Sebastiaan ter Burg/Flickr "Inception" is one of my all-time favorite movies. In it, characters find themselves in dream worlds without knowing where they are or how they got there.

That's how I used to feel throughout the day… every day.

One minute I was focused on the most important thing on my to do list; the next I was on a news site or on social media with dozens of tabs open in my browser. Once I started noticing myself on Facebook while I was driving, I knew something had to change. Constant distractions had rewired my brain and were having a direct impact on my company's success and even my safety.

To start, I deleted all social-media apps from my phone and added parental controls so I could not access any of them from my browser. (Only my wife has the password, and she is unforgiving.)

I also downloaded the StayFocused Chrome plugin to limit my time on social media to 20 minutes per day and installed the News Feed Eradicator to completely eliminate the Facebook news feed. It worked. My productivity skyrocketed.

Going through this process reminded me how important focus is. Curious how others handled distractions, I reached out to some of the hardworking young entrepreneurs featured in the Empact Showcase to see how they stay focused.

Here are 10 tips you can immediately apply for quick wins:

1. Divide your day into 15-minute blocks.

With so much going on in your business, it's very easy to get distracted with multi-tasking. I have found that working in focused batches where I focus on one thing at a time has significantly increased my productivity.Studies show that working while distracted is like working after you've pulled an all-nighter and can reduce your productivity by as much as 40 percent.

I start out my week by planning out everything that I'd like to get done this week. I then divide my tasks into 15-minute time blocks which allows me to set realistic deadlines and not waste time. I then use TimeDoctor to hold me accountable. It tracks what applications I use down to the second and gives me insight on how I work.

To learn more about working in focused chunks of time, I recommend checking out the Pomodoro Technique.

—Founder Syed Balkhi of WP Beginner

2. Forget "underpromise and overdeliver." Be accurate.

"Underpromise and overdeliver" is age-old business advice, but it may not be worth the effort. According to a recent study, people tend to value promises that are exceeded about as much as they value promises that are simply kept.

In my experience, being honest about the time that I have to do quality work for my stakeholders helps to foster deep relationships built on trust and relieves personal pressure (research shows that feeling control over one's schedule reduces mental fatigue).

Here's how I do it: