-length report for example, break it down into very small chunks. Just think about the one sentence you need to do. When it's done, put all the focus on the next sentence.
Read more articles on productivity.
Photo: Getty Images
Maybe your dog just wouldn’t stop barking. Maybe you had one too many drinks with dinner.
Maybe your toddler had a cold and kept you up all night.
Whatever the reason may be, we all have days when we just don’t get a good night’s sleep. And when you have to go to work and function the next morning, it can be downright painful.
Sure, reaching for a cup of coffee may seem like the perfect pick-me-up, but there are better ways to get through the day.
Here are five things you can do to stay focused at work when you’re tired.
Splashing your face with cold water actually works. So, head to the office restroom, run your hands under the cold faucet, and splash some agua on your face.
Will it mess up your makeup? Maybe. But you’ll instantly feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to get back to work.
If you work from home, there are even better ways to wake yourself up with water.
Taking a quick, cold shower is a great way to refresh your brain and feel more energised. You can also fill a bucket with cold water and stand in it with your bare feet for a few seconds.
Either method will definitely wake you up!
Make sure to drink plenty of water, too. Being dehydrated will only make you more tired and make it harder to concentrate.
It’s easier to focus when you have one specific goal in mind. Before you start your workday, identify the most important thing you need to do and work only on that.
If the one thing you have to do is a massive project that requires lots of concentration, you can get through it just by breaking that big project down into a series of smaller, easier tasks.
By breaking a big task down into little parts, you’ll feel less overwhelmed and have a better chance of getting things done. When you’re sleepy and aren’t working to your full potential, it’s all about taking little baby steps.
When you need an instant energy boost, you need to get up and move.
Stand up. Stretch your body. Get out of your desk chair and walk down the hall or up and down a flight of steps.
Even small amounts of exercise will send oxygen to your brain, and that will give you the quick energy boost you need.
It’s even better if you can do a bit of walking outside. Why? Because sunlight boosts your serotonin levels, and when your serotonin levels are where they should be, it’s easier to focus.
Sitting and slumping in your office chair will do nothing to boost your mood or give you the energy you need to get through the day. If there’s a way that you can stand while you work, do it!
Standing also sharpens your attention, making it easier to focus on whatever it is you need to get done.
We often associate deep breathing techniques with meditation and relaxation. And that’s the opposite of what you want to do if you’re feeling sluggish and unfocused.
But a few deep breaths will also help you focus your mind and improve concentration.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. If you do it properly, your brain will start to focus on taking those breaths.
And when you’re done, your brain will be better able to focus on other things as well.
Eliminating distractions is key to having a productive workday, even when you’re at the top of your game and functioning at peak levels. But when you’re tired, it’s an absolute must.
Avoid checking your email every five minutes. By avoiding your inbox, you won’t be distracted by unimportant messages or waste time responding to items that don’t even require a reply. Now is not the time to waste ten minutes thinking of a clever response.
Put your phone away. If you start scrolling through Twitter or FB posts, you’ll only sink into more of a slump!
If you can, unplug entirely and avoid all digital distractions and external factors. We love our tech, but it has a way of pulling our focus away. And when you’re tired and sluggish, that’s the last thing you need.
Knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do.
There are a few things that may seem helpful in the moment but will actually derail your plans for the entire day.
Procrastination is not your friend. Do not put off important work early in the day by trying to convince yourself that you’ll get it done later in the afternoon. You won’t. Instead, tackle the important tasks early so your day eases up as the hours tick by.
Avoid sugar. It can be tempting to reach for a sugary snack or a cup of coffee to give you a quick energy boost. But sugary foods and drinks will only make you crash later.
Instead of inhaling a handful of M&Ms, grab a healthy snack, like a granola bar made with whole grains.
Work can be hard enough when you’re feeling great, but when you’re tired, it can be downright awful. The next time you’re sleepy and need to find your focus, here’s what to do:
And when the day is done and it’s time to go home, reward yourself with a solid eight hours of sleep!
Angus Flynn is the business manager for Village Greens of Queen Creek. He loves to help others and takes great pride in working in a community that so many love to call home.
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Image Credit, iStock
Anyone who has ever tried to focus on a very difficult or very boring job can attest that it can be incredibly difficult at times.
Science offers us five seemingly counterintuitive ways, which, however, should help. nine0018
The internet is full of advice on how to focus when everything around you is distracting. However, many of these tips are either too far from reality, or suggest disconnecting yourself from the office routine if possible (and then you already start to be distracted by thoughts that you may be missing something important).
How many of us, for example, enjoy working with headphones all day long? Or never look at social networks, or even turn off the Internet altogether? Or maybe it's as simple as "always treat your work as inspiring and fun"? nine0011
But perhaps most importantly, a lot of this advice has very little to do with what modern psychology already knows about the human mind.
Much of what we thought was supposed to help us focus on work actually goes against the normal workings of our brains.
So, if there is a science of concentration, then what does it offer us that are not written about on the Internet?
Switch off Can't concentrate on important work? It may sound counterintuitive, but letting your brain shut down, letting it wander aimlessly is the best thing to do.
More and more psychologists are coming to understand that we all spend a very significant part of the day just dreaming and aimlessly fantasizing - by some estimates, about 50% of the time! nine0011
What prompted a number of psychologists to think that this is mind wandering - as they say, "not a bug, but a feature", not a malfunction in the brain, but an important part of the system that helps our brain to function normally.
Image copyright, iStock
Image caption,If you still spend half your time daydreaming and fantasizing, maybe you should consciously set aside some time for this?
To understand why we lose focus, just look at how the brain works. nine0011
Concentration requires concerted action, a kind of networking of different areas of the brain, including its frontal cortex, which, among other things, is responsible for counteracting distractions and controlling our natural desire to do something more interesting.
It takes a lot of energy to keep this network functioning, much more than the group of brain regions involved in our doing nothing, fantasizing and dreaming.
Therefore, at some point in the working day, we inevitably slow down, and our mind begins to wander. nine0011
In that case, if it's unavoidable, why not set aside time for it more consciously?
Paul Seli, a psychologist at Harvard University, distinguishes between intentional and accidental brain shutdowns. According to him, only those cases when it happens by accident are harmful to the case.
People who know how to turn off their brain for those moments when its participation is not required - for example, when performing some kind of mechanical work - as a rule, they cope with tasks more successfully than those who give their brain the freedom to switch off and on. nine0011
"If the task is easy, then you can deliberately turn off the brain, let your mind go where it wants, and this will not affect the result of the work," says Seli.
In his opinion, such conscious disconnections will only help at other points in the working day when deep concentration is needed. nine0011
"Think about something irrelevant - maybe a completely different problem. And after a while return to your task," recommends the psychologist.
By allowing yourself to switch off and daydream, you not only get rid of subconscious guilt about it, but also give your brain what it needs.
Image credit: iStock
Image captionOne study recommends making workplaces more casual, fun, and relaxed
Funny cat videos are often viewed as the epitome of distraction, but some psychologists believe that cat videos help us get in the right mental state to successfully complete our day's work.
The fact is that, no matter how much we love our work, we need a special effort of will and thought in order to be concentrated on a difficult task for a long time.
According to a recent study, one of the best ways to tap into your willpower and mental abilities is to laugh heartily. nine0011
In the experiments, people who were given a funny video worked longer and harder to solve an unanswered riddle than did controls who were shown relaxing but not funny videos.
The researchers concluded that humor replenishes our reserves so effectively that it is recommended to create a more relaxed, fun atmosphere in the workplace.
"A fun team environment improves productivity," says David Chen, a leadership researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra.
"Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone has to watch cat videos all day long. However, it's very useful to take a break from time to time. Especially when you're tired."
To properly concentrate on your work, you need to get rid of all external distractions, right? In fact, according to one influential theory of attention, just the opposite is true.
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Nilli Lavy, a psychologist at University College London, proposed this theory, which she called the 'Load Theory' in 1955.
The idea was that there is a limit to how much information from the outside world our brains can digest at any given time.
And when all the processing capacities are full, the attention system of the brain itself begins to choose what to focus on.
Image copyright, iStock
Image caption,Is your desk so cluttered that it's hard for you to figure out what's where? Nilli Lavy's experiments show you're about to do something big
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Levy's experiments have shown that we seem to work more efficiently not at empty, clean desks and in complete silence, but in disorder and chaos.
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This is because when all the cells of perception are filled, the brain focuses all energy on the most important task. Everything else is just cut off.
The problem with putting this idea into practice is to provide the right amount of distractions and not over-load.
There are already dedicated mobile apps (eg ommwriter or focus@will) that can add visual or musical distractions at your request, but none of these have yet been scientifically tested. Perhaps they are no more useful than simply turning on the radio. nine0011
The main thing here is to give your brain enough exercise so that it doesn't have the opportunity and desire to look elsewhere for stimuli.
For most of us, it will all come down to trial and error, but since this method is very tedious, we advise you to use it with caution - only when all the others have failed.
When you need to do something urgently, taking a break is the last thing on your mind.
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However, there is plenty of evidence that taking a break can help you achieve more. The main thing is to decide when exactly to take it, for how much and what to do at that time.
According to a number of studies done in the 1990s, our natural lucidity cycle works so that we can fully concentrate for a period of no more than 90 minutes, and then we need a 15-minute break.
Other research has found that even a minimal break of a few seconds can work - but only if it provides a complete distraction from the current task. nine0011
In experiments, people were asked to perform arithmetic operations for several seconds - that is, to occupy their minds with something much more intense than simply looking out the window.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption, For those who can get away from the computer keyboard, running in the middle of the day is a very good option. A cup of coffee will be a good addition to it before you get back to work.
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Going for a run or just a walk in nature will certainly help your brain cope better with tasks that require a high degree of concentration.
Another option is meditation. There is ample evidence that those who have learned to meditate have better control of their attention and more accurately feel when it is time to take a break.
If all of the above seems too time-consuming for you, here's the good news: with or without exercise, a cup of strong coffee improves memory, reaction time and attentiveness - albeit for a fairly short time.
So whatever your break, don't forget to pour yourself a coffee when you get back to work.
Image copyright iStock
Image captionIs exercise not your thing? A dose of caffeine will provide a short-term period of concentration
And don't stress too much When you need to stay focused for long periods of time, take frequent breaks, according to a study by Joe Degutis and Mike Esterman of the Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory (Massachusetts, USA).
Through a series of experiments, they found that the most successful strategy for staying focused is to work a little and then take a short break. Those who tried to stay focused all the time ended up making more mistakes. nine0011
Christian Olivers of the Free University of Amsterdam came to a similar conclusion in his study: people's attention span does not dry up a little longer if you ask them to occasionally distract themselves and think about something else instead of constant, uninterrupted concentration on business.
And this is probably the most important conclusion of all studies of the human ability to concentrate. The more we learn about how the brain works, the clearer it becomes for us: stress is the enemy of concentration.
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So try to find time for those exercises or little tricks that will help you feel calmer and more confident in yourself. And everything will work out for you.
Read the original of this article in English is fashionable on the website BBC Capital.
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There are days when you push yourself to the limit, doing one task after another. But there are other days when you find it difficult to concentrate on work, you are constantly distracted by something or you are distracted by all sorts of nonsense, the noise in the office does not allow you to collect your thoughts together.
What to do in such situations and how to learn how to quickly get involved in the workflow? Save yourself 15 useful tips on how to quickly concentrate on work. nine0011
