Based on certain studies, it has been found out that during their eight-hour schedule, average workers tend to waste about two hours of their time on non-work related activities. The amount of fruitless time only means that a quarter of all salaries are wasted on such things; if one could easily dispose of activities that causes distractions which make a person lose focus on work, every individual within any workplace will be more productive.

However, the trouble and inconvenience that is associated with eliminating the time-wasting activities is that these are not necessarily the issue – these are generally just symptoms of something bigger which prevents a person from focusing and getting their work done.

If you are one of those individuals who have difficulties when it comes to focusing on your work, here are a few ways you can stop wasting time and focus on getting more things done instead:

Stop the Random E-Mail Checks

Constantly checking out your inbox builds a start, stop, and start pattern when it comes to your work activity; plus the wasted time abruptly increases when you consider the moment it takes for you to focus after each pause or stop. Unless you really are expecting very important e-mails that relate to your work, it is smart to make a daily schedule with three specific hours or minutes mainly for checking your e-mails.

This also works for checking out voicemails or other mobile phone-related tasks; lessen these interruptions and stick to a set and fixed schedule.

End the Quiet Dawdling and Idling

Procrastination is very easy to spot, especially when you find yourself playing games like solitaire, scrolling through various social media sites, or simply gazing out the window and staring off into space. However, there is another form of procrastination that is associated with “busy work” which means, working on unimportant tasks.

Remember that all the time you spend on less important tasks is a step backward especially when tasks that need to be prioritized or certain goals that need to be met are set aside. Stop wasting your time and focus on your priorities by making a list of all your tasks before categorizing them from the most important to the least.

Do things Step by Step

According to Lifehack, one of the reasons why people end up procrastinating is because in their subconscious mind, they find their tasks a little too overwhelming; if you feel that you are in the same boat, try breaking your work down into little portions then focus on one part at a time, starting with the most crucial ones if possible. If after breaking the task down into smaller portions and you still find yourself procrastinating, break it down further and soon, you will realize that your task is more simple compared to how it was earlier which will actually push you to start doing the task as soon as possible.

Keep in mind that when you break down tasks into smaller portions, it gives you a much clearer idea of how much work is really required for it to be done.