3 Strategies for Avoiding Distraction

Written By Annie Belott, M.Ed
 
 

Phone notifications dinging, road construction outside, your email inbox increasing by the minute, household chores piling up, the to-do list that won’t stop swirling around in your mind…

Distraction overload! 

It’s inevitable to avoid the sea of distractions that come our way during the work and school day - and if we aren't mindful, we could be at risk of losing our attention, focus + productivity at any given moment despite the best of intentions.

Those sneaky distractions have a gameplan of their own - so we need one too!

Here are 3 ways to plan ahead for distractions:

Start The Day With a Plan

    • Make a specific to-do list

      • Create your to-do list the night before or in the morning before the day begins

      • Limit the list to a manageable amount of tasks! 

      • If your to-do list starts to become too long on any given day, switch your focus to complete the top 2-3 priorities for the day

    • Plan to complete the tougher, more challenging and/or time-consuming tasks when you feel the most focused

      • This may be first thing in the morning for some people or later in the evening for others

    • Give yourself an estimate for how long the tasks on your to-do list will take so you can plan to complete them during a similar time slot in your schedule

Pinpoint Your Distractions

    • Identify the types of distractions that most commonly draw your attention away from the task at hand

      • Examples: Phone or email notifications, excess noise, wandering mind, feeling overwhelmed

    • Preemptively develop strategies to use when your common distractions pop up

      • Examples: silence notifications, noise-canceling headphones, take a break, practice mindfulness, break the task into small steps, ask for support

Create A Productive and Comfortable Workspace

    • Completing work in a well-organized and functional environment can make all the difference in combating distractions

    • Determine what factors make your workspace the most productive

      • Examples: desk organization and location, temperature of the room, lighting, ergonomic furniture

Staying on task is no small feat! Especially in today’s always-connected world, diversions and distractions are simply a click away. Therefore, being mentally tough and determined is the name of this beat distraction game!

Annie Belott, M.Ed

With over nine years of experience working in academia, including university settings, Annie has worked with various student populations including individuals with disabilities, first-generation students, and student-athletes. She focuses on strategies to improve upon time management, procrastination, test anxiety, self-testing, learning styles, etc.

From 2016 to 2020, Annie worked as a Learning Skills Specialist at Georgetown University. Here she oversaw the implementation of academic support services to all students on campus, specifically individual consultations with students seeking assistance with their study habits, tutoring for foreign languages, and study skills workshops/webinars.

Annie has worked for Life Solved since the Fall of 2017 and recently transitioned to a full-time position with the company. She continues to work with students from middle school through the collegiate level to improve upon their organizational systems, test-taking and self-testing strategies, and help students create effective study schedules to make workloads manageable.

Annie has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Salisbury University and a Master’s degree in Multicultural Special Education from the University of Texas at Austin.

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