No focus on what to do. Life hacks to improve concentration
1. Focus on your studies, make getting an education a priority in your life.
One of the unique features of the brain is that its energy can be easily focused on what seems important to a person. If all your actions are guided by the priority of learning, then you will achieve concentration of attention much easier, since the brain will automatically attract it to learning. Your future depends on the knowledge and skills acquired as a student. Only you benefit from the education you receive. Therefore, give priority to education in your life, making a list of the benefits that it brings, and remembering them well.
The most important advantage is that education completes all aspects of life: spiritual, financial, career, as well as personal, related to health and love.
2. Get rid of external stimuli that interfere with concentration.
The brain is designed to process all the information that reaches the senses. Thanks to this, we learn about a possible danger.
Do not blame yourself for being distracted by the circumstances around you and cannot concentrate on your studies, but simply try to remove everything that bothers you. Here's what you can do.
Ask your family to help you concentrate on your studies.
+ Ask them to turn off (or mute) noise sources (TV, radio, etc.) during your activities.
+ If the sound still bothers you, use earplugs or headphones. Naturally, music should not sound in the latter!
+ Keep books and other things that interest you outside of your room.
+ Disable mobile phone and close the door of your room.
3. Get rid of the worst enemies of concentration - extraneous thoughts. After you close the doors, turn off the TV and radio, and put earplugs in your ears, other stimuli - thoughts - are born inside your brain.
Even when you open a book and stare into it, you catch yourself thinking about completely different things! It is only natural that you have different thoughts swarming in your head. This phenomenon is common to all people.
How to solve this problem? One thing is clear: it is not worth fighting thoughts. When you start fighting a thought, you give it more energy and it becomes more intrusive.
Instead of resisting, simply declare:
For the next 2 hours, I will only think about chemistry classes, and I will think about the rest later!
By repeating this setup, you will gradually be able to focus on your studies. At first, annoying thoughts will not want to leave you. You just ignore them and keep going. Then they will stop bothering you and demanding your attention!
4. Use simple tricks for concentration in the classroom or at home and learn a lot of material with little effort.
Sit comfortably during class.
+ Take a deep breath every 10 minutes.
+ Mentally ask questions about the topic while listening to a lecture or studying material to draw the attention of the brain to the topic of the lesson.
Questions in the course of the lesson make you be vigilant. This is due to the peculiarity of the brain: at the moment when he hears a question, he enters the stage of search and remains in it until he finds the answer or you ask the next question.
At the moment when you ask a question and concentrate your attention 100% on the material being studied, extraneous thoughts leave you. In addition, whatever subject you study, you will understand it better. Keep asking questions for 3-4 weeks and you'll get in the habit of giving your full attention whenever you want.
5. Recharge your body with energy: before starting classes and during breaks, take 3-4 deep breaths and stretch your body.
Your body is made up of trillions of living cells. They need constant volume nutrients and frequent rest so they can function better and serve you effectively.
The necessary nutrients throughout the body are supplied through proper blood circulation.
When you change your position or relieve tension, the cells get time to rest and are slightly recharged with energy.
This is very essential, otherwise even the simplest classes can be difficult work for you. Here's what to do to help the body.
Stretch like a cat. Sipping relaxes the body, improves blood circulation and reduces stress on the brain.
+ Take 3-4 slow deep breaths before and after exercise to provide oxygen to the brain.
+ When in class or at home, sit comfortably so that no part of your body feels strained.
6. Use specific affirmations to help you focus for the long term.
You can focus your attention on studying a topic and stay focused for a long time with the help of the following specific statements. + “I can focus at will. I like to do one thing." + “Study is my priority.
Because the classes will help me acquire important knowledge to start my career.”
+ “I'm going to focus on studying physics (or whatever) for the next two hours. I love physics. It's helpful and interesting."
Each statement targets positive thoughts that automatically increase the power of attention and make you think and act like a high achiever! Let this become your habit. And for this, repeat all the statements 3 times before starting classes.
7. Pay close attention to every activity, even eating or watching TV!
Like any skill, concentration develops with practice.
Believe it or not, you already know how to concentrate 100%.
Surprised? What do you think about when you watch a funny TV series, watch a brutal fight between a hero and a villain in a computer game, or read an adventure book? Yes, in these situations you are so focused that you don't think about anything else. This is exactly what 100% concentration of attention is. So, it has been proven that you already have the ability to fully concentrate your attention in certain conditions.
Now you just have to transfer this skill to other circumstances - to lecture in the classroom, to study at home, to follow the flow of a conversation, etc.
In fact, it can be used daily as a workout. For example, when your friend begins to tell you something, mentally tell yourself: "I will fully concentrate on what the friend is saying." And then try your best not to miss a single word.
8. Train the ability to linger on only one lesson in the allotted time.
It's simple and at the same time effective method increased attention. With it, you can practice doing what you want and focus on it. long time.
As you develop this ability, you will develop a useful habit. Can you imagine her strength? All the beautiful things around you are the result of the focused consciousness of some people. You, too, can develop this ability in yourself by training your consciousness.
Here are two simple exercises for training.
Listen to the sound of musical instruments. Sit quietly and close your eyes. Imagine that you are listening to a violin, flute, or other musical instrument. Choose only one instrument in the allotted time and imagine its sound for two minutes. Then choose another tool. Practice math verbally. Close your eyes and mentally multiply the numbers. Start with two digits and then move on to more complex numbers.
9. Never say you can't concentrate - it reinforces your inability to focus. Instead, say, "I can focus on any subject for any length of time."
Repetitive thoughts and actions become a habit. Many of us have repeatedly given pleasure to the following negative thoughts.
+ "I can't concentrate fully."
+ "It takes years of practice to learn to fully concentrate attention even for a minute" The repetition of such thoughts creates confidence that it is very difficult to learn attention. But you know that practice and training can improve any ability.
Here is another way to quickly improve attention. Whenever you feel that you are concentrating better, immediately reinforce your skill with the following statements.
+ "My ability to concentrate is improving."
+ “Day by day, I can keep my attention better and longer.”
10. Develop the habit of scheduling to improve your focus.
Studying according to the schedule, you feel calm and confident that you will have time to finish all the material before the exams. And the feeling of calmness helps to better concentrate during classes, because there is no tension.
Let it be your policy to stick to a schedule. You may already be using some semblance of a schedule. Once you have a schedule, use it regularly to reap all of the following benefits.
Concentration during class.
+ Life without stress.
+ Sufficient time to develop skills that are necessary for a better life.
This habit is worth its weight in gold.
We have all experienced trouble concentrating at some point. It can decrease in both adults and children. In this article you will learn all about concentration problems: what they are and why they occur, what are the signs, symptoms, and possible reasons low concentration. Should I be worried about this? We will also give you 11 tips that can help you improve your concentration.
Concentration and the brain. Rice. My SPECT study from Amen Clinic
Concentration of attention can decrease in people at any age, this is a fairly common problem. In children, this is manifested in the deterioration of grades and school performance in general. In adults, working capacity decreases, and a change in concentration of attention can affect family life and generally have a negative impact on everyday life. It can even disrupt our social, work relationships, etc. Therefore, it is extremely important to take the necessary measures in time to solve problems with concentration and improve mindfulness.
What are concentration problems?
Concentration is the ability to effectively focus our attention on the task we are doing. In addition, with good concentration, we are able to block out various distractions, such as extraneous sounds or even our own thoughts.
When the level of concentration of attention is optimal, it is easier for us to do work, we do less mistakes and spend less time on it, better remember the information.
Concentration problems, decreased concentration is the inability to concentrate and focus on the right stimulus. At the same time, we may be distracted by noise, the sound of a mobile phone, various thoughts, etc., as a result of which we stop performing the task.
The concentration level of a person depends on the following factors:
- Involvement, commitment to the task
- Interest in the task
- The ability to carry it out
- Physical and emotional state
- Suitable conditions with a minimum of distractions
When these conditions are met, it is much easier for the brain to focus attention on important stimuli and block all other unwanted stimuli and distracting thoughts.
Problems with concentration
Symptoms of low concentration
Concentration problems in children
The ability to concentrate in children is not as high as in adults, because their brains are not yet sufficiently developed. Children, as a rule, are not able to concentrate and hold their attention for an hour while a boring lesson is going on. This is not because there is something wrong with them. We often ask too much of our children. The child needs to play and experiment, so classes should be dynamic and exciting. In this case, the children will be able to listen carefully for an hour. Learn about and.
If the child is unable to concentrate in class without suffering from any impairment or difficulty in other situations, the problem is usually the structure of the lesson and the teacher's teaching style that is inappropriate for the age and needs of the students.
You can talk about problems with concentration in a child if:
- It is difficult for him to keep his attention in class.
- He cannot concentrate on tasks.
- You feel like he can't hear you when you talk to him.
- Can't watch the movie.
- It is difficult for him to concentrate even on those activities that give him pleasure.
- The child is scattered.
- He is distracted, cannot structure the process of the game.
- The child dreamed, "hovers in the clouds."
If a child has all of these symptoms, it may be much more serious, and there is a risk that he suffers from ADHD.
Concentration problems in adults
An adult has impaired concentration when:
- He often forgets. What's happened .
- For a long time he cannot concentrate on the task.
- It is difficult for him to continue reading.
- Feelings that the head "does not understand", absent-mindedness.
- Distracted when hearing someone speak.
- It is easy to "knock him out".
- Takes too long to complete the task.
Causes of problems with concentration
It is very important to understand why the concentration is impaired, because in some cases, in the first place, it is necessary to treat the root cause of this problem.
- Tired and emotional stress may result in impaired concentration. .
- Hormonal changes , such as during menopause or pregnancy, can affect our cognitive functions.
- Concentration problems are associated with certain physical and psychological disorders, such as, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) .
- Lack of sleep and lack of rest. When we do not give our brain the necessary and sufficient rest due to lack of time or stress, it works less well. Lack of sleep is one of the most obvious causes of concentration problems.
- Hunger and poor diet can also be the cause of impaired concentration. Hunger is a very unpleasant sensation in the body, with which our body warns us of a lack of nutrients and energy. This sensation will completely consume our cognitive resources, preventing us from focusing on anything else. Lack of nutrients also interferes with the correct functioning of the brain.
- Excessive worry. We all know very well that if we are very worried about something, it is difficult for us to concentrate on other things. It usually goes away. However, there are people who constantly experience increased anxiety and excessive worry, which does not give them the opportunity to concentrate on something else. Find out what are.
- Physical pain. Concentration decreases with prolonged physical pain, when we are injured or suffer from chronic pain or fibromyalgia.
- Medicines and drugs. Some medicines can affect concentration and attention. Drugs impair brain function and cognitive functions, with attention being the most affected.
- Wednesday, in which we work, can also impair our attention. In the presence of a large number distractions - noise, people, gadgets, etc. – most likely, we will begin to get distracted and lose concentration.
- Our individual ability to concentrate. There are people whose ability to concentrate is higher than others, just like some people are more “flexible” than others. However, this does not mean that concentration cannot be developed. Concentration is like a muscle, it can also be trained.
1. No supplements needed to boost concentration
2. Use CogniFit, the leading cognitive testing and stimulation program for children and adults
How to develop concentration of attention? Concentration is a cognitive process that can be improved with appropriate training. Battery of clinical exercises from CogniFit is a professional tool available to everyone. With simple and fun online games CogniFit allows you to test and train brain functions that are impaired by reduced concentration.
The CogniFit Cognitive Stimulation Program for improving concentration was developed by an experienced team of scientists, neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists. The program first accurately tests the level of concentration of attention and other basic cognitive functions, and then, based on the results, automatically offers a comprehensive personalized cognitive training. The CogniFit program is recommended for children 6 years of age and older and is available online.
3. Plan a rest to get rid of distraction and concentration problems
Concentration often deteriorates due to fatigue and mental overwork. After performing tasks that require considerable effort, such as work or school, concentration is disturbed if we do not rest. It is necessary to rest every hour and a half for 10 minutes - this will help you take on the task with renewed vigor. You can use this time for walking, stretching, going to the bathroom or making yourself a cup of coffee…
4. Communicate with nature
A walk in a park or forest can greatly improve your concentration levels. A walk in nature helps to calm down and relax, it does not require increased concentration and attention from us. Unlike the city, when we have to constantly monitor road traffic, surrounding people, which forces us to constantly be on our guard. According to this study, in nature we can relax, disconnect from problems, improve our cognitive abilities. Therefore, try to find more time for a walk in the park and forest - where there is a lot of vegetation. Get yourself healthy habits!
5. Mindfulness Meditation Boosts Concentration
How to achieve 100% concentration? Studies have shown that it helps to improve attention, as well as lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Therefore, this is an ideal exercise to improve concentration. With the help of meditation, you can drive away unwanted thoughts, it helps us to concentrate on one thing. You will notice an improvement even if you practice meditation for only 5-10 minutes a day or in between work or study. Programs mindful meditation for children have also shown their effectiveness.
6. Eliminate everything that distracts you
If you are one of those people who are easily distracted while doing tasks, it is better to remove everything that can distract you. Hide gadgets, and if you work on a computer, try not to open pages that are not related to what you are working on. If noise distracts you, use headphones or earplugs.
7. Prioritize
Perform complex tasks when you are fresh and rested. In this case, you can effectively solve them, and then pay attention to simpler ones. If, on the contrary, you first do what is simpler, while solving more challenging tasks you will be tired. A list of tasks will help you prioritize in descending order of their importance and complexity.
8. Set aside time to answer calls and messages
We often feel like slaves to email or phone calls. We mistakenly believe that they should be available 24 hours a day. Not only does this reduce our productivity, it also impairs our efficiency and concentration. So highlight certain time during the day when you are available for phone calls and messages.
9. Improve your focus by taking care of yourself
One of the biggest investments in improving your cognitive abilities is keeping your body in top shape. Eat right, don't starve, eat healthy food. Set aside time for sleep and rest - 7-8 hours of sleep is enough. Dedicate time for leisure and relaxation, this will help reduce stress levels and improve concentration.
10. Focus on one thing
Thank you for reading this article. We will be grateful for questions and comments.
Translated from Spanish by Anna Inozemtseva
To be honest, I have been experiencing such problems for 6 years already. There are peaks of such a state, for example, as it is now, there are also moments of deliverance. For the last 2 months, I have just started to have a fatal stagnation, and at that time I just started working in my (future) professional field- journalism; the inability to concentrate creates very big problems for me, and perhaps in general, as it seems to me, it is born out of these same problems - it is born out of fear.
Now I will try to describe this defect in more detail, and then I will try to give the most objective picture of my current life, a general picture of my mental state.
I will try to describe the impossibility of concentrating attention in several examples that have taken place recently:
Mother irons clothes and ironing board shirt fell off. I want to tell her about it, but suddenly I stop after the words "You fell .." and I can't remember the name of this thing. Later I couldn't remember the names for 3 hours.
Similar situations happen to me 3-4 times a day, only with more complex words.
Reading Lermontov. He is a talker. I sometimes re-read the paragraphs with his reasoning 10 times each: I can’t connect several lines in meaning, like a ten-year-old child.
I can’t listen to the radio at all: I don’t understand what the presenter is talking about, I catch only some excerpts from his speech.
I want to note that I write so dryly, because I am a lover to pour out my soul: having started, I cannot stop; I decided to suppress this trait in myself.
Here's my life on this moment. I'm 19 years old; now I sit at home, almost without work, sometimes writing articles; I don’t have a job due to the lack of a military man, who, in turn, is questionable in the military registration and enlistment office; I am a student of journalism, an apprenticeship, and 2 weeks ago I passed the session.
There is no personal life, and never was.
My worldviews are somewhat similar to nihilism, and they take their basis in the consistency of a combination of determinism and humanism, - If it's like nonsense, then forgive me: 4 o'clock in the morning, but I hope you understand. - I drew attention to this, because I am trying to embody this ideal of a good cynic and subconsciously impose it on myself - involuntarily (and maybe voluntarily) I am engaged in sublimation.
Psychological condition:
- fears will surround me from all sides - not to find a job, not to get a military man and go into the army (then study down the drain) and the like; the strongest fears are the fear of professional inconsistency, the fear of "stupefying".
- (a little revelation: although I told everyone, including myself, that I was stupid, I had the thought “I am very smart” deep in my subconscious, which rested on the opinions of other people: I judged a lot about politics, about people and received praise from people - "wow, how deep you look, you will make an awesome journalist", "how can you only know all this."
Now I started writing to the press and I can’t write the most primitive articles (I don’t know, maybe because of fear, or maybe I’m really stupid) and my image of “I’m smart” collapsed)
My character collapsed, and maybe just the image of a cynic. Now I have become like some kind of weak-willed amoeba. I can’t answer anything when they morally pressure me, I don’t know why, I just can’t: either I’m afraid of people, or of myself.
In my head "porridge", entropy. I do not understand what is happening around me, everything is changing so quickly. I don't know how to describe this state, that's why it's so dry: I'm shy.
Also, all this is aggravated by a grouchy mother at home, who constantly tries to humiliate me, assure me that I am nobody, woof .. Oh. Her thyroid gland is "lame" and therefore she constantly gives out tantrums, regardless of my earnings and behavior.
It also aggravates the fact that I often do not sleep at night: before, because of work, I did not sleep, then because of the session.
It all started after another girl left me, but she was only a fuse for a barely holding "psychological stability".
Doctors distinguish several types of pathology, which are classified depending on the manifestations, mechanisms of occurrence and age group for which they are typical.
True distraction
With this type of disorder, the patient is completely distracted from everything important in environment, from their affairs and plans. His attention is not focused on any object and wanders for a long time. The condition often occurs after insomnia, headaches, long, monotonous and boring work. This group of disorders includes the phenomenon of road hypnosis, when, after a long time driving in calm traffic, a person falls into a half-asleep and does not feel time on the road.
An apparent decrease in attention
- It develops as a result of difficulties in the distribution of attention: when a person cannot concentrate on a particular subject and is distracted by different objects. Experts call the problem a consequence of deep internal concentration: a person thinks about a problem and cannot fully concentrate on anything else. This group of violations includes:
- professorial absent-mindedness, in which thoughts are streamlined, but aimed at solving only complex problems;
- poetic absent-mindedness, when a person constantly dreams and does not pay attention to the surrounding reality.
Student distraction
As the name suggests, the problem occurs in school-age children, sometimes persisting in students. With a disorder, the child's attention becomes extremely mobile, he is constantly distracted and switches from one subject to another. The shifting of attention occurs spontaneously, and as a result, the child cannot fully concentrate on one task. The problem is most often observed in attention deficit disorder, rarely accompanies different kinds psychopathy.
Senile inattention
When upset, it is difficult for an elderly person to concentrate on any business and switch attention from one task to another. This disorder develops as a result of the natural processes of aging and requires active medical assistance only with a pronounced degree, when a problem with concentration interferes with the usual way of life.
Everyone is brilliant. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees,
she will live her whole life believing in her stupidity.
Albert Einstein
Laziness is the habit of resting before you get tired.
Jules Renard
Problems with concentration? Outside influence confusing? Does it feel like everything is falling apart? Can't remember things? There is an exit. To make everything normal, you just need a little help. You have to accept yourself and learn to live with it.
You can drastically reduce the number of problems by adhering to the following recommendations:
- Keep in mind no more than three to five things at a time, combining actions into large semantic blocks.
- Once and for all, choose a solution for a daily set of little things: enter tasks in the calendar, check the iron, etc.
- Arrange all things in their places and maintain a routine.
- Duplicate necessary and frequently used things; put them in all corners.
- Skillfully use the calendar, mobile phone and other tools of the Internet century.
- And most importantly: DO NOT BE DISTRACTED BY SMALL THINGS!
1) Combining actions
It is necessary to strive to operate at a time with only three to five objects. To do this, you need to combine small items and actions into semantic blocks, and they, in turn, into larger ones, etc. The fact is that human memory is finite. For most people, the volume random access memory is 3-5, less often 7 semantic units. If you exceed this "magic" number, it becomes bad. You can even go for a little trick and try to shrink the number of items to two or three, leaving as much space as possible for external stimuli. In this case, the risk of being distracted to such an extent that you forget something important is minimal.Examples of semantic blocks and their possible enlargement:
- Backpack + folder, keys + wallet, documents, umbrellas + jackets + raincoats.
- Paper/Ticket/Document/Notepad -> Folder -> Backpack
- Card / SNILS / VU / PASSPORT -> Shoveler -> Backpack
- Car, Garage, Gate, House, Flash Drive -> A bunch of keys in your pocket
In order not to overload the combined bundles with unnecessary items, they can be broken down by place of application or action. For example: car, walking, business trip, etc. Thus, it makes perfect sense to have two bundles, each containing a partially overlapping set of items, but designed for a specific purpose.
The main thing is that the total number of simultaneously used blocks should be from three to five pieces. It’s hard to fit more in your head, but you still have to leave room for the outside world.
This rule works perfectly, because. exploits the features of the functioning of human short-term memory.
2) Single selection for frequently repeated, small and insignificant actions
Let's use the advice from T. Limoncelli's book: for all insignificant actions that mental efforts are spent every day, a decision must be made once and for all. If you decide for yourself what to do in the selected situations, firstly, you will free up time to think about something more important, and secondly, the number of mistakes will be reduced. It will not be difficult to always add things to the calendar, check the iron before leaving the house, etc. Spending energy on daily thoughts about an umbrella or diary is not worth it.Let's take a closer look at a few life situations on the example of how I solve them. 
- In order not to suffer without an umbrella in the pouring rain, I solved the problem by simultaneously placing umbrellas at home, in the car and at work. The only and mandatory task in this case is the indispensable return of the item to its original place after use. Note that there is no more torment of choice, no more mistakes. No more guessing on the weather forecast.
- To take or not to take iPad? Take! It will not be superfluous even if it is not useful.
- To enter or not to enter every little thing on the calendar, relying on memory? Be sure to bring it in! Do not overestimate yourself, the extra 3 minutes of poking at the smartphone will then be compensated a hundredfold. And, again, the head is completely free.
- Should I put the document/file in Dropbox or leave it locally? Be sure to put! It's very "fun", having sped away for 900 kilometers, to suddenly find that the flash drive with the dissertation lies peacefully at home on the table by the mirror. Dropbox is power.
- Should I start a timer if I need to do something in the near future? Definitely yes! And the milk will not run away, and you will not forget to call the boss back.
- Do not reply to phone calls behind the wheel. Quite quite. The only exception is such a boring and unimaginably long traffic jam, in which you can not only have time to solve all the problems, but also watch a couple of episodes of Dr. House.
3) Everything has its place
Work at the table, eat in the kitchen, sleep in bed. The same applies to the location of things - having determined the places for objects, it is necessary to develop the habit of constantly maintaining them. Over time, the body gets used to a certain environment and itself turns on the usual stimuli. You should not rely on your memory and then feverishly turn everything around when you suddenly need it. Did you see something out of place? I immediately got up and put it where it should be.Books on dealing with stress and insomnia strongly advise against using the bed as a place to eat and work. This is necessary so that the body can relax in a familiar, proven nest.
By the way! If an idea that is not suitable for the location has come to mind (for example, a work question at home and vice versa), it’s not bad to take notes on this matter in Evernote, which you open both there and there. Practice has shown that, for example, a thought comes to me in the same place, therefore, incidents are possible - at work you think about doing something at home, at home you plan what to do at work, but in the end you do something completely different there and there, remembering plans only at the end of the day. To-do lists easily break this vicious cycle.
4) Duplication
In order to conveniently operate with blocks, you can duplicate some items between them. This is necessary to optimize the number of large blocks used to solve everyday problems. If there is a chance to forget an item, it is best to try to make sure that it is always at hand. This is easy to achieve by spreading the same objects in different corners.How do I do it:
- Three umbrellas: at home, in the car and at work. It is not easy to be caught off guard in such a situation.
- The keys to the house are both in the wallet and on the car bundle: going out for a walk you take your wallet, into the car - your keys and you will never find yourself in front of a locked door.
- Glasses at home, in a backpack and in a pair in the car (dark / light). "Bespectacled man" is quite unpleasant to be behind the wheel or in an unfamiliar environment in a state of "permanent bokeh".
- timer in computer wrist watch and, at the same time, a separate mechanical in the kitchen. I don't understand how people manage without them!
- Dropbox + Evernote at home, at work, on your tablet or smartphone—no need to worry about manually syncing files and notes between sites and while traveling.
5) Technical assistants
All cases and reminders for a period of more than an hour should be reflected in calendar. You can see free days, you can decide when and what to do. You never have to keep a lot of things in your head when there is a great assistant for this. And if you enter in the calendar not only plans, but also the work done after the fact, then, if necessary, you can easily compile the necessary reports on the work done with an accuracy of up to an hour.Need to call a person on Friday at 11.15 am in 2 years? No problems! As Peter Didenko said, those who understand the trick with calendars always mock those who do not yet.
Evernote- a brilliant invention and an indispensable assistant in all types of structuring and storing information. Well, yes, a lot has been written about him separately.
Wiki useful for describing workflows. Firstly, it allows, if something happens, to be distracted from the case and return to it after a while again. Although being distracted is a terrible evil, but in IT work this happens, unfortunately, all the time. Secondly, if several people are working on a task, the Wiki automatically becomes a tool teamwork: you can see who is doing what, who has what difficulties, on the discussion pages you can have discussions on tasks, attach files and everything. At the same time, as a bonus, documentation is collected by itself.
Mobile phone for a person of the 21st century, in fact, the same thing as a church cathedral for a medieval city dweller. He is a window to the world, a central place in the value system and just a mass of opportunities. With proper settings, the phone is able to make life easier for its owner.
It is logical to use technical "chips" at 100%. In all contacts, it is necessary to fill in names, surnames, positions and photos as soon as possible. Why else would you buy it? It is worth refraining from nicknames, avatars and contacts of a difficult fate like "123 call back". At night, it would be nice if the phone itself turns off the sound and only misses important calls. It is convenient to prepare a set of SMS templates for typical situations in advance so as not to waste time on repetitive messages.
If there are especially talented and annoying personalities among colleagues, instead of a ringtone, you can set the sound of silence on them - the rest will not hurt, and attention will be switched to these friends when there really is an opportunity, and not a hundred times a day. It is necessary to automatically synchronize the calendar with the PC or the Cloud. Owners of modern smartphones, this advice will seem banal, but back in 2007 for ordinary phones it was not so easy to organize.
6) DO NOT DISTRACT!
We must learn not to succumb to external influences and work without deviating from the intended goal. It is necessary to get rid of all unnecessary irritants, which imperceptibly, but rather densely shrouded our attention.
First of all, you should try to abandon ICQ, Jabber "a, Skype, Growl pop-up notifiers. Make it a rule to check e-mail according to a convenient schedule, and not according to the notification of the notifier. Notifications do not really speed up the speed of resolving the issue, most often they are confusing, If you need to chat in real time, you can always agree by mail and allocate a specific time on the calendar.
Then you need to turn off the second phone and (or) the second line. There is little use, but problems are a wagon and a small cart. What's the use, solving an important issue, to find out that they are calling again? Nerves and extra money will be spent, the conversation will drag on, the subscriber on the other side will also be nervous. Ignoring the signal from the second line looks bad on the part of the caller. An unanswered call is psychologically harder than a failure to dial. The second line is out of sight, out of mind!
The disadvantages of the approach can be safely attributed to the completely absent culture of elementary planning in some people. Mobile technologies do not correct, but rather exacerbate this phenomenon. Everything becomes firmly tied to the momentary availability of the remote subscriber. If it is SUDDENLY impossible to get through to him or hear the answer online, a lot of people simply fall into a stupor.
For example, I always, if I can’t get through to a person on an urgent matter, immediately duplicate the question via SMS and, if possible, e-mail. An excellent result is achieved in 99.9% of cases. Or call back or resolve the issue and call back. 
TV, RSS feeds - safely in the trash! It is necessary to leave only the necessary. You should read all sorts of sites only when there is time. Is it inconvenient to scroll through 100,500 sites without a reader? Buddy, don't you spend too much time reading rubbish?
For those who cannot imagine life without aggregators, T. Limoncelli's book contains great advice: every month you must unsubscribe from one rss-mailing list, usenet-group or email-mailing list. Choose from general list the most unnecessary and get rid of. This will keep only relevant things.
Conclusion
Let's summarize the above. If you keep in mind no more than three to five things at a time, then the risk of being distracted and forgetting something is small. You don't have to shirk over trifles and think about whether to add tasks to the calendar, whether to use dropbox, etc. It is necessary to make a decision once and for all and follow it without hesitation as a ritual. It would be nice to put all things in their places and maintain a routine. It will be especially good if frequently used and necessary items will be multiplied and laid out in all possible places both at home and at work. Enjoy the calendar! It would be nice to keep a mobile phone in order: do not keep junk contacts, fill in photos, positions and addresses, synchronize with the cloud. Do not be distracted by trifles - do not become a slave to notifiers and informers.- Thomas Limoncelli. Time management for system administrators. (
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