The internet is an amazing source of entertainment. There are websites for every hobby or interest, social media to connect with friends, shops to buy anything and millions of hours of videos and music to stream.

Normally this is fantastic news, offering a number of ways to relax and unwind after a hard day at work. But as more and more of us are working from home, sometimes the temptation to get distracted is irresistible.

So we’ve put together some tips to help you stay focused.

Set a timer

Have you ever sat down to do an hour’s worth of work but found your mind wandering after 25 minutes? This is actually perfectly normal; your brain is wired to concentrate in short bursts.

Rather than fight the cycle, you can learn to work with it using something called the Pomodoro Technique. Set yourself a task and focus on it for 25 minutes – use the countdown timer on your phone. When the alarm goes off, take a short break for no more than five minutes – you can do whatever you like in that time. Then reset your timer and start another 25-minute cycle.

With practice you should find that you are better able to focus on your work – and that you can get more done each day. You can learn more about the Pomodoro Technique and how it works on Wikipedia.

Change where you work

Some of us miss the background noise from working in an office, so it may be tempting to find something to replace it. Playing some music or radio is usually fine, but the television is simply too distracting.

If you find yourself distracted by the TV, try working in a different room, like the kitchen. If that is not an option, consider unplugging the TV until you finish work for the day.

Use a web filter

For most of us though, the internet is the biggest source of distraction. A few minutes surfing social media can quickly become an hour because the time passes so quickly.

If you find staying on task to be problem, you should seriously consider using parental controls to limit access to non-work content. It may sound silly, but parental controls are an incredibly useful tool for adults too.

Panda Dome allows you to set up rules that will keep you focused. You can block access to distracting websites or apps for instance. Because these rules are time-based, the blocks automatically disable themselves at the end of the day, so you can surf and stream as much as you like in the evenings. And if you are having problems switching off from work at the end of the day, why not configure a rule that blocks access to your company email and applications?

You can learn more about Panda Dome content controls (included with our popular anti-malware tools) here.

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