Between emails, social media, pressing problems, never ending tasks and the never ending distractions, it can be difficult to get things done. Sometimes that looming task or project, you know the one that has to get done, just doesn’t seem to. Here’s how to refocus and eliminate business distractions so you can get more done and you can get it done on time.

1. Learn to identify those challenging days. Some days it is easier to focus than others. Maybe you didn’t get a great night’s sleep. Perhaps you’re burnt out and ready for the week to be over. Or maybe there’s just too much on your plate. The first step to eliminating business distractions is to identify the need to eliminate them.

2. Take a deep breath. Okay, so you’ve realized that today is a difficult day, or you’re having a tough week or month. The next step is to take a deep breath. Refocus your mind and your energy. Just stop, step back, and breathe deeply. This not only calms your mind, it allow you to think more clearly which is important for the next step.

3. What’s important right now? Once you’re in the right mindset, assess the current situation. Despite what some will say, you cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. And to try only leads to distraction. What do you need to focus on right now? What is priority? What can you do to make progress?

4. What’s getting in the way? Along with assessing what you can or need to do right now, evaluate what is getting in the way. If you need to focus on planning a project launch, for example, but email and phone calls keep interrupting you and presenting you with new tasks, turn off your phone and log out of your email for an hour. Determine what’s stopping you and remove it from your list of challenges.

5. Set a goal. You’re refocused and you’ve eliminated distractions temporarily. Now set a goal for what you ant to accomplish. Make sure it’s a reasonable goal that you can confidently accomplish. If the goal feels overwhelming it will be too easy to let those distractions back in and cause procrastination.

Eliminating business distractions will become easier with more practice. Learn to step back, take a deep breath and assess the present needs. Establish an intention and then remove barriers to get the job done.