#examples of distractions

[teamtrackmaster]

How to Avoid Distractions: 7 Tips for Staying Focused at Work

Ever feel like you sit down at your desk with a to-do list a mile long, only to find yourself sucked into a social media vortex two hours later? Yeah, us too. Between the constant barrage of notifications, chatty colleagues, and the enchantress song of that unfinished online shopping cart, staying focused at work can feel like an Olympic-level feat.

But fear not, fellow warriors against procrastination! In this guide, we'll unveil seven battle-tested tips to avoid distractions and transform you into a laser-focused productivity machine. So, silence those dings and pings, grab a coffee, and conquer your workday with newfound clarity and efficiency.

1. Identify Common Distractions

The first step in learning how to dismiss distractions is to identify what commonly diverts your attention. Examples of distractions at work include:

Social Media: Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can easily consume large chunks of your time.

Email Notifications: Constant alerts for new emails can break your concentration.

Chatty Colleagues: Friendly conversations can quickly derail your workflow.

Multitasking: Attempting to juggle multiple tasks at once often reduces efficiency.

Office Noise: Background chatter and office equipment noise can be highly distracting.

By recognizing these common pitfalls, you can take proactive steps to mitigate their impact.

2. Use Workforce Management Software

Implementing workforce management software can significantly enhance your ability to avoid distractions. These tools designed to streamline processes, manage time effectively, and ensure employees stay on task. Some benefits include:

Task Prioritization: Helps in setting clear priorities and deadlines.

Time Tracking: Monitors how time is spent on various tasks, identifying potential distractions.

Automation: Reduces manual tasks, freeing up more time for focused work.

By leveraging workforce management software, you can create a more structured and distraction-free work environment.

3. Set Clear Goals and Priorities

Setting clear, achievable goals is essential in learning how to avoid distractions at work. Sort your jobs according to significance and deadlines, then divide them into smaller, more manageable chunks. Using the SMART criteria (Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) can help define these goals.

4. Create a Distraction-Free Workspace

Your physical environment plays a significant role in your ability to stay focused. Here are some pointers to set up a workstation free from distractions:

Organize Your Desk: Keep only the necessities on your desk to prevent clutter.

Noise-Canceling Headphones: Use these to block out office noise.

Comfortable Seating: To avoid physical discomfort, make sure your workstation and chair are set up ergonomically.

By optimizing your workspace, you can minimize distractions and improve concentration.

5. Leverage Employee Engagement Software

Employee engagement software can play a crucial role in maintaining focus and avoiding distractions. These platforms facilitate communication, and collaboration, and provide tools to keep employees motivated. Key features include:

Performance Feedback: Regular feedback helps in staying aligned with goals.

Recognition Programs: Encourages continuous improvement and focus.

Communication Tools: Streamlines communication, reducing the need for disruptive meetings.

Using employee engagement software, you can foster a work environment that encourages focus and productivity.

6. Implement Time Management Techniques

Effective time management is critical in avoiding distractions. Techniques such as the Pomodoro Technique, where you work for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break, can help maintain high levels of focus. Other methods include:

Time Blocking: Set aside particular periods for various tasks.

Eisenhower Matrix: Set work priorities according to their significance and urgency.

To-Do Lists: Keep track of daily tasks to ensure everything is noticed.

By incorporating these time management strategies, you can enhance your ability to stay focused.

7. Take Regular Breaks

While it might seem counterintuitive, taking regular breaks is essential for maintaining focus. Taking little pauses can help you mentally recharge and avoid burnout. Use this time to:

Stretch or Walk: Physical activity can boost your energy levels.

Hydrate: Drinking water can keep you alert.

Mindfulness Practices: Activities like meditation can improve concentration.

By allowing yourself to step away from work periodically, you can return with renewed focus and productivity.

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Conclusion

Learning to avoid distractions at work is a continuous process that requires intentional effort and the right tools. By identifying common distractions, leveraging workforce management and employee engagement software, setting clear goals, creating a distraction-free workspace, implementing time management techniques, and taking regular breaks, you can significantly enhance your productivity and maintain a high level of focus.

[sysig]

Rainbows (Patreon)

[traceyc-uk]

i like your draw Side Quests moment and another character， and your the new fifth year ，so~ cute!

I don’t know what could give that idea…

Spot Removal

Thank you! it’s because of them that’s inspired me to draw again and come up with all these silly scenes 😅 I appreciate your message ♥️

[jojaxcola]

do the sdv characters have canonical eye colors or do you just make them up?? i feel like you can kiiiinda see blue in abigail's eyes if you squint but that might just be the whites. i haven't looked that closely tho. love your art and i'm super obsessed with the jojamart series. excited to see my wife abigail if/when you ever draw her lol <3

Eye color in stardew is a bit wild because there are a lot of inconsistencies between the portraits and the sprites. Personally I just kinda go with my heart. Like with Sam who has blue eyes in his portrait and green eyes in his sprite, i split the difference and give him sorta teal eyes (it’s also why i draw him with an orange shirt, it’s yellow in the portrait and red in the sprite)

I agree with you on Abigail’s eyes being blue (i think i drew them purple before, but i looked at her portrait again recently and I think you’re right). And I’m actually working on an Abigail at the moment!! And an Emily, and a Haley, and a Leah, and a Maru, and a Penny ;)

[lil-vibes]

Lambert's sister, Marie and some sheep culture stuff for my verse :3

also me when doomed siblings again :((((((((

[blanketforcas]

5 times they almost touched or kissed each other and one time jensen wasn't allowed

[xxplastic-cubexx]

i finished reading krakoa era and comic cherik are amazing SO i wanted to ask do you have any favorite issues/series i still don't really remember how to call it where cherik are also cool?? some iconis comic moments with them maybe??

im FARRR from finishing all of krakoa (ive probably barely even made a dent in this series), though i do think following the HoX + PoX issues themselves are great if we're talkin cherik-focused issues/books. i already said one of my fave aspects of cherik is their moments working together, so having a whole Omnibus dedicated to them Working Together and trusting each other (bonus points for Protective Erik with the Something Sinister bit) is already guaranteeing a sure spot in my Faves collection

one of my fave cool moments i've read so far- which is a moment i wager a lot of people can agree is Sick As Hell Visually if i may be so daring- is ABSOLUTELY this sequence from Inferno #4

any time erik and charles get to do some bamf shit together it is IMMEDIATELY peak to me this cannot be disputed and i'd be lying if i didn't say i bought this run solely for this moment here (ignore the fact they fumble this fight horribly that dont matter they looked cool as hell for five seconds !!!!!!!!!!!)

i can't wait to read more and find even more moments i love and want to tape to my eyelids <3 !!

[damiel-of-real]

i started having undertale thoughts a couple of days ago but i didnt know how to verbalise them so i just collected some screenshots and stared at them a lot

can anyone understand me

[silently-standingstill]

This isn’t an art request but I just saw your AMV and I loved it a lot! If you can, could you walk through the process whereby you color the animation? Do you have set color palettes and add overlays to create lighting or do you manually pick the colors via color theory? I want to know /nf

Hello!! I appreciate your interest :D I put a lot of thought into the colors so this may be a long one! It'll include other animation info too

Any color I use is never reused for any section, I pick them all manually and for a purpose, it's important to have something different for each section as it adds more meaning and so things don't get boring. I occasionally use overlays, only one section uses it though. I'll go over a bunch of parts where color was important.

I struggled with the colors here, it based it off of an old drawing (on the right), and I realized I couldn't make my old coloring style work again, especially with how I was going about it, nothing played off of each other and felt very icky? I opted for more natural colors, creates a better sense of what I was originally going for, this part isn't very significant but it was interesting to find out what works and doesn't, you can learn a lot from redrawing old works.

This was another part I struggled on, I purposely made One look wonky because I liked the sketch more than anything I could come up with. They really look stupid, don't they? I redrew it a bunch of times to incorporate the orange, but I did not want to base it off of the scene where One was counting down, that had a purpose for it, this did not. It was following the previous parts color, which has an overcast of orange, but I couldn't find a way for this to work without feeling unsatisfying. I opted for using a trio of blue+green+red, it could be seen as 123 but that wasn't intentional.. it was the only colors I thought could work with the lighting of One's TV, but hooray for unintentionality! It makes this part connected with the lore!

This part I put a lot of thought into! Something I found interesting about One's lounge is how it uses red+yellow+blue, the three primary colors, in design those colors are used to invoke a sense of familiarity and safety, and if you pay attention, these colors are used everywhere. this could or could not be intentional in the actual show, I do not believe they are, but I used this to my advantage as when One's walking past the figurines, the yellows increases, but when they figurines fall, the yellow fades into white to show while One tries to come across as trustworthy, their façade can be quickly broken. I put together a lot of notes for this part and drew a sketch for it too LOL

"The lights that shine" section's color were meant to be like this from the start, this was the first section I animated, they have a big contrast and yellow limbs, I only put that because I thought it looked cool, but the colors carried over to the other part where they look like this, and ended up using this palette to symbolize who was kidnapped by One. I had trouble deciding how the beams(?) that were coming out of the moon should look like though, this was what I was originally going to do. The placement of each contestant is important too, more to the front, the more they may be impacted by One. I wasn't sure between Gaty or Leafy to put in this section, since we don't know if either of them will/had contact with her, it was difficult to decide. I put Leafy instead because I didn't want to animate Gaty.

The chair for Gaty! No one mentioned this detail and I was a little sad about that - each time One's lounge is shown, there is a different chair for each contestant, if One took Gaty, it'd leave a bitter feeling if she used a similar chair to her and Two's hangout couch.. their hangout couch is already split in half, it's possible One could take half of it. The colors were based off of how the person who designed One's lounge uses colors, I used some of her personal artwork as reference, and also how the chairs shown in the lounge were designed, and each design has something to do with the characters, One's is big, to show importance and uses the primary colors, Fanny's is small and dark with shadows taking up most of it, Basketball's is big, modern and green to reflect her mechanic room, Gaty in TPOT is (unfortunately) mostly associate with Two and this couch, and is similar to a therapist's patients couch, it would fit her role and characterization in TPOT if I am right about this

This was the only section to use overlay, layer 6 and 5 were the only ones to be changing as stated in the notes, there's a lot of light changes in this sequence, and if you notice closely there's a red, a shadow casting from characters outside of ones shadow, and there's a bigger contrast between the lighting and shadows. The "lights that shine" section you'd think uses that, but everything was done manually, even the transitions colors

These are some storyboards for this, the handwriting is probably poor I apologize about that, I created this during school and I don't write neat/properly if I don't plan to show anyone it LOL

[bunabi]

I cant be excited for Summer Games Fest when so many of the people responsible for these upcoming releases have been going through consistent and sudden closures & layoffs idk

[seleneprince]

When the Vanserra-Archeron twins find out that Nyx is courting their beloved friend, Zinnia (Tamlin's daughter), they're not amused at all. Specially Sylvie.

She doesn't care about her cousin, has a borderline hostile dynamic with him, but for the most part he's just "that guy from Night Court she happens to share blood with". Neth is on better terms with him and she doesn't mind spending time with him, but they're not close enough to see him as family. She considers him more a long-distance friend.

Meanwhile, they adore Zinnia. They grew up with her. She's their godfather's daughter, their beloved Uncle Tamlin. They spent their childhoods jumping from Spring to Autumn frecuently just to see each other. They love like her a sister. Their families are on the same circle. In their eyes, Zinnia has always been this sweet girl they must protect and who only deserves the best.

Which it's not Nyx Archeron. Or any other brute from the Night Court. They're sure of it.

It's not just them. Literally, no one in their circle approves of this possible union, except Elain (because she knows things). Both Eris and Nesta are amused by the whole mess but he doesn't think they fit together and she doesn't want her to be at the Night Court . Lucien doesn't like it at all and neither do his and Elain's kids. And let's not get started on poor Tamlin, having to see his exes' spawn court his precious daughter so insistently.

Back at the Night Court, it's more or less the same situation. Rhysand is the only person that openly supports his son on this and even gives him advice on how to woo the girl (which is awful advice because he only tells him to do the same things he did with feyre, ignoring that not everyone enjoys those as much as she did). Feyre doesn't understand why he's so enthusiastic about becoming family with Tamlin. The rest of the IC know where Rhysand is coming from and don't dare tell Feyre the truth...

[vimbry-moved]

jumping off the back of the post about genres of song lyrics, another thing about tmbg's lyrics in particular is that even when they write about pleasant themes, they still manage to frequently do so through a sinister lens:

the experience of having children and looking after them:

a nice little nightlight protecting a child muses on the shortcomings it would have outside its assigned responsibility:

fantasising about getting high in the park with your crush:

[icewindandboringhorror]

I've referenced before how I have a big google document to keep track of every media I've ever seen in my entire life (just for reference because I like to track everything possible lol… I am the Data Collector), but recently as I was updating it, I thought of actually evaluating them to find out random percentages (like for example, out of Total Shows Watched, what percentage did I finish vs. stop watching, what percentage did I like or dislike, etc.)...

Evaluating these things is made easier by the fact that I already place everything on each subsection of the list into 6 broad ranking categories, so I don't have to go back and guess to figure out how I feel about them or anything. The categories are: Ranking 5 - overall best* (despite some criticisms of course because I'm too much of an Analyzer to ever find anything Perfect lol) Ranking 4 - more positive than neutral, but not good enough to be 5 Ranking 3 - either the good + bad negate each other, OR it's just not memorable/interesting in any way enough to be ranked higher or lower (this is the Default category ALL things are placed in if no other rank applies) Ranking 2 - maybe a few redeemable elements but largely more negatives than positives Ranking 1 - So bad that it circles around to being fascinating to observe in some way (not necessarily Funny, or Good, but just interesting somehow) Ranking 0 - Bad in a genuinely frustrating or obnoxious manner

*("best" primarily defined here as most interesting, rather than most good in a technical sense, or some other measure. I tend to value more highly whether there's something novel or thoughtful about the worldbuilding, tone, writing, base premise, etc - than about whether it's actually executed perfectly.)

And here's the amount of shows that have so far been placed into each category -

TV shows ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 20 shows ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 28 shows ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 114 shows ~ Rank 2 (mid low) -33 shows ~ Rank 1 (low low but intriguingly so) - 14 shows ~ Rank 0 (iredeemably low) - 2 shows

This would make for a total of 211 TV shows overall. However, there are 57 shows within these list marked as "didn't finish" (typically meaning I quit on the very first or second episode - but log them still to keep a record that I at least had a brief view of them).

So my total of genuinely fully watched shows would be more 154. 211 Total, but a More Accurate Total of 154.

Counting them all and using the Total Number Of The List (211) -- that means roughly 9.5% of all total shows I have ever watched (or at least attempted to watch) have been Mostly Good, 13% have been Moderately Okay, 54% have been either entirely Forgettable or some mix of good + bad that lands them right in the Neutral Middle, 15.6% have been Mostly Bad, 6.6% have been Bad (but in an interesting way), and 0.9% have been Terribly Bad.

Additionally, I didn't even get past the first two episodes of about 27% of the total.

Sooo, discounting ones I didn't finish, my total TV shows ever watched in my life would be about 154 (maybe give or take a few, assuming I might have forgotten some from very long ago).

But instead of entire life, let's just say this is the total for 'About 20 Years' (so, not counting very early childhood when I likely wouldn't remember things I saw/have no detailed recollection of them (like for example, I'm sure at some point when I was like 4yrs old I must have seen an episode of Spongebob or something, but I have zero distinct memories of it, can't quote anything of it, and barely recall the premise - so I don't count it on the list, etc.)).

In that case, 154 divided by 20 would be roughly 7.7 shows a year.

Which is actually surprisingly low considering that I often have stuff on in the background for hours whilst I make sculptures and do costumes and stuff (maybe I should have also marked some distinction between 'things I fully paid attention to' and 'things I kind of half listened to whilst sculpting', but that would further split the categories too much probably lol), but I guess a lot of that is youtube videos or random documentaries, so .. eh.. maybe I get it being lower.

Now, doing the same thing for movies-

Movies ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 4 movies (3.4% of total) ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 12 movies (10.3% of total) ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 91 movies (78.4% of total) ~ Rank 2 (mid low) - 8 movies (6.8% of total) ~ Rank 1 (low but interesting) - 1 movie (0.8% of total) ~ Rank 0 (irredeemably low) - none in this category (0%)

That makes 116 for a Total (Actually Remembered) Movies Watched In Lifetime (Or At Least In 20 Years).

116 divided by 20 is roughly 5 or 6 movies a year (I feel this has probably been skewed though by adding everything since like elementary school onwards, as I remember a lot more movies from child/teen years.. Whereas, the past 3 years I feel like I've barely seen maybe even 5 movies?? lol). I also have "Didn't Finish" marked on 18 of them. Which means I quit halfway through about 15% of the total movies.

So, a for broader summary stuff..

I seem to be less forgiving to movies than tv shows, by far. Which makes sense to me, I guess, because I love elaboration and details, so "short form" things that only last an hour or two are often lost on me a bit. My biggest complaint with movies is indeed usually walking away just wishing there had been more exposition, more scenes where characters are doing nothing, more "mindless bantering" conversations, more Quiet Downtime and Lore Elaboration and so on lol, so... of course most 1-2hr films end up feeling a bit Not Enough To Draw My Interest/Nothingy to me.

If you count 5 and 4 as "like" and rankings 2 to 0 as "dislike", then for TV shows I at least somewhat liked 48 of them, and at least somewhat disliked 47 of them.. So it's almost exactly the same lol. I'm just about equally as likely to find something bad as I am to find something redeeming about it. But overall, the largest chance is that I just won't really care much for it at all and it will be tossed into the 'neutral' pile, forgotten forever. Movies have a bit better of a balance, "liking" 16 of them, and "disliking" only 9 of them. So I'm slightly more likely to enjoy a movie than to find it annoying - though still VASTLY more likely to just not find it anything in particular, possibly not even finishing it.

ANYWAY.. this is vague and literally pointless, but like I said, I just really find information fun. Like my document where I've rated every apple flavor I've ever tried (like 40 of them now?), or reviewed every oreo flavor (32?), or ranking data from my entire 10 years of Trying To Make Friends process (out of 100 people, roughly 8% chance of a moderate compatibility, 3% chance of high), or etc. etc.. I love to have random pointless things to analyze I suppose lol.

I doubt anyone tracks things in their life in this same exact way, but I'd be interested in hearing any at least somewhat similar data !!! (like, how many TV shows you watch a year on average, and what percentage of those you like vs. dislike (if you keep track of that sort of thing), etc.)). I guess it might be easier with movies, since I think some people use those websites where you curate a list of movies you've seen and you can rate them or something, so maybe the numbers are already available on those places. :0

[supercantaloupe]

saw a post last night complaining that the sound of music film and its popularity contribute to the "universalization of the holocaust" and that by depicting an austrian catholic gentile family's opposition to the nazi regime instead of being about jews, it paints some kind of false picture of who the nazis' real targets were. and i'm sorry but that is such a narrow minded, externally motivated reading of the film/musical. and i say this as a jew who broadly agrees that holocaust universalization and the sidelining of "the jewish problem" (as it was known in that era) in film and media is a genuine and pervasive problem. the sound of music...that is really not the right target for your ire, my friend

[unopenablebox]

the georgia o'keefe + henry moore exhibit at the mfa is in fact really well curated to give the viewer a couple of really intense RESONATING FORMS moments due to juxtaposed painting and sculpture. also i think it made me understand and therefore like georgia o'keefe more

[yurki-posts]

The Nopony

(I made the eye wrong on the upper right aaaghhhhh)