Focus at Work: Essential Tips for Staying on Task

Modern life means we are surrounded by distractions: from smartphone notifications and multiple social media streams, to a surplus of unnecessary commitments and a never-ending to-do list. There is always something we should be busy with, and so many distractions pulling our focus from the task in front of us.

This conundrum is made even more challenging when we face it in an open office setting. Spontaneous interactions with colleagues, ringing phones, loud conversations, people moving about, or doors constantly opening and closing can all contribute to more distractions and less productivity.

Here are a handful of strategies to consider if you are exploring how to stay focused in an office without coming off as rude or antisocial to your colleagues.

Benefits of Learning How to Stay Focused in an Office

As with anything that requires effort, the benefits of exploring how to focus better at work serve as an excellent incentive. Some reasons to put a little more energy into your concentration levels in the office include:

Getting More Done in Less Time

Distracted workers are less productive, sometimes losing over two hours a day to interruptions. That could mean more than 10 unproductive hours per week. Simply reducing work hours can be motivating when considering how to focus better at work.

Building Momentum

Uninterrupted time spent on projects is the key to completing them efficiently – or at all. 45 minutes of undisturbed focus is likely to produce more work than 45 minutes of total work time broken up by indulging distractions whenever they crop up. Uninterrupted work could also mean putting smaller, less important daily tasks aside to pursue a higher priority one with more important outcomes.

Reducing Stress and Promoting Better Work/Life Balance

Working less productively means more hours spent on work than is necessary. This may result in work bleeding into your private life, with you taking work home or staying up late to complete tasks. When you finish the work you aimed to complete in the day, you are less likely to feel guilty about clocking off and reduce stress by promoting better work/life balance.

Tips for How to Stay Focused in an Office

Put Aside Time for Your Colleagues

While fellow workers may be one of your biggest distractors, there is also merit to having company in the office. Getting to know your colleagues and interacting regularly provides opportunities for connection, collaboration, humor and support. Mentally block out time each day to catch up and interact with other staff members. This will help you set more realistic deadlines and feel less stressed or rushed for time if a colleague wants to catch up.

Go With the Flow

If you are establishing how to stay focused in an office, dedicate time to observing your circadian rhythms. They dictate the times of day we are most likely to be energetic, focused or drowsy. Pay attention to peaks and dips in your concentration, assigning more important tasks to those hours where you feel the most productive. Digital time trackers can help you observe time spent on the same activity during the morning versus afternoon, helping you deduce when you are at your most efficient.

Align Expectations

Sharing an understanding of office dos and don’ts can help colleagues in a communal space to work more effectively together. Perhaps all team members agree to speak in whispers when a colleague is on the phone, or there is an earbud protocol in place where wearing two earbuds means “do not disturb”, wearing one earbud means “ask before disturbing” and no earbuds in means “I’m free to talk”.

Wear Noise-Cancelling Headphones

When you are in “do not disturb” mode, noise-cancelling headphones can help to drown out distractions – whether you choose to play classical music, white noise, or whatever helps you concentrate best. As discussed above, these can also serve as a visual cue that you don’t want to be interrupted – although you should use them sparingly so as to still promote healthy social dynamics.

Move Around the Office

Even the most open-plan offices are likely to have a few secluded areas for more concentration-heavy work. If you are exploring how to stay focused in an office, ask your boss if you can keep an eye out for an open conference room, semi-private cubicles or even desks that may be free due to absenteeism. If you work in a large company, it can be helpful to move to a different floor of the building, where you presumably know fewer people and are thus less likely to be distracted. You may even request permission to leave the office temporarily to a nearby coffee shop when you are busy with particularly focus-demanding tasks. This is a smaller ask than requesting to work remotely.

Use Your Commute Wisely

Having energy to focus requires taking full advantage of your “off” time. If you have a commute to the office each day, make use of the precious alone time with a consistent “pre-work routine”. Whether it is listening to a podcast, reading a book, planning a holiday or even napping on the train, targeted, routine downtime can help to not only provide you with extra rest, but also condition you to slip into work mode once your commute is complete.

Keep an Organized Work Space

A cluttered space can create a restless mind. When exploring how to stay focused in an office, try freeing your work space from old post, unnecessary office supplies or non-urgent filing. Even if your desk is tidy, remove extra items and create a simple, even slightly boring environment. Too much visual stimulation – even if it is organized and appealing – can contribute to brain fog and lower productivity.

Adjust Your Environment

Learning how to focus better at work requires you to adapt the ergonomics of your chair and desk. Raise or lower your seat so your feet sit flat on the floor or on a foot rest. Ensure your computer screen is slightly below your eye level – computer risers can help if this isn’t the case. Adjust the back support of your chair to sit flush against your lower back (there are portable back supports that can help with this). Reducing stress is an important part of considering how to focus better at work. Plants have been shown to relieve stress in the workplace – so invest in a small houseplant to place on your desk. Try to bring in as much natural light as possible, opening shutters near you if available, or bringing your own overhead LED lamp to work to emulate natural lighting.

Just Start Working and the Brain will Catch Up

You don’t always have to start strong to get stuck into a project. Even if your mind is blank, get started on the task at hand. If, for example, you are writing an article, sit at your desk and begin writing, even if the quality is poor. Simply starting the process can be enough to kick start the brain into focus-mode, regardless of getting off to a bumpy start.

Write Down Other Thoughts and Ideas

Often, a plethora of thoughts, to-dos and ideas crop up while you’re busy with something else. Rather than allowing your brain to follow each thought, simply write all of them down on a nearby notepad. This way, you won’t worry about forgetting them later, but you’ll resist disturbing your concentration to address ideas in live time. If you’re writing up something, the same goes for editing. Rather than disrupting your focus by checking your grammar and spelling as you go, return to editing once the whole body of work is complete.

Improve Your Bedtime Routine

While this obviously doesn’t refer to in-office practices, the standard of other routines in your everyday life can influence your productivity at work. Focus and performance are dependent on sleep quality, and if your office hours are fairly rigid, you will benefit from consistent sleep patterns. If you are considering how to focus better at work, aim for more than seven hours of sleep each night, following the same pre-routine daily to queue the body for sleep.

Stay Active at the Office

If you are office-bound for the majority of the day, chances are you are stationary for hours on end. This can result in energy slumps and poor focus. Incorporate activity into an otherwise sedentary environment: consider sitting on an exercise ball for a few hours at a time; stand up and stretch every 45 minutes; take the stairs where possible; keep a mini-rebounder in your office if space allows, jumping on it between tasks (which proves more effective than a power nap); or keep a pair of dumbbells under your desk to practice bicep curls, weighted lunges or shoulder presses a few times in the day for a surge of blood circulation and concentration reboot.

Have a Focus Mantra

There are certain practices we can instill to bring the mind back to the present each time it wanders. A personal mantra designed to remind you of the task at hand can serve as a useful reset. Each time you find your focus straying, try repeating a statement in your mind, such as “It’s time to keep working on this task” or “Do what you are doing right now”. This can quickly become an effective tool to resume your concentration when working on how to stay focused in an office.

Do the Hardest Task First

Leaving the most challenging task on your to-do list for last encourages procrastination and casts a negative lens over the time leading up to it. Often the hardest part of a project is getting started, so commit to simply beginning the work, even if you don’t complete it. Getting used to knuckling down on unattractive activities is a powerful tool to teach your mind discipline and train it to push through procrastination.

Physically Remove Distractions

It takes willpower to ignore distractions such as smartphone notifications and social media. Rather than using energy to resist temptations, put them out of sight. A smartphone should be placed in a drawer or another room rather than simply set to silent, put your emails into “do not disturb” mode for chunks of time, and try app-blockers to keep you off of distracting platforms for predetermined time periods.

Plan Your Week

Having a game plan of tasks you want to complete will rope the brain’s reward system into your work day, triggering a satisfying release of dopamine after completing work. Take some time at the beginning of the week to realistically map out your responsibilities – there are apps that can help you plan your week, manage your time and knock important items off your to-do list.

If you are exploring how to stay focused in an office, there is also a range of other tools you can recruit, including food, medicine and supplements, that aren’t necessarily specific to working in a communal space. Whether you find yourself zoning out on Zoom call meetings, or working through your email inbox instead of addressing an important deadline, remember that focus is like a muscle: the more you work on exercising it, the more your focus can improve. Give the above tips a try and see if you can train your brain to stick to the task in front of you when you are office-bound.