Ever had those days where you have work that needs to be finished, but your mind seems to go everywhere else except where it needs to go? Some are fortunate enough to have these days few and far between while others have these days more often than not. The good news is, there are ways to help increase your focus so that you can get the task finished. In this blog, we’re going to talk about different ways to increase your focus including some exercises that will help increase your focus and thereby increase your mental wellness.
Stop the Self-Blame
I can’t stress this enough. Don’t get me wrong, I’m bad at this too. Whenever I have a really difficult time focusing at work and feel as if I’m not getting nearly enough finished, I tear myself to pieces exclaiming how I’m a terrible worker. Self-blame is an extremely hard habit to cut but now is as good of a time as any to get rid of it. Blaming yourself for your lack of focus is not going to help you focus. Rather, it’s better to acknowledge that you’re not focusing and try to bring your focus back to what it needs to be without being mean to yourself. I try my hardest to do this and I do find that it’s a lot easier for me to focus back on my original task when I’m being kind to myself.
Set a Small Daily Goal for Yourself
If you’ve been going through a period of time where you really feel like your focus is waning, start by setting a goal for yourself to accomplish that day. Having long-term goals is excellent, but it’s also important to have smaller goals that are easy to accomplish because it helps increase your motivation and gives you that sense of accomplishment which can boost you into your next task.
The daily goal doesn’t have to be big. A small task that you could finish that day would be good. To give you an example of a small daily goal, you could tidy your work desk or clear out your emails. Start small and work your way up. You’ll start to notice a difference in your focus!
Get Organized With a Planner
Sometimes a little organization can help us redirect our focus. Write down your daily goals, weekly goals, and your monthly goals. Make a daily list for yourself of the tasks you’d like to complete and, if it helps you, set time frames when you’d like to complete them. I like to use a Panda Planner to help me with my monthly, weekly, and daily goals and tasks. I find that it helps to keep me on track and helps me to remain motivated. Remember to keep your planner near you so that you can refer to it and look at it often.
Eliminate Obvious Distractions
There are always a few things we can do for ourselves to help ensure we stay focused on a task. One of those is to eliminate distractions. For example, you may find that your phone is distracting. So when you’re working on a task, consider putting your phone in your desk drawer and not getting it back out until you finish that task.
If you find yourself wondering to Facebook or Pinterest, consider blocking those websites on your computer so that you can’t access them during work times. You can even limit the time you spend on these websites so that when you spend the allotted amount of time, it will block you from using it. Jacob’s found this to be extremely helpful during times when he is unable to focus.
Exercises to Help Increase Focus
There are daily exercises that you can implement that may help you increase your focus altogether. If your focus is wavering more often than not, try these exercises and see if they help you after a few weeks. Each of these exercises can be done within 5 minutes and can be practiced multiple times a day.
Listen and Focus
For this exercise, find a place where you can sit comfortably in a wakeful posture. Close your eyes and listen. What do you hear? The whirring of a fan? Birds twittering outside? Tapping rain on the roof? Pick a sound and focus on that sound for a couple of minutes. Whenever you feel your thoughts stray, bring them back to the sound that you’re focusing on. When you’re ready, you can switch your focus to another sound.
Look and Focus
Rather than using our hearing, we’ll be using our sight for this next exercise. Pick something that you find that looks interesting to you. Focus on each detail and notice everything you can about it. Anytime you find your eyes or your thoughts wandering, gently bring your thoughts and focus back onto the object. Pay particular attention to any detail you can.
Feel and Focus
For this one, you’ll be picking an object and feeling it. Notice the different textures and different colors. In your mind, describe how the object feels in your hands. For example, if you choose to focus on an orange, notice the feeling of the skin. Is the skin waxy, smooth, sticky? What about the texture? Is it extremely bumpy or is it smoother? Is it large or small? What shape is it? Once again, anytime you notice your thoughts drifting, gently bring them back to what you’re focusing on.
Hopefully, your focus will increase with these small exercises! If you’re looking for more ways to increase your focus, check out this article by Psychology Today. You can also see this article by Very Well Mind. Increasing your focus can be tough, but well worth it.