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Hello everyone, this is Cody Nickol from Work Growth Thrive. Today, I want to discuss why you might feel distracted at work, a common issue that we all face. We live in a world filled with distractions that compete for our attention. In this video, I hope to provide some helpful tips that you can use to minimize distractions and increase your productivity.
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1. You Feel Overwhelmed
Now, let’s get straight to it. Feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start is the first reason why you might be struggling with distractions at work. Feeling overwhelmed is an emotional state, so my advice is to first get your emotions under control. Don’t focus on the task’s enormity; instead, concentrate on your breathing for a few minutes.
Use the box breathing method, inhaling for four seconds, and exhaling for another four seconds. This technique will help you calm down and regain your composure. Next, break down the task into smaller, bite-sized parts. This method will help you tackle the task without feeling overwhelmed or anxious.
Before you overanalyze things, just start. This is really crucial. When we feel overwhelmed, even trying to prioritize things can be difficult, so it’s important just to get the ball rolling, to pick up some momentum and just start.
2. You’re Multitasking
The next reason you might have difficulty focusing and concentrating at work is that you’re multitasking. There used to be the teaching that multitasking leads to more productivity, but nowadays we know that’s really bad advice. Actually, multitasking doesn’t help you to work more effectively or efficiently. In fact, if you multitask, things can take up to 40% longer than if you just do one task, finish it, and then start the next one.
So why do we tend to multitask and get distracted, jumping from one task to the next? For example, an email comes in and we stop what we’re doing to answer it. Or we check our phone and then get back to what we were doing.
When we’re focused, the two parts of our prefrontal cortex, responsible for reasoning and concentration, work in harmony on one task. But when we multitask, the brain toggles between the two hemispheres of the prefrontal cortex. By trying to do everything at once we burn through our brain’s cognitive resources and as a result feel really tired.
Even though these are negative consequences we multitask because the reward center of our brain seeks novelty and new experiences. Through switching, the reward center of our brain gets flooded with hormones like dopamine. For this reason we tend to do many insignificant and inconsequential tasks instead of just focusing on one main task.
So what can we do if we can’t focuse because we’re multitasking?
Work on the Most Difficult Task First
The first piece of advice I would give you is to work on the most difficult task. Consider what the most challenging task is, the one you’ve been avoiding, and do that. Many refer to this as “eating the frog.”
Prioritize High Impact Tasks (Pareto Principle)
Another thing you can consider is the Pareto principle. Identify the top 20% of tasks that will result in 80% of the results. What are the high-impact tasks? Start with those.
Time Block
Additionally, you can use time-blocking. Schedule what you want to work on and when. That way, you don’t have to think about what you need to do; it’s already in your calendar. You know what you need to work on and when to work on it.
Use the Pomodoro Technique
Another popular technique is the Pomodoro technique. This involves working in a concentrated way for 25 minutes, taking a five-minute break, and then repeating the cycle four times. After the fourth time, you take a 30-minute break. This approach alternates between periods of focused work and rest, making it an excellent way to complete tasks, even ones you don’t particularly enjoy.
3. You’re Mentally Drained
Another reason why you might have trouble focusing and concentrating at work is that you’re mentally drained.
Rest
In this case, it’s essential to make rest a priority. Integrate rest into your schedule. Our bodies naturally move from levels of high energy to low energy. For instance we may often sit in meetings while we’re hungry. We push through those low energy phases and we’re not very productive at our work. We think we can’t take a break because we have so much to do. But actually, if we took a break, ate a healthy snack, and got a little bit of rest, we would ultimately be more productive.
Practice Positive Constructive Daydreaming
Another thing that you can do if you’re feeling mentally drained is to practice positive, constructive daydreaming. This is simply said, a way to let your mind wander. Let’s say you’re walking or doing something that doesn’t require much focus like knitting or cleaning. Use that time to just let your mind wander. It could be about your goals or something that happened at work. Just see what happens. What research shows is that during this kind of targeted daydreaming, you get the most creative ideas, and at the same time give your brain a chance to recover.
Take Care of Personal Matters
If you have difficulties in your private life it can be hard to focus at work. In research, we call this a spillover effect. If you’re not doing too well in your private life, of course, it’s going to spill over at work and vice versa. So, you might have to shift your priorities to care more for your private situation.
4. You’re Bored
Another reason why you might have difficulty concentrating or focusing at work is that you’re just bored. You’re not being challenged enough. For me a boring task is data entry. I really don’t like doing it.
Use Tangential Immersion
To tackle such tasks you can use a technique called tangential immersion. If working on a task that doesn’t require all of your concentration, you can add another task or activity on top of it to fill the rest of your concentration capacity. For example, while I’m entering data, I can listen to music. The music that’s playing in the background takes the rest of my attention capacity, so it’s easier to focus and finish the task.
Make the Task More Enjoyable
If you’re bored, try making the task a little bit more enjoyable. For example, you can prepare your favorite drink before starting. You then associate doing this task with something that sparks a little bit of joy. This makes the whole thing more pleasant.
Make the Task More Meaningful
You can also make the task more meaningful. It’s possible to build a positive assocation with the task. For example, if I get my data entry done, I can stop work a little bit early, and then hit the gym or have more time for my hobbies. The goal is to associate completing a particular task with something that is meaningful and motivating to you.
Another way to make tasks more meaningful is to use something called superordinate framing. With this technique you consider how completing your task enables others to meet their goals so that ultimately everyone reaches a greater goal. This is quite motivating. You consider not merely how how your contribution completes the whole. Rather you consider even more how your contribution connects with others’ contributions to reach a greater, common goal. We know from the GTD principles in psychology that this approach can increase your intrinsic motivation.
Give Yourself Less Time
Another reason you’re bored is you have too much time to finish the task. According to Parkinson’s law the time it takes to carry out a task depends on the amount of time that’s available for it. If I give myself an hour to enter data it’s gonna take an hour. But if I give myself 30 minutes, maybe I can finish in 30 minutes. Try to give yourself less time to work on such tasks. This helps generate a positive stress that gives you a sense of urgency. Because you feel the deadline approaching quickly, you’re more likely to work in a focused way.
5. Your Environment is Distracting
The final reason why you might have trouble focusing at work is that your environment is distracting.
Put Your Phone Away
It’s a terrible idea to have your private phone near you at work. Take it and put it in another room, put it in a drawer, put it somewhere that makes it hard to access. If you do this probably 50% of your distractions will go away.
Set Boundaries
Another thing is you have to set boundaries. For instance you may have a colleague who likes to chat with you a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to have a positive working atmosphere and to connect with your coworkers. However, if this has a negative effect on your productivity, it’s important to limit how much your colleague can interrupt you.
You can say in a polite way, “It was nice talking with you. Let’s catch up some more later.” Or you can tell your colleagues, “Hey, I have to concentrate quite a bit on this next task, so if you all need anything, let’s touch base in about two hours.”
Summary
Thank you for listening. In summary, there are several reasons you may find it difficult to concentrate at work. First, you just feel overwhelmed. So it’s important to take care of your emotions: break down the task into small parts, and just start. Second, you’re multitasking. Learn to prioritize and focus on one thing at a time. Third, you feel mentally drained. Please make rest a priority. Even try to let your mind wander and do some positive constructive daydreaming.
Four, if you’re bored, you can make the task more meaningful or give yourself less time to work on it. Five, your environment is distracting. Put away the distractions and learn to set boundaries.
Thanks for watching! Please come back soon for more great content. If you’re interested in 1:1 coaching feel free to reach out to me here.
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