A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

My concentration sucks...tips? - Skittle

Posted: Jul 12, 2011

I have a great job working at home editing. I love it. I've been in transcription 12 years but lately have the worst concentration ever. I find myself getting distracted by the Internet..Facebook, Google, Yahoo, CNN. You name it I'm there in between reports. I know I'm not giving it 100% at work and wish I could concentrate!! FWIW I can't sleep either. Total insomniac. I'm not very productive because of this distractibility and it concerns me a lot. Does anyone have tips on how to re-gain my concentration?

I feel your pain... - ADD MT

[ In Reply To ..]
wish I could help...can't wait to hear the advice 'cause I need it, too!!!

LOL - I need advice too! I sometimes have to - check all those places even - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
when I'm midway through a report.

Glad I'm not the only one! - Skittle

[ In Reply To ..]
Hopefully one of these really, really productive people has sage advice for us. LOL I'm literally at the point where I'm about to ask my doctor if I have adult ADD! Jeez. And to think I feel guilty if I have to get up to pee! That's the least of my problems. LOL

MT ADD - Hammer

[ In Reply To ..]
So, it seems really, really silly, but then I have an extremely tough day I pretend I'm working in an office and my hospital administrator is walking around, looking over my shoulder as I work. It keeps me off my "fun" sites. If I can do that for just an hour or two, suddenly I seem to get back into the swing of things and can finish the day off productive.

I do notice that if I didn't get enough sleep the night before my mind wanders much, much more than than when I'm rested. In fact, I'm pretty sure tonight is an Advil PM night.

Hope that helps!

Skittle, fix the sleep problem and I bet the attention - span will make an excellent recovery. Also,

[ In Reply To ..]
memory will improve, energy, the whole package. I'd put that at the top of the to-do list. Which reminds me, I really should get back on a more functional sleep schedule myself.

I had to do a couple of things... - Hayseed

[ In Reply To ..]
Most important, for me, was to change shifts completely. I work for a place that has scheduled 8-hour shifts...can't just log in and out whenever. During the day there were just too many distractions, some physical, some in my head (gotta do laundry, clean, putter outside, etc).

So, I requested to move to the nightshift. BEST THING I EVER DID. My line counts went from barely the minimum of 1200/day to nearly 2000. Nothing going on at night, so no excuses not to work!

The second thing I did was be sure to make time for a break. Work like a dog for 2 hours, then break for 15 minutes AWAY from the computer, then come back and finish the second 2-hour leg of the first 4 hours. Break for lunch (where I almost always take a nap!), then come back and finish out the rest of my shift, balls to the wall nonstop working until it is time to punch out.

It's hard, no doubt about it. I've only been doing this for about 11 years now and am JUST hitting my stride as far as sitting the frig still and doing what I'm hired to do.

What also helps me is that the type of work I have is almost all wicked short TATs, so there really is no wiggle room as far as slacking off. I'm terrified of my employer losing accounts (and therefore me out of a job!) because TATs aren't met and it kinda bums me out to see my co-workers not hauling patootie in the same way, but I have to remember, I was there too.
:-)

My tips - wanderer

[ In Reply To ..]
I installed a sidebar that has an alarm. I set it for 2 hours. My rear end is glued to the chair and I can't get up until I work for 2 hours.

I can get 9 hours of sleep at night and fall asleep while editing a report at 10 a.m., so I rely on Nuvigil and caffeine to get by. I used to drink 5-Hour Energy and it worked well. I know there are going to be those who don't like these supplements, but they actually do work for many people. I'm now taking Nuvigil and a caffeine pill (equal to a cup of coffee) to get through the day.

I also limit my breaks to 15 minutes.

I only open sites that I use for work. I can easily get sucked into a favorite site for an hour or so (gee, I wonder why I have to work until 9 p.m.?!)

I stay off sites like MTStars. Oops, I guess I'm busted.

Good luck. I hope you can find some helpful tips and maybe think of some ideas and share them with us.

Editing ruined my concentration... - hmmm

[ In Reply To ..]
I found it very hard to keep focused when doing editing versus straight typing. When you're typing every word, you use the pauses in the dictation to catch up. When you are just editing, you're just sitting waiting for the doctor to start talking again. For me, that was an excuse to facebook or something else. Now that I'm back to straight typing, my concentration is back to normal.

I know this doesn't help fix your concentration issue, but maybe it will help you understand it and know that it's not "just you." : )

Editing is ruining my concentration because it's so - boring. I doze off all the time.

[ In Reply To ..]
The rest of the time, I have a hard time focusing because I'm constantly worried, 24/7, 365 days/year, about how I'm going to pay my bills, keep my old car running, not fall behind on rent, and keep from starving. The worry just never goes away.

Here's what I do... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
At my job when I get work I can get two jobs at a time. I used to get two, type them, and then get two more. That left me time to go to other sites, check e-mail, etc. Now I get my next job while I'm still typing my 2nd report, and keep doing that all day (getting my next job before I send my current report in), and that way I don't have the lag between jobs to lure me away. It really has made a HUGE difference and has cut an hour-and-a-half to two hours off my workday, which is awesome! If there is any option that lets you always have the next job waiting, it really takes away that distraction period of waiting for the next job.

concentration - mtgirl

[ In Reply To ..]
I sometimes will go days without taking vitamins and then my concentration suffers.

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