How to Improve Your Focus in the Workplace
Posted April 14th, 2014
Getting ourselves to focus on the work we are doing is often a real battle. Our concentration is often broken by stray thoughts that flit through our minds, everything from what we plan to eat for supper, to a household chore we need to do, to something we need to pick up at the store, to feelings of regret or depression at goals not achieved.
Assuming that this condition isn’t caused by any clinical problems, there are some simple steps you can take to shut down these intruding thoughts.
- Write It Down! The focus of the solution involves writing things down. By doing this we take them out of the ether and make them concrete, giving us the peace of mind in knowing that we will not forget about them, that they are still there and we can confront them at another time.
- Categorize Lists: Some psychologists suggest making lists, and breaking up those lists into three areas. One category consists of things that you definitely need to do, things that must get done. Another category is for things that aren’t quite that urgent, things that you might possibly want to do but are not absolutely necessary. And finally, a third category is for things that you just want to forget about, things that are just cluttering your mind for no good reason.
- Brain Dump: These lists are all-inclusive and should contain everything that has been floating through your mind, not simply tasks you need to get done, but your desires, feelings and anxieties as well. This would include such things as goals you want to set for yourself, habits you want to stop or start, regrets about what you have done with your life, fears or anxieties about an upcoming event, or conflicts you are having with other people.
In other words, you need to get everything onto these lists to make them effective. When people begin to write all this stuff down, they begin to realize something else – how much of it is stuff that is simply not worth worrying about because there is little they can do about it, or how much stuff really isn’t that important and can wait until later to be taken care of. They begin to see that all of this stuff is simply cluttering up their mind like old furniture and keepsakes in an attic.
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