Researchers from the University of California found that the employee is subjected to interruption and distraction at a rate of every three minutes and five seconds, indicating that when the employee is exposed to distraction, he needs about 23 minutes and 15 seconds, to come back and engage again in the task he was doing before his boycott.
The researchers found that this causes a waste of 28 billion hours of work annually, causing the US economy alone to lose nearly one trillion dollars.
And because boycotting and dispersal of employees is something that happens all over the world, whether the employee works at the company's headquarters, or works remotely from his home, it is imperative for people to learn how to improve time management skills, and to stop switching between tasks to focus on one task.
Three ways to improve your time management skills :
1-Reviewing the appointment schedule
Many people often feel that their time passes quickly, without knowing exactly how the time passes, so it is important in this case that they review their schedule, to determine the things in which they spend most of their time during the day.
If a person finds that they are consuming a lot of time in meetings, it is important that they begin to evaluate the importance of the meetings, and whether some of them can be canceled, and this is the first step in the way to allocate more time to increase productivity.
2- To stop moving between tasks
The more a person focuses on one task, the more productive he or she is, but this is often difficult to achieve. Because there are a lot of distractions including message and e-mail notifications, ambient noise, and temperature that may affect people's mood, whether it is cold or very hot, as well as the presence of complex tasks that require intense focus to accomplish them, and the environment may not be suitable Therefore, the person is completely distracted.
In order for a person to avoid being distracted as much as possible while completing a task, he should write in the task list details of what he has to accomplish. Instead of writing, for example, that he has to contact someone, he should write the reason for contact, and the specific questions that he wants to answer from this person.
It is also important for the person to allocate a quiet time to get the work done, so that he avoids exposure to any distractions that may hinder the flow of work.
3- Accountability and responsibility
When a person works in the company’s office, and is in a normal work environment, where his colleagues surround him, this atmosphere in and of itself allows the concept of accountability. If the person does not accomplish his work, his colleagues will notice that, while working from home is not.
Although a flexible work environment can increase the productivity of some people, on the other hand it may cause an increase in distractions, so experts advise people working from home to adhere to a clear schedule for completing tasks, and the person who lives with him at home can ask to alert him. If he abandons working hours, and there is no difference or lag between work and rest time.
The more organized a person is, and allocates specific time to work, the more productive he is, and the more time he has to spend with his family and friends, or to practice activities he loves, which positively affects people's mental health and increases their productivity.
Source * Fast Company
to stay focused there is a technique called pomodoro, this is time management method that uses a timer to breakdown works into interval , usually 25mins work , separated by shortbreaks. there are already programs and apps available to use.