Focus Pocus for Work from Home Frustrations I haven’t written in awhile, I have been occupied developing a workshop for you. it is my Get in Focus and Skyrocket Productivity Workshop I am sure this is just what is needed for you get in laser focus. Tell me if this has ever happened to you. I am on fire, moving along on a project and totally in the zone. As part of the project I need to check Facebook for just a second; I see a political post that really grabs my ire. I spend the next hour composing a response… Or I go on LinkedIn to see how my campaign is doing, and I spend the next 45 minutes reading articles and responding. Or my wife yells into my office, “Jeff…, Can you please take out the recycling!’ My attention just goes off the project while I deal with the honey-do. Or Lucy, my Siamese Cat, comes in and sits herself right in front of the monitor, and I have to take a break to play with her. Then, I need to brainstorm an idea; my wife is teaching her class! I have no one to discuss the idea with. I take to social media to find one of my friends to talk with, and what happens? You guessed it, I see another political post, and I am off for the next hour on a rant, and I forget the idea that I needed to brainstorm. Ah-ha! I remembered it, then I hear from the other room, “Jeff! Can you please help me with the printer? I fix the printer jam, and Lucy is again sitting in front of the monitor, demanding my attention. Ok, I am back to work. Now, where did I put my HDMI Cable? Oh, Lucy thinking that it is just a string, is over there playing with it. Now I need my calculator, where is it? It is underneath the pile of papers strewn all over my desk. Oh wow. Another couple of hours have passed! So I just need to get a file edited… now; where did I put that file. Is it on my Google Drive? Which account? Maybe I put it into Dropbox. Oh, there it is on my desktop…, and it only took me 20 minutes to find it too! I look at the clock; it is 6:15 PM; I was working my butt off all day and got nothing done! Welcome to my world of Work from Home Frustrations! And it just never ends either. It’s not that there is anything wrong with this; it leads to a fun and exciting existence. IT’S JUST THAT IT DOESN’T WORK!!!!!!!! What’s a homeworker to do to keep focused despite the work from home frustrations? (time passes, the sun falls, the sun rises again….) Sorry, my brain just froze, and it is now 20 minutes later, but of course, you don’t know that. But obviously, I figured something out; otherwise, right now, I would be on the corner carrying a sign that says, “Will blog for food.” How do I deal with these? Well, my friends, the work from home frustrations are all a matter of focus! I have Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, so focus has always been an issue for me! I don’t have focus, and I never will either… so how do I act as if I did have focus and get something done. Here are some helpful (I hope) hints from this experience: If I am sitting there trying to maintain focus, I am focusing on focus, not the task at hand! I know that sounds like a bunch of Focus-Pocus but think about it. If you are worrying about losing your focus, stop worrying, you have already lost it. ADD or not, we are designed not to focus. Think about it for a moment. A caveman is out in the field focusing on some rock and doesn’t notice the lion ready to pounce on him! The solution is not to try to maintain focus but to notice when your focus is elsewhere and to put it back where it is supposed to be…. Without judgment. “Oh, I was just watching a YouTube video of someone being scratched by their cat; I’ll get back to writing the blog article about focus.” As you practice this, you become more adept at noticing when you lose your focus and can bring it back. I schedule my day on Google Calendar, and then I follow what it says on my calendar…or at least that is the plan. I am not 100% at it; it is a skill that needs to be developed. Learning to schedule everything on your calendar and then having the calendar use you. I know some people like to be spontaneous, which may be good when you are out relaxing. But when you are working on a project, you want to stay focused. You can also schedule time on the calendar to be spontaneous, to just do whatever you feel like doing. You also want to remember to schedule a time to do stuff like eat and exercise. Daily exercise is essential to maintain focus and avoid the work from home frustrations. I am no physiologist, but I have found for myself that daily exercise does wonders to help me maintain my focus. When I have exercise as part of my daily routine, my brain fog decreases, and my focus increases exponentially. This can be daunting. I have an accountability coach to help me with this and. Breaks are important. They give you a chance to focus your attention elsewhere and have a different viewpoint. One time, when I was a software engineer, I was stuck on this really stubborn bug. I was sitting in front of the computer for hours, trying to figure it out. Finally, I decided to take a break and grab a bite. I got in my car, started my ignition, put my attention on
