How to Kill Your Distractions

You know the feeling. You’ve prepped yourself to buckle down and start crossing things off your to-do list. It’s a mile long, and it just keeps growing. You’re finally in the right mindset, and you’re ready to fly. You’re entirely geared up to knock out your list, and you’re 100% prepared for that feeling of relief and satisfaction you’ll have at the end of a full productive day.

Then the phone buzzes — it’s a text message—your laptop dings with a new e-mail. Your phone lights up with a new Slack message. An employee walks into your office with an important question. Your phone rings – it’s a non-work-related call. It would help if you had a cup of coffee. You have to use the bathroom. You’re starting to get hungry. Before you know it, the whole morning is blown, and you don’t have anything to show for it.

Unfortunately, distractions are one of the leading killers of productivity. You have things coming at you, and many of them are keeping you from focusing on what truly matters. While you’re busy with these distractions, you’re not accomplishing anything. So how can you eliminate these distractions and get to the most important stuff?

Here are 5 tips to get rid of the distractions and get back on track.

Tip #1: Make Plans the Night Before 

 

Making plans the day before can be a beneficial trick to help you stay focused on the following day. You don’t have to plan out every decision but make choices about simple things that might be distractions during the day. For example: 

 

● What you’ll wear for the day 

● What lunch you’ll eat 

● The way you’ll get to work.

 

When you’re tired in the morning, these decisions will probably be harder to make and can easily occupy your thought processes. You can also set a rough schedule for yourself. For example, you may decide that you won’t check your e-mail or answer text messages until you’ve completed two essential tasks. From 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., you’ll focus solely on a specific project. 

Tip #2: Cut Out Social Media

 

It’s now estimated that people are spending 2 hours and 22 minutes a day on social media. That’s a great start if you’re trying to reach customers, but a terrible one for productivity. Yes, social media can be a necessary resource for marketing and sales, but:

 

● Constantly checking your personal notifications 

● Taking the time to respond to various rants 

● Endlessly scrolling through pictures on Instagram 

 

Isn’t going to help your business. Social media is a black hole and a significant time suck. Notifications, and social media in general, can be incredibly addictive. 

 

Here are some strategies to help you manage your social media time: 

 

● Set a schedule for when you’ll go on social media – for example, between 10 – 11 a.m. and 4 – 5 p.m. 

● Use built-in tools like “iOS Screen Time” and “Android Digital Wellbeing” to monitor or restrict social media use on your phone. 

● Turn off all non-business-related notifications, so you’re not feeling the constant pull of “dings” distracting you. 

 

Use your business social media accounts to engage with real customers, tweet about your newest products and most beautiful pictures. After that, put your phone away and focus on your other tasks. 

 

Tip #3: Create Boundaries 

 

On any given workday, you’ll have to field essential calls. There may be some lines of communication that are necessary to your workday, but there are others that can be set aside. Give yourself periods during your day when you don’t check your phone, e-mails, or Slack messages. Some entrepreneurs choose the early morning to return e-mails and engage with customers on social media. Others choose to focus on their list of tasks before creating new jobs introduced by outside messages. Choose the rhythm that works best for you but ensure that you stick to it. It’s vitally important to set times of the day when you’re not in constant contact with outside interruptions. 

 

If possible, it’s also a good plan to leave at least one day a week when you’re not scheduled for a meeting. This can give you a free day to complete tasks and stay productive. 

Tip #4: Create a Productive Space 

 

If you’re working at home or in an office, it’s crucial to create a space where you can feel productive. Productivity produces productivity. In other words, if you were effective in a particular room, your brain will want to be productive there again. You’ll find and associate that place with the good feeling that you had the last time you were able to crush it at work. 

 

Likewise, if you have a specific space that you associate with entertainment — perhaps the living room where the TV is — you’ll want to do those fun things when you’re there. Keep your fun places, and your workplaces separate and make your workspace conducive for work. If you want your workplace to promote work, keep it tidy. A cluttered or messy space will distract you. Even if you don’t feel like you have to clean it up, the disorganization will keep you from getting to your tasks. Keep your workplace simple and easy to maintain, and ensure that it has a door so you can shut out distractions when necessary. 

Tip #5: It Can’t All Be Work 

 

While there are a few successful individuals who are truly all work and no play, most human beings aren’t geared that way. We’re not meant to be. Psychiatrist Stuart Brown, the founder of the National Play Institute, understands the importance of taking time to play. In his book Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, he writes, “The truth is that play seems to be one of the most advanced methods nature has invented to allow a complex brain to create itself.” 

 

Play opens up a person for creativity and relieves us of our heavy workloads. Some workplaces like Google even have built-in areas at work for play. These spaces are meant to foster creativity and reduce stress in the workplace. Dr. Brown also explains in his book: “…there is a kind of magic in play. What might seem like a frivolous or even childish pursuit is ultimately beneficial. paradoxically, a little bit of “nonproductive” activity can make one enormously more productive and invigorated in other aspects of life.” 

golf

1. Make work enjoyable. Find ways to make the things you do at work pleasurable and exciting as opposed to drudgery work.

2. Plan to have breaks during the day. Walk around the building, eat a good lunch, or take a coffee break.

● It may seem like these things are distractions on their own, but when coupled with more intense work sessions, they are simply something to work forward to.

3. Choose a quitting time. Choose a part of the day to set aside work and be finished. It’s imperative to have time set aside in the day to give attention to friends and family.

● It’s also essential to enjoy relaxation, play, and leisure. This gives you time to bounce back from the workday and start fresh the next day.

4. Take a vacation—plan for certain times of the year to be non-work times. Enjoy your relationships with others and find ways to have fun. Set aside the phones, e-mails, and messages and focus on the other things in life that matter to you. You may never be able to cut out all distractions, but limiting them can significantly enhance your chances of success. Reduce social media, limit communication, and make time for play, and you’ll soon see that your productive periods are a lot more successful.

Disability… the Fall of an Income

Disability… the Fall of an Income and Why I became a LapTop Rebel

There are many reasons why I decided to become a LapTop Rebel. The first reason I started was to pursue and add on to my current Profession, and in that, a secondary income, as well as retirement from the physical aspects of Massage.

I had been searching the internet for about three years trying to find exactly how to do this and make a passive income. Let’s face it, after 25 plus years in massage therapy, my body is worn out. I still love it, however, some days my body does protest. I want to continue with Massage, just from a different perspective business wise.

The Unthinkable

Then the unthinkable happened, after battling rheumatoid arthritis for many years my spouse ended up on permanent disability. Thus, the fall of an income.

We consider ourselves lucky. My husband’s employer had a Premium Health Care Package. Without going into many of the ins and outs, I will tell you that we lost a full income. For the last 2 years, I have also had to take time off from my regular practice, and this made the losses even larger.

As fortunate as we have been, we still lost over $50,000.00 per year. While he receives 50% of his regular income, we have also had to increase our expenses as he no longer has employer benefits for prescriptions. Why are we lucky? He had Disability Insurance. If not for this, we would be totally hooped financially.

We did have disability insurance on our mortgage, unfortunately, this insurance, in most cases, is only accessible for 24 months, after that your mortgage payments start back up.

Disability Benefits Canada

Because we’re Canadian most of my research here is based on a Canadian perspective, however, I have also researched the USA.

So let’s have a laugh together. In Canada, one can claim EI disability benefits for up to 15 weeks with a maximum cap of $1800 per month. ( If you become unemployed due to layoff, you can collect for 12 months). I find this a bit insane. You’ve paid into EI for years, have never claimed, become disabled, and can only receive 15 weeks of benefits! (Sorry, I occasionally will have side rants)…

If you qualify for Canada Social Insurance disability benefits, the maximum per month is approximately $1,200.00! (Side Rant, yet again… you pay into something for years, and will never be able to access your full paid in amount! Unless you live to be 85+)!

Remember that the Premium Health Care Package I was talking about? It’s about 50% of his former income. If we were to claim his Social Insurance Disability as well, the disability insurance will deduct this from his disability payment.

Currently, I am unfamiliar with USA employer benefits packages and disability however I don’t think it’s much different from Canada. In my research as far as the Government Social Security Benefits go, it’s pretty much on par.

In the US, social security insurance benefits the Federal benefit rate is $771 for an individual and $1,157 for a couple. Not much different from Canada really.

That explains my title. The fall of an income. It can happen in a heartbeat, without warning. (Bleak of me, I know)…

Okay now that you’ve heard my sob story, this brings me to the point of disability and making money online.

Disability and Making Money Online

Yes, you can. You can make money online, even with a Disability! Finding the tools is the hardest part, and if they are FREE… even better!

Having an extra source of income can be a life saver in this case. The amount of income that is lost after becoming disabled, can be frightening! I will tell you that becoming a LapTop Rebel will give you an advantage to recovering some (if not all), of that income.

I’m going to give you a head start on this, and add to the list, as time goes by. These tools are the base that anyone with disabilities will need, and if you don’t have a disability, you may find them handy as well!

Free Tools

Right now, I am using voice text in Google Docs which is a free app. I will have to do some editing but it’s quite easy to use. Whether disabled or not, this app allows for easier writing. as with any voice to a text, there will be some editing needed, but it is the best free version available. (If you need a paid version, I recommend Dragon Naturally).

I am also using the free version of Grammarly… I will be upgrading this feature. The free version is fantastic but as I move forward I have decided to ramp it up! So why haven’t I upgraded yet you may ask? See my response below!

Hemingway editor. Currently, I am not using this one, but I do want to give it a try before I upgrade Grammarly. After hearing many great reviews about this application, I believe that I should give it a try before making my decision.

That’s 3 free apps, so far that can aid anyone, but specifically those with disabilities, in the LapTop Rebel life. Other free tools would, obviously include, the free training that I’ve mentioned in my You, Me, and Affilaite Marketing post.

Other essential free apps for everyone wanting a Laptop Rebel Life, include the following:

Google offers Google Webmaster and Google Analytics. These are essential tools for online presence. Free to use, these will give you Google rank, Insight performance insights. Helping with keywords, website position, and potential improvements to increase your traffic.

Along with Google, we can’t forget about Bing. Bing Webmaster Tools will give your site more coverage thus increasing traffic. As with Google you can rank keywords, traffic and see where improvements are needed.

Working Hard

You’ve worked hard before, you can do it again! A LapTop Rebel is hard work, but it can be easier than you think!

Check it Out!

Have an AWESOME DAY!

Shaunna