There’s nothing like reading the same page over and over (and over…). And we’ve often experienced 2-hour meetings where we’ve only had about 10 minutes of helpful discussion. What can we do about this? Well, we have a special tip for you!

Whether you’re studying, reading, or trying to hold a meeting, distractions can be a brutal waste of time and resources. A few months ago, I heard this tip from a colleague. He brought up a great point about eliminating distractions when you’re trying to concentrate.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

When you’re attempting to focus but for one reason or another you can’t, take note of it. On a piece of paper tick off each time you were distracted. Once you take note of it, immediately try get back on track. By stopping and acknowledging the interruption, you’re training yourself on your boundaries and, in turn, it helps you focus.

Now that you marked off your distractions once, it’s important to continue to do so. Strive to continually decrease the number of “tick” marks until you train yourself and your brain to focus on the issues at hand.

Write Down Your Thoughts

Another trick that I’ve discovered is to write down why your attention was diverted. Maybe when you were reading a document, you were reminded of a grocery shopping list or overheard someone talking about your favorite movie. It’s easy for our minds to wander, hence the importance to combat this by writing down your thoughts. Once it’s on paper, convince yourself that you will think about it later and your thoughts won’t be lost.

These tips apply to students, executives, managers, employees and just about anyone who needs to focus on a task at hand. It’s about continual improvement: seeking to do better each time around and setting records each time until you approach a level of zero distractions!

This just might be the trick you need to focus on successfully completing your project without disruptions. Eliminate distractions one tick at a time!

Can you do it?