Time has become the most precious thing. Indeed, increasing your concentration levels is integral for balancing work and pleasure. This way, you will still have time at the end of your day to enjoy the things you love. During this age of COVID, most people have to work from home, and this change of scene might make it difficult for people to focus and get things done. Here are our five tips to help boost your concentration levels at home, so that you can get around to doing what needs to be done in a short amount of time.

1) Lists and Structures

Creating a structure is essential to having a productive day. You can buy a simple notebook and each morning, roughly plan your day. Ideally, you should structure your day by starting with the most difficult tasks first and leaving the easier ones for later on during the day. Making lists gives you a map of all the things you need to accomplish, making it seem more manageable. The most important thing is to keep your list short and simple, aiming to write just around three to five points.

2) Give yourself a time frame

Time frames are a helpful tool when it comes to improving your productivity. For example, tell yourself that you will be most productive between 9 am till 3 pm. Setting yourself time limits will make you work harder in the selected time-frame since you know that you only have a couple of hours to finish what needs to be done. Without a time-frame, you will most probably keep on procrastinating till the late evening, barely getting anything done. 

3) Clear your desk, and create a nice ambiance

One of the most important things you can do when it comes to increasing your productivity and focus levels is to create a nice ambiance in your workspace. Try to pick a setting with lots of natural light, and a window where fresh air can ventilate your room. You can also create a calming environment by adding some plants or candles, always making sure that you have enough space to work comfortably.

4) Take short breaks 

Taking short breaks regularly is essential to having a productive workflow as this will help keep your concentration levels high. However, make sure that you always time your breaks and try not to go over the ten-minute mark, or else this will work the other way round. Spend your breaks by doing some light stretching, or just simply going outside for some fresh air. 

5) Remove social media

This is a difficult one, but you’ll be amazed to learn how much time you will save if you simply remove all kinds of social media when you are focusing on your workload. Just think of it like this, you will have more time to spend on social media at the end of your day, and you can do this completely guilt-free. 

6) Meditate 

This might come as a surprise to some of our readers; how do 10 minutes of being still have anything to do with productivity? When we practice meditation, the goal is to focus solely on your breathing and nothing else, and anyone who has tried to meditate knows how difficult this can be. However, once you start practicing meditation daily, it will become easier for you to focus, and this in turn will help you focus more on anything that you set your mind too, such as finishing that article for work. Starting your day with meditation will set your day in the right tone and headspace, and will increase your concentration levels if practiced daily.

The most important thing in all of this is to make your goals for the day clear. This will make it more manageable to achieve what you want for the day. Don’t beat yourself up too much if some days are worse than others, there is always room for improvement, and just believe that the next day will be a better one.