Six Tips on How to Increase Productivity and Focus

These are some tools and techniques for organising your workspace in a way that will help you be more productive, focus, and be creative.

Here are six top tips.

Number 1. Visual Focus

The direction of your vision is related to your level of alertness: neurons in your eyes trigger calmness and sleepiness when you look down; neurons in your eyes trigger activation and alertness when you look up.

As a result, you would better have your monitor, or whatever you are looking at, at least at nose level.

Also, make sure you are always looking straight in front of your eyes.

Visual focus is a demanding task, so try to get a pause every 45 minutes or so, and look somewhere far away.

Rest your eyes. Ideally, go for a 5-to 10-minute walk outside.

Number 2. Body Positioning

Our alertness and focus also depend on our body posture.

When you are not sitting straight or you are doing some work lying down, your attention level decreases.

Instead, try to keep your body straight and, ideally, combine sitting work with standing work to improve your focus and learning. Also, don't expect to get into a focused state immediately after you sit down, but rather allow about 5 minutes to get into that state.

Number 3. The Cathedral Influence

There is an interesting effect that several studies support about the environment we're working in.

A room with a lower ceiling provides better detailed and analytical thinking, while a room with a higher one improves abstract thinking and ideas.

Therefore, if you need analytical work and the space you are in is too broad or the ceiling is too high, try to put on a hat or a hoodie to restrict the visual angle and improve your focus.

Number 4. Noise

Some of the sounds in your working environment could be distracting, such as an air conditioner or a heat generator.

In general, you should try to reduce all the noises to a minimum or put on headphones with sounds that improve your alertness and focus.

Several studies show that white noise and binaural beats may increase motivation and focus during mental work.

The optimal frequency of binaural beats for learning and memory is 40 Hz.

You could engage in the binaural beats a little before doing the work, so your brain will "warm-up".

Number 5. Interruptions.

Reducing all interruptions is crucial during your focus time, not only because you may lose your attention, but because it is much harder to get back into the flow.

It might be a good idea to turn off all of the notifications on your phone, set a social media blocker for your browser, and put your phone in a place where you can't reach it all the time.

Number 6. Movement.

 You may work long hours, but don't lose sight of the importance of movement.

Making pauses to stand or take a short walk improves your health, cognitive performance, and productivity.

The techniques we described are used by many successful workers and entrepreneurs.

 Let me know your experience in the comments section below.

I hope these tips help, and improve your productivity, focus, and creativity. in our ever-distracting world.