How to Maintain Focus When Your Mind Starts to Wander
It happens to the best of us – no matter how hard you try, you can’t always maintain focus on what you’re working on. Maybe you sit down to work with the best of intentions but find your mind starts churning like a hamster on a wheel and suddenly you’re way behind the schedule you set for yourself. Or maybe you sit down to a challenging project, and quickly find your mind is focused on anything but that project?
It’s natural for the mind to wander. Especially when you become overwhelmed, your mind has a tendency to retreat into “safer” areas – things like day dreams, to-do lists, and what you’re making for dinner.
But it can also be incredibly frustrating and prevent you from taking care of important tasks and achieving your goals.
In the last post I covered time management tools and techniques you can listen to that episode and get the Worksheet here.
And now I’m diving into tools and techniques to help you stay focused.
Why time management comes before maintaining focus
I’ve addressed the topics in this order intentionally – one of the biggest reasons we can’t focus is because we’re overcommitted and over scheduled.
Adam introduced me to the powerful quote – “When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.”
When our plates are too full, we struggle to focus on any single thing because we can’t figure out what actually deserves our priority attention.
So if you haven’t listened to last weeks episode yet, I highly encourage you to start there. Begin by taking some time management steps and then come back here to dive into techniques to help you stay focused.
Figure out what works for you
Just as with time management, approach this with a sense of play and exploration, try each technique and see which one (or ones) work for you!
I’ve created a companion Cheat Sheet for this episode you can use it as a reference to remind you of the tools and techniques to help you with focus the next time your find your mind wandering away from the task at hand.
You can grab your copy using the form below – consider printing it out and keeping it front and center wherever you try to do work so it’s there when you need a reminder to maintain focus on what you’re working on!
There are so many things that can keep us from focusing on the task at hand – let’s go through a few of them.
Do you have undone tasks that are weighing on you?
Perhaps the room you’re working in is messy, you’re out of clean clothes, you promised your roommate you would make dinner, or you’re anxious about a phone call you need to make.
This problem tends to be magnified if you’re working from home, and faced with all of your home tasks as well as your work tasks at the same time.
Ideally you would take care of the tasks weighing heaviest on you first, once they’re off your plate, it’ll be much easier to focus on the next highest priority.
However, sometimes you have deadlines that require you to focus on a specific task first. If you can’t address something that’s stressing you out right away, schedule in a time and date to take care of it – add it to your calendar and treat it like a non-negotiable.
Do you need to energize or burn off excess energy?
When you sit down to work, do you feel fidgety and anxious? Or are you drowsy and fuzzy headed?
In this case you might need to either burn off extra energy or get your energy moving to clear your head.
Burning off excess energy
If you need to burn off energy, try some physical activity – try taking a walk, putting on your favorite music and having a dance party for one, or anything else that feels like fun and gets your body moving.
This is also a great time to take care of some of the physical tasks on your productive procrastination list we talked about last week. Think about things like throwing in a load of laundry, taking out the trash, or walking to the other side of the building to drop off some research for a colleague.
Energizing if you’re drowsy
I love the Breath of Joy for energizing during the mid-afternoon slump. I’ve got a video tutorial of this pranayama here so you can watch and learn the technique.
And if you’re feeling drowsy or fuzzy headed getting outside in the fresh air can give you an instant boost. Even opening a window and allowing in the fresh air can be helpful.
If you know you slept poorly the night before, or you’re chronically sleep deprived and struggling to keep your eyes open, consider taking a short nap (sixty minutes max) or using a Yoga Nidra.
Studies have found naps improve executive functioning, memory formation, subsequent learning and emotional processing. Just a few guidelines:
- keep the naps under an hour, and
- don’t nap within three hours of your bedtime.
Longer or later naps can leave you feeling even groggier or result in disrupting your normal sleep schedule – the opposite helping you maintain focus!
If you can’t nap, consider a Yoga Nidra – 40 minutes of this practice is the equivalent of three hours of sleep. You can find tons of free options on YouTube or in Insight Timer (no affiliation – just a fan) and can simply sit in your chair and put your head down on your desk, so this is great option if you can’t leave the office! Even a 10-15 minute Yoga Nidra will offer a refresh if you’re feeling drowsy.
Are you daydreaming?
If you find yourself drifting off into daydreams, consider setting a timer and letting yourself really indulge in the daydreams for 5 -10 minutes.
Recent studies by researchers at the University of Calgary have found daydreaming activates the part of the brain used in creative thinking. Additional studies have also found daydreaming is linked to a positive mindset and can boost your mood.
It’s important to note the difference between daydreaming and ruminating.
- Daydreaming is imagining sitting on a tropical beach in the middle of winter or thinking about a delicious meal you’re excited to cook for dinner.
- Ruminating is revisiting a fight with a partner or something you regret saying.
While daydreaming is healthy, ruminating can leave you stuck in negative thoughts and patterns. So while giving yourself permission to let your mind wander for a few minutes might help you think and feel better, make sure you’re not getting stuck in regrets about the past or fear about the future.
It’s not just about letting your mind wander, but also paying attention to where it’s going when it does.
Alignment with your unique priorities
Are the tasks on your to-do list just not interesting to you. I touched on this last week when we talked about reducing overcommitment, but it’s important to note that you’re going to struggle to focus on something that just isn’t interesting to you.
This would be a perfect time to revisit Episode 6 where we talked about taming your to-do list. The worksheet for that episode is a great tool in helping you to remove tasks that aren’t in alignment with your unique priorities.
When you begin to fill your to-do list with tasks you’re excited about, and remove those things that bore you to tears, it becomes a lot easier to focus on the task at hand!
Aligning tasks with the way you think
Remember that classmate in school who just seemed to get certain lessons you struggled with but failed their driving test three times while you sailed through with flying colors on your first try?
Recognizing that we don’t all think and learn the same way is a great tool in discovering how to sustain focus on something.
Do you focus better by listening to an audio book or reading a physical book? This can help you understand if you’re more of an auditory learner or a visual one?
Maybe you do best with experiential tasks – do hands on activities keep you more engaged?
There isn’t a right or wrong here, it’s simply about finding what works best for you!
Adam loves working with his hands and doing something different each day. I love sitting with a computer on my lap and writing all day. He’d struggle with focusing if he had my job, and I’d be an anxious exhausted mess if I had his job. Recognizing where we thrive allows us to tailor our activities to be the best fit for us.
Consider how you could tweak the tasks where you struggle to focus in order to play into your specific learning and processing strengths.
For instance – if you struggle to write but love to have conversations, can you use text-to-speech tools to narrate reports and emails instead of typing them? You can even pretend you’re having a conversation as you do it. You’ll have to review and proof-read, but it shifts the content creation to focus on your strengths.
Write it all down
If you’re trying to see the forest and the trees at the same time while also remembering the scientific name of each tree it’s easy to become overwhelmed and zone out.
I’ve discovered if something isn’t written into my calendar it doesn’t happen. That means I add things like making phone calls, cooking dinner, and doing a load of laundry in addition to actual appointments and work projects.
Even if you’re better are remembering tasks than I am, try writing everything down – once it’s out of your head you not only release that mental energy to actually execute the task, but you can also see how extensive your to-do list is. And you may discover you need to go back to the overcommitment discussion!
You can also use technology to help you keep track things. Consider adding reminders to your phone or electronic virtual assistant – just make sure you don’t add so many you just ignore them as they come up.
Break it into bite sized pieces
It can also be easy to lose focus if we’re only looking at the big picture end goal and it feels like we’re never getting any closer to reaching it. I love breaking big projects up into small bite-sized pieces.
For instance: if you were trying to write a book, instead of seeing the goal as a finished book, set the goal as writing either: 10 pages, a chapter, or for 30 minutes. Pick something that feels achievable to you.
And once you’ve reached that milestone, reward yourself. Pick a reasonable reward that’s enticing enough for you to overcome the challenge. Think of things like a bowl of ice cream, a walk around the block, or 10 minutes cuddling with your cat/dog.
After your reward, sit back down and tackle the next small step you’ve set for yourself. It might help to map out each small step and the reward for completion. Depending on the scale of the project, you might include larger rewards for bigger milestone achievements. For example, you might get takeout from your favorite restaurant when you finish the first draft of your book.
The invitation in struggling to maintain focus
Before we close out this episode, I just want to remind you again that it’s normal and natural to need breaks throughout the day.
Try seeing the struggle to stay focused as the opportunity to discover what your mind and body need in that given moment. And then do your best to honor the request.
We’ve covered a lot of tools and techniques in this episode – don’t forget I’ve put it all together for you in a free Cheat Sheet you can download using the form below.
Use the Cheat Sheet to experiment with discovering the tools and techniques that help you reduce distractions and stay focused.
If you’ve got a question that you’d love to hear addressed on a future episode, please submit it here. And remember – living your best life isn’t about changing your life – it’s about changing the way you show up for your life!
Show Notes
Additional Resources
Grab the Cheat Sheet for this episode using the form below.
Listen to the first half of this discussion covering time management tools and techniques.
Learn how to use the Breath of Joy for an energizing boost.
Get started Taming Your To-Do List.
Schedule a Discovery Session with me.
Submit your question to be featured on a future episode.
