{"id":69134,"date":"2019-08-29T03:08:03","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T11:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=69134"},"modified":"2019-08-29T03:08:04","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T11:08:04","slug":"6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance. Items that create unnecessary clutter are removed. This principle can be applied to your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These 6 tricks\nwill show you how to add minimalism to your life to become more focussed and\nproductive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remove\ndistractions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First and\nforemost, remove anything that is not needed for your current task. Research<\/a> emerging from Harvard in 2015 discovered the\npower of reducing distractions. Those with a clean work area could carry out a\nchallenging task for 1.5 times longer than those exposed to a disorganised\nworkspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distractions also\ninclude work related to a different task. A loose file from a past project may\ncause your mind to wander. Rid your workspace of clutter. Only have everything\nvisible that you need for the task at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have\na morning routine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s busy\nworld, it can be hard to allocate time to yourself. Get into the habit of a morning routine<\/a> to relax your mind before you\nstart work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shift your sleep\nschedule slightly, so you have time in the morning to yourself. Choose\nactivities that ease your mind. Many people now practice yoga and meditation to\nstart off the day. Perhaps you\u2019d enjoy a morning stroll down the road or even\njust a coffee and reading the paper without the usual morning rush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create\nyour workspace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you work from\nhome? If so, is your home office a space where you can feel productive and\nfocussed? Your work environment will\naffect your productivity greatly. Choose a location with minimal distractions\nand background noise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also\nimportant to separate your work life from your personal life. Separating these\nareas can be difficult if your home office is in your bedroom, so consider\nsectioning off the room with a divider or large rug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many creative\nways to create a home office. Converting a shipping container<\/a> into a home office is an\nup-and-coming innovation. They make for a cheaper alternative to building an office\nfrom scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Image Source: <\/em>Unsplash<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plan\nyour day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking five\nminutes out of your day to prioritise your work will make a world of difference\nto your focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prioritise tasks\nwith closer deadlines and use a checklist to tick off completed tasks. This is\nespecially helpful for those with many small tasks to complete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way there\nwill be a clear path of what you need to complete for the day. Instead of\nfeeling overwhelmed with your workload and wondering which task to complete\nfirst, your mind will be focussed at the task at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop\nmultitasking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multitasking may\nnegatively affect your productivity. Switching between tasks forces you to\nre-orientate yourself. First, you must shift your goal from one task to the\nother. Then, you need to activate the cognitive rules required to complete the\ntask. With a scattered mind from constant task switching, you could end up with\nsub-par tasks that require revision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Batch\ntasks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Batch tasking is a\ngreat alternative to multitasking. This is where a series of repetitive or\nsimilar tasks are completed one after the other. This reduces the extra time\nrequired to re-orientate yourself between tasks. This could include batch emails, phone calls, social media post\nscheduling and report writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best time to\nstart putting these minimalism tricks into practice is now. Remove anything at\nyour desk that could stop you from doing your job efficiently and effectively.\nStart applying these changes to your life and reap the benefits of increased\nfocus and productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maia Fletcher is a Gisborne based writer. She\nhas written articles for various local New Zealand based sites such as <\/em>Poynters<\/em><\/a>. She loves to inspire people to be less busy and more\nproductive. Check out her <\/em>blog<\/em><\/a> for more inspiring reads. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance. Items that create unnecessary clutter are removed. This principle can be applied to your work. These 6 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16337,"featured_media":69135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[3709,30],"tags":[6277,2335],"yoast_head":"\n6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-29T11:08:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-29T11:08:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1483058712412-4245e9b90334.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"maiafletcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1483058712412-4245e9b90334.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1483058712412-4245e9b90334.jpg\",\"width\":1350,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/\",\"name\":\"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-29T11:08:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-29T11:08:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/038dbf37ad7bcf749610d8a14c369b83\"},\"description\":\"There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/038dbf37ad7bcf749610d8a14c369b83\",\"name\":\"maiafletcher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/327594179525537cf98a3e2563d4abaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/327594179525537cf98a3e2563d4abaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"maiafletcher\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/maiafletcher\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive","description":"There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive","og_description":"There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_published_time":"2019-08-29T11:08:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-29T11:08:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1350,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1483058712412-4245e9b90334.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@pickthebrain","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"maiafletcher","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1483058712412-4245e9b90334.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1483058712412-4245e9b90334.jpg","width":1350,"height":900},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/","name":"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-08-29T11:08:03+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-29T11:08:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/038dbf37ad7bcf749610d8a14c369b83"},"description":"There\u2019s a common misconception that minimalism refers to the number of items you own. Minimalism is about prioritizing things of value and importance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/6-minimalism-tricks-to-help-you-focus-and-be-productive\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"6 Minimalism Tricks to Help You Focus and be Productive"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/038dbf37ad7bcf749610d8a14c369b83","name":"maiafletcher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/327594179525537cf98a3e2563d4abaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/327594179525537cf98a3e2563d4abaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"maiafletcher"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/maiafletcher\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}