Let's be honest for a moment - we're all friends here, aren't we? - let's be honest, you'd rather be lying on a beach right now. And I'm happy enough to assume that you're not lying on a beach, because if you're lying on a beach reading an article about professional skills, there's probably something missing from your life that you'd better go out and find right away. But seeing as you're not lying on a beach, relaxing and doing nothing at all that might be considered 'work', that probably seems like an awfully tempting alternative to whatever you have to do instead - because you'll most likely have things that need to be done either right now or in the near future.

So, like it or not, all of us need to focus on getting things done successfully and punctually. We may not want to have to do it, but if it's not done sufficiently or how it should be - or not at all - then the upshot is always going to be that we end up with even more demands on our time. All said, it's a much better idea to get everything done properly and at the appropriate time - and this means creating an environment in which you're able to be as productive as possible.

Your working situation

How effectively you work doesn't just depend on yourself and the nature of the work. Everything that comprises the circumstances you're working in can have an impact too, so it's worth making the effort to get this right. Your seat needs to be sufficiently comfortable that you're not paying more attention to shuffling around until you feel right than you are to the job in hand, and it has to support you sitting upright - no slouching lazily! Quite apart from maintaining good posture, keeping yourself upright with a nice straight line running down from your head through your neck and torso allows more oxygen to get into your bloodstream, and that can make a marked difference to your concentration.

Another way to keep your concentration up is to eat healthy foods, rich in complex carbohydrates, low in sugars and fat: I'm sure you've seen adverts stressing the importance of a good breakfast to help children concentrate through the day, but those benefits don't disappear when you last walk out through the school gates; eat well and you'll be set up for a productive day, whatever age you might be.

Putting your keyboard, monitor and any other equipment or documents in a position that's comfortable for you (such as keeping the screen at about face level, and the mouse in a location where you can move it about without having to stretch) is also important: avoiding any strains or awkward positions helps you to keep focus (and is also vital in looking after your health; don't forget that there's little so adept at bringing your productivity right down as injury and illness).

You'll also find it that much easier to focus and work effectively if the temperature's neither too warm nor too cold - a little on the cool side is ideal, but the most important thing is to avoid extremes - and the lighting allows you to read for lengthy periods without straining your eyes. Of course, if you're working in an office, it may not always be possible to control these factors, but if they are posing a noticeable problem, the business as a whole would benefit from addressing the issue.

Getting the wrong thing done

So, you're comfortable, you're sitting upright, you're well fed and neither too warm nor too cold, and you're ready to get on with the work. It's a good start, for sure. But make sure you actually do it, because it's irritatingly easy not to. There are two particular problems - often overlapping - that can rear their ugly heads and cause our work to be left undone or inadequately finished: distraction and procrastination.

Let's deal with distraction first. If you work from home, this can be a particularly significant problem - televisions and radios, books and magazine, maybe family or friends might be around - but even in the office, it's easy for your concentration to be thrown off, perhaps by looking at websites (social networking sites are particularly distracting), or simply by other work that's also trying to get your attention. As far as possible, you need to remove the distractions, take them out of your line of sight or easy reach - or close any distracting windows on your computer - or take yourself away from them. Even if you have other work that will need completing as well, don't have it sat on your desk, silently nagging away at you.

Giving into distractions is itself a form of procrastination. But there are other ways we can waste time that should be devoted to the task in hand - often by looking for other things to do, especially if the priority work seems onerous or difficult; and often through an uncertainty of what to do now, a feeling that frequently stems from having too much to do and not knowing where to start. The solution here is keeping a tight schedule and sticking to it religiously: know what you need to do, and allot specific times in the day when you're going to do a particular task, and nothing else. Make sure you plan enough time for everything that you need to do - or to prioritise key tasks if you doubt that you'll be able to complete them all - and don't forget to include breaks. Taking a break might seem like time wasting, but it's refreshing your body enough to be able to keep focusing on the work.

Stay organised

Finally, it's an awful lot easier to get the work done if you're well organised. Keep your workspace neat and tidy; if you use pens or pencils or any other stationary, put it away when you've finished with it so you can find it again; and keep a clear and thorough to-do list, so you can identify what work is required of you, rather than staring at a pile of papers on your desk or emails in your inbox.

If you're going to ensure that the task in hand is always completed to the best of your ability, it's important to give yourself every chance of success. You might want to consider a short training course in developing the skills needed to do just that - but however you approach the situation, it should be clear that any step taken to improve your working environment and to get rid of distractions, procrastination and disorganisation is a step very much in the right direction. And maybe, if you succeed with the work that needs to be done, you'll eventually be rewarded with a spot of doing nothing on the beach.