How To Steadily Engage With Technology In Your Workplace

With the snowy forecast slowing you down (or filling you with winter excitement!) we know it can be difficult to stay focused and keep your work performance going steadily. You might find yourself frequently refreshing weather apps, or friends’ social media feeds to see pictures of wintery landscapes. It’s understandable. But, unfortunately, it’s not a great way to show off your workplace strengths to your employers. Just as making a good first impression is an integral step towards professional success, the impressions that you make amidst endings are also important–and while we’re anticipating you remaining in your current position as the calendar year comes to a close, that deadline can still create a framework of intense scrutiny within your workplace. Which is why we’re turning to the pros below to help you remain calm, focused, and steady within any professional environment. 

This tip from the pros at Healthline is a surefire way to help keep your head steadily clear of distractions while you’re working:  “Put a lock on social media. If your idea of a break from work is checking Facebook or Instagram every 5 minutes, you may want to consider an app that blocks social media. There are several apps that work for your phone, tablet, or computer. In addition to social media, some of these distraction-busting programs also allow you to block online games, as well as apps and sites like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Twitter, text messages, and even emails. Some of the most popular social media blockers include Freedom, AppBlock, FocusMe, and Focus.” We love the way this method offers up concrete suggestions for methods to actively prevent yourself from getting distracted. If you’re looking for a more low tech solution, you can also put your phone within a drawer at your desk–after all, out of sight is out of mind. Especially in this day and age, it can be a real struggle to disconnect. Instead of viewing this task as a challenge, think of it as allowing yourself to take a break, disconnect, unplug, and rest your brain. The extra mental bandwidth you’ll free up will allow you to more steadily produce a stream of excellent work, which will definitely score you points amongst your workplace community.

We also love this tip from Ilya Pozin at Forbes:“Create a system. You’ve probably developed a few productivity-ruining habits over the years. Manage your distracting ways by creating a system. For those of you who check your emails compulsively, plan a morning, afternoon, and evening time slot to manage your inbox. Otherwise, you’ll get distracted from accomplishing more important goals throughout the day.” This suggestion pairs well with our first trick–make sure you’re being mindful when it comes to engaging with technology within your professional setting. It’ll be especially helpful to actually write out your system, creating a to do list to take you from start to finish of each and every work day. The added bonus of doing so is that you’ll be able to take stock of all that you accomplish within a work day! Let the sense of success from that further fuel you, contributing to your focus no matter the time of year.

Especially as 2021 approaches, we know it’s tempting to keep your eyes glued to your newsfeed. It’s okay to not be on top of every breaking event at the exact moment that occurs. In fact, trying to do that would take up all the time and energy that you should be putting into your work day! As much as we support staying up-to-date with current events, we’re even bigger fans of making sure your unique workplace strengths are able to shine–and demonstrating your ability to maintain your focus amidst any technological distractions is a leadership quality that will be appreciated amidst any workplace environment. So, stay warm, and join us again tomorrow as we finish out the week by featuring even more ways to keep going steadily in our Feel Good Friday: Steady edition!

Image retrieved from Pixabay under the public domain.

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