Are you among those who find it difficult to concentrate on the job at hand? If so, you are not the only one as research proves that today's world is full of concentration killers.

In other words, how does one focus on completing the work at hand if there are any numbers of distractions around us? With social networking fast becoming the norm rather than the exception, how can one disconnect from friends and connect back to work? Check out eight major causes for concentration lapses:

1. Cell phone: The ringtone on your cell is probably the most irritating sound that you can seldom ignore. If are in the habit of talking nonstop over the phone, it could well slacken the momentum of work that you were handling. A good idea would be to put your phone on silent mode.

2. Multitasking: There is nothing like multitasking at work. Every time you try and do more than one thing at a time, rest assured that your focus is divided and so is the attention span. Research suggests that moving from one task to the other takes longer as it results in a shifting of your attention.

3. Social media: Avoid checking your social media status every few minutes. Try and do it during breaks, say once every hour. Trust us, there is nothing that you are going to miss during this interval.

4. Email trouble: Do you have this urge to instantly reply to all emails that land into your inbox? Try and avoid this instinct as though most of the mails may be work related, the sender is not awaiting an instant response. For, if that were so, you may have got a call on your phone instead of a mail.

5. An empty stomach: Nobody in this world can function efficiently on an empty stomach. So, trying to skip meals in order to finish some work is a bad idea as a hungry person is most likely to have a lapse in concentration. And if you are a morning person, never miss breakfast.

6. Feeling bored: Several daily tasks could be less interesting than a few others. However, it is the boring ones that last long because they happen to be the ones that fail to capture our complete attention. Try and take more breaks during such tasks as the things you like doing will never seem boring or stressful.

7. Stress: Getting too many projects on your plate could result in stress and illness. If you see symptoms like headaches, a racing heart or tight shoulders, understand that it is time for a break.