One thing that I have been struggling with since all the way back in primary school was the ability to focus on the tasks that I had to complete. Whenever I was stuck with a big homework assignment that I really dreaded, I just found myself taking frequent toilet breaks, food breaks ransacking the fridge for snacks, exercise breaks and every other break conceivable that I just didn’t seem to take when I was busy playing with my toys.

Even back then, when I was still a little boy who was made to memorize list after list of Chinese characters, my Dad always told me that it was important to learn how to sit down of focus. I didn’t understand why back then, but now that I am swamped with a thousand tasks to complete, I finally know why.

But things have not become easier. It’s way far from that.

With the widespread proliferation of the internet and the personal computer, wasting time while pretending to do your work has become easier and more common than ever! Instead of being forced to deal with non-interactive (slightly more boring) books and paper, working now very frequently entails dealing with a computer as well as the occasional browsing the web for information or research. Sadly we all know that the majority of that ‘research’ usually ends up being ‘research’ concerning the latest fashion trends, celebrity gossip or funny YouTube video!

The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions, courtesy of www.informationisbeautiful.net.

How are we to be productive when we so often are forced to work with our number one partner in crime, our beloved entertainment box, the computer? Let’s find out how.

Do you even have to use your computer?

Very often, we end up switching on our computers even when performing a task that does not even involve computer usage to begin with, for instance, revising your exam notes. But we do anyway because we’ve just gotten so used to and attached to the distractions of the computer, leading to a whole lot of wasted time taking breaks to blog, tweet and fool around with Facebook.

So before you sit down and begin any task, ask yourself this question – do you even need to use your computer in the first place? If you don’t, or only need it for a later task, then don’t switch on your computer. Keep full focus on the non-computer tasks first.

You can do without the internet, right?

Even if we have to use the computer, we don’t always need to connect to the internet to do quite a bit of our work. We can write a report, a speech, design graphics and do many other things perfectly well without needing to connect to the internet. Connecting to the internet would only mean that you will be bombarded with MSN and Facebook status updates, which would all seem so much more exciting as compared to the work that you have to complete.

So just manually disconnect yourself from the internet, from your messenger service, when you need to focus on your work.

Set clear goals.

Before starting any studying session, setting clear goals and desired outcomes for the session is vital. I have found myself very often sitting down ‘working’ and finding myself half an hour later reading some random article on a humour website, not remembering my reasons for sitting down at the computer to begin with!

So set clear goals that remind you what you are at the computer to do and how you will go about achieving it to help you not get distracted. Once you are totally clear about your goals that you want to achieve for that particular session all other distracting peripheral tasks will more clearly seem less important, and hopefully you would engage in them less.

Use physical reminders.

Having a clear goal is not enough, as even the clearest and most well written of goals can be forgotten. That’s where a clear physical reminder comes in. Once you have decided on your goals and action plans for that particular session, write them down and paste them somewhere that you can frequently see so as to remind yourself of your commitment to those goals. A Post-it note with your work goals would work wonderfully for this purpose.

It really doesn’t matter what kinds of notes or reminders you use as long as they are effective in reminding you to stay focused on your work.

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I’ve got a speech to write, a test to study for and a project report to compile by today so I really need to be focused and efficient right now. Time to put all the tips I wrote about to good use!

Please feel free to share any other computer productivity tips that you find useful in the comment box down below!