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PRODUCTIVITY

One Simple Trick I Use to Stay Away From Distractions and Focus on Work

It’s far more effective than relying on willpower alone

Edward John

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When you work online, the chances of you getting distracted are very high. For example, I often like to browse YouTube for inspiration for my Medium articles. But we all know that YouTube is designed to keep us there as much as possible, watching video after video.

You have to have a will of steel not to get distracted by all the shiny new things. Either that or you need a system.

And I’ve got a system. A ridiculously simple one, but it works.

I have a text file on my desktop called “Later”. Whenever I see anything that doesn’t relate to my work, I copy and paste it into that file. Then I know I can skip it and remain focused on my work without missing out on whatever I have just seen.

Then, after work, during my downtime, I can look through my “Later” file and enjoy anything I’ve saved in there.

This system is also effective for random thoughts and ideas that pop into my head. For example, suppose I am working on something and suddenly have an idea or question about something unrelated. In that case, the temptation is to quickly follow that idea so that I…

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