-
The wide range of media available ranging from social environments to cable television fights for our attention
-
Focusing on the job can be a great boost to productivity
-
Short focus times will still be very production
-
Remote workers can attain focus easier than in an office environment
With the fantastic amount of media available on the Internet not to mention cable television, satellite radio, podcasts, and many other distractions, achieving focus on your work is getting tougher and tougher. Add to that text messaging, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all of the other media available and maintaining focus is a real challenge.
Focus, Focus, Focus
In ages past, when working at a desk in an office, there was not much else going on except for an occasional person wandering by or the phone ringing. Focus was still hard because of daydreaming (me) but there were not too many distractions.
To achieve focus now, one needs to be very deliberate and forceful in making sure the mind does not wander. This is one of the reasons that remote workers can get more done than those in an office. Working at home or another remote location in peace and quiet makes it much easier to pay attention to the work. If someone wants to talk then they must deliberately take steps (e.g., call, email, message, text). In an office, it is much easier to wander by and start gabbing.
Short Focus Times
For someone like myself where focus does not come naturally, this is a painful, wrenching, deliberate effort. Rather than trying to focus, half a day, or even a couple of hours, I find myself practicing extremely short “focus times.” On the days when I am most tired or distracted, I set a goal to focus for 15 minutes and then take a short break of a few minutes. After a break, back to another 15 or 30 minutes of focus and it is amazing how much can get done.
I am jealous of those that can focus continuously for hours at a time but I suspect 99.9% of employees cannot do that. Under times of extreme duress (customer or management pounding on me), I can do continuous marathon focus sessions but that cannot be done all the time and is exhausting.
Productivity Magic
Practicing focus brings a great benefit of productivity. One of the worst feelings is to have several things started and nothing finished. Even if you get in trouble for not getting several activities accomplished, focusing on item one at a time has great benefits. Once completed, the activity is out of the way and you can focus on the next issue.
Good luck on getting your focus!