Given that work-life balance was thrown out the window with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s little surprise that it’s difficult to focus on work.
While our chiming phones and the promise of a sunny day outside the office windows were distracting before, at this point, it may be everything from screaming kids, a barking dog, to your neighbors who are also home 24/7.
What’s more, we’re all living through a global pandemic amongst a dozen other horrifying pieces of daily news, so really, it’s understandable that many of us are unfocused at work.
We have a lot on our minds.
Feeling Unfocused? 5 Ways to Improve Your Focus
If you're looking to improve your focus, we have five ways to do it.
Practice Mindfulness
This isn’t the 30-second miracle tip everyone was hoping for, but it works. By practicing mindfulness a little bit every day—even if it’s just five minutes of meditation—your brain becomes trained to live in the moment. As such, your focus improves since your brain has adjusted to being present versus contemplating a dozen different thoughts at once.
Calendar Your Tasks
Just as we prioritize meetings on our work calendar that help ensure we grab a coffee prior to the start of an essential appointment with colleagues, placing your tasks on your calendar and assigning a block to work on them can help improve your focus. This is easiest if you start with a to-do list, listing out even the most minor tasks with due dates and estimated blocks of time that each assignment might take.
Then, strategically block out time on your calendar for these tasks, prioritizing important deadlines and, further, giving preference for times during the day when you work best. For morning people, that might be before the kids wake up and daily meetings begin around 7:00. For afternoon folks, that might be after lunch when the morning rush has slowed down.
Whenever you work best, block off those times on your calendar and make it a habit. Your colleagues will pick up on this and schedule meetings around your calendar-ed tasks, allowing you to focus on tasks more efficiently as opposed to leaving them for times during the day when you need a break, such as a walk or a coffee.
Clean Your Space
By now, we all know that clutter in our surrounding space leads to clutter in our minds—thank you, Marie Kondo! As tough as it can be to continually maintain a neat environment, it is nevertheless essential for success.
Even just setting aside fifteen minutes at the end of your workday to tidy it up for the next day can be helpful. What’s more, ensure that your space allows for you to be focused. For example, is your desk near a loud window? Are you distracted people-watching and by the sounds of the street? Or is your desk in a dark corner that exacerbates your screen fatigue? Think over the pros and cons of your workplace setup and be proactive about changing up what isn’t working for you.
Care for Your Body
Our brains tend to lose focus rapidly when we’re tired. Ensuring that you’re able to get a good night of sleep before a long workday is essential. Not only is it important to get seven to eight hours of sleep, it’s also crucial to eat a fulfilling meal when you’re hungry and to make time for exercise. A healthy brain is one that can focus more readily.
If you’re hungry mid-meeting, there’s no doubt that’s what is causing your lack of focus in the moment. Similarly, if your body requires daily exercise, restlessness can make you distracted, too. As such, make time to take care of your body and what it needs, whether that’s nine hours of sleep or two cups of coffee. You know you best, and it’s important to prioritize your needs if you hope to succeed at the office.
Communicate
Finally, communicate with your team if focus is genuinely an issue. Ever since work-from-home began, companies have been increasingly flexible with their teams and work schedules.
Maybe a 9:00 to 5:00 routine isn’t working for you, but a schedule where you worked in short periods of time from 7:00 to 7:00 is better suited for your lifestyle. Be honest with your team, and see what’s possible. As long as your tasks are getting completed and the rest of your colleagues are aware of when they can reach you, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
How Being Unfocused Hurts Your Work
Needless to say, being unfocused hurts your performance at work. It can cause issues like a damaged work ethic if tasks take longer to complete than they should or a damaged reputation if your coworkers feel they can't collaborate with you. In short, it’s important to get a handle on your distracted brain.
If these issues persist, they could hamper your career in more damaging ways like fewer promotions, minimal bonuses, poor recommendation letters, and an awkward team dynamic.
How to Work with Someone Who is Unfocused
If you have to work with someone who is often distracted, be honest about the challenges you face in having to work with them and discuss a strategy for tackling the tasks at hand. Ideally, your boss will reiterate employee expectations and review this person’s performance to better pinpoint whether the lack of focus affects their work.
You can always reach out to your manager for help in steering this person on the right track, but first, attempt communicating openly and honestly. Gently steer the conversations back to the assignment if they often change the subject, and suggest a lunch break to discuss all non-work-related ideas.
Ultimately, it's challenging to work with someone who is unfocused, but their lack of focus affects them and their career more than it affects you. Still, be firm about the work you are willing to take on despite their lack of focus in completing tasks, and try working during different times of the day or in a different location to determine if that might help with their focus.
Moreover, if their lack of focus manifests in them accidentally hitting “reply all” on messages versus directing their email to one individual or similarly scatter-brained actions, volunteer to take charge of that aspect of the project so that it’s one fewer task that you have to rely on someone unfocused to take care of.
Signs It’s Not Just A Matter of Focus
If focus has been a chronic issue, there is a chance that the lack of focus is pointing towards a diagnosis like ADHD. If it’s difficult to focus on a task for an extended period of time if you struggle with organization, often feel restless, abandon old assignments for a shiny new project, or often misplace items, there could be a chance that you have ADHD or that you're struggling with anxiety.
Speak to a medical professional if you genuinely feel as if you can’t get a handle on your issues with focus.
