People with a short attention span always have a challenge with their productivity. Sometimes it takes longer to accomplish a task that would otherwise have taken a shorter time. But the challenge comes when you’re about to handle a huge task and the brain sees it as a gigantic mountain.
When a mental barrier has already been erected in the mind, the person sees the task as a challenge. Even if they get down to work and try to maul down the workload, their short attention span makes the process more tedious. That’s why you should divide your workload into small bite-sized bits to make it easier to complete the work. The following tips will assist you in establishing strategies that will help you break down tasks into manageable bits.
Create a clear outline of the project
Sit down at your computer or with a notebook and write down everything that needs to be accomplished within that big task. From personal experience, as long as you’re thinking about that big task as a huge mountain, your brain will start calculating escape methods to avoid dealing with it. But when you outline the task, it will be easier to tackle it.
There’s a friend of mine who always says, the best way to eat an elephant is to pick it apart into pieces instead of trying to swallow it whole. The outline of the whole project should contain the objectives, and the timeline you’re working with. With an outline, you’ll proceed to break down tasks easily and group them into hierarchies of priorities.
Prioritize your task to improve your short attention span and stay focused
Group your tasks into Urgent, High Priority, Medium Priority, or Low Priority. The level of priority will be determined by the difficulty of each task and the amount of work required to accomplish it. There are tasks that need more time than others. The tasks that will take longer to accomplish can be divided into stages or phases with strict timelines.
Timelines and deadlines when breaking down tasks
A psychologist friend of mine called Wambui Mwania says that breaking down your tasks into small bite-sized pieces should be complemented by setting a timeline.
“Often the reason you get distracted is that your mind sees a large obstacle. Therefore, what works for me is dividing my day-to-day tasks into small pieces which I will focus on like a laser for 15 minutes. When I’m successfully done with that 15-minute session, I reward myself with a break where I can watch a video or do something that I like. It motivates my brain to do more and helps my concentration span grow.
Someone who has a short attention span should consider employing the reward system. It will help them improve and increase their productivity,” said Mwania.
Give every short piece of the task a timeline and a deadline. It will be very instrumental in meeting the ultimate deadline for the larger project.
Set goals and milestones
View your work as a marathon race. Each marathon race has checkpoints that tell you that you’re headed in the right direction. Set up your tasks in a similar manner. Using short-term goals and a target system will boost your efforts and as a bonus, you’ll accomplish your obligations in a faster manner.
For instance, if you’re supposed to write a comprehensive report on a research that your organization conducted, divide it into the intro, body, and conclusion. Give each of the phases a timeline and then complete the tasks as outlined.
Task management tools
Use task management tools that will help you in breaking down tasks effectively. Having outlined the project and the tasks and the timelines, organize them in a task management tool. The work of a task management tool is to help you break projects down into smaller tasks and clearly indicate who should be responsible to accomplish them.
The tool will also enable you to keep track of your progress. If you need to fast-track something which is going slower than expected, then you’ll do the same and still meet your deadlines. Examples of task management tools are Clickup, ProofHub, Atlassian, Todoist, Any.do and many others.
Conclusion
If you’re dealing with a short attention span challenge, you’re not alone. It’s not a unique problem for you. Moreover, it’s not a hopeless challenge. There are solutions that you can implement. It first begins with winning the war in your mind. Defeat that mentality that the workload you’re contending is too tall a mountain to conquer.
Break down your tasks into smaller manageable pieces. Use the tools that you have to your advantage and create timelines. Stick to your timelines and every time you accomplish a goal or a milestone reward yourself. The saying ‘’practice makes perfect’’ never gets old. The more you do it, the more you grow in it and increase your effectiveness.