How To Regain Focus

How To Regain Focus

Sometimes, you may lose focus when at work. This lack of focus can even last for days and even weeks and would significantly affect your productivity. Therefore, you need to know how to regain focus. This way, you can always get back on track. 

Luckily, this article shares some sure tips on how you can regain focus. 

It doesn’t matter whether you momentarily lost focus or whether you have lost focus for an extended period, this article will help you address the issue.

So, make sure you read it to the end.

Why Do You Need to Stay Focused – How to Regain Focus

Whether you are at work, at a meeting, or doing your chores at home, there’s always the need to stay focused and concentrate on the task at hand.

This is because if you do not stay focused, you may end up making mistakes or doing things that would delay or even prevent you from completing the task.

Here are some of the major reasons you need to stay focused when working on a task.

Staying Focused Ensures and Improves Your Productivity

Increased productivity is the most important benefit of staying focused.

Losing focus affects your productivity by making you do less. 

You may lose valuable hours doing things that are not even useful or relevant to your plans and goals for the day.

When you stay focused on one task and do not multitask, you would end up finishing the task in record time and then moving on to the next important task.

Helps You Maintain a Good Work-Life Balance – How to Regain Focus

You may have a hard time maintaining a good work-life balance if you can’t stay focused.

When you fail to focus at work, you end up not doing the things you had to do during your work hours.

This may make you take your work home. 

And then you would spend your leisure time trying to do what you should have done at work.

This would subsequently create an unhealthy balance in your home and work life.

Staying focused would help you maintain a good work-life balance by ensuring you get your job done during work hours and unwind after work without feeling guilty about it.

You will have enough time for your family, friends, and activities you enjoy doing if you stay focused when at work.

Read this article to find out more tips on how to maintain a good work-life balance. 

Build Momentum – How to Regain Focus

You may notice that you haven’t been achieving your goals the way you want to.

This is likely because you lack focus. 

You end up not feeling the drive to pursue important goals.

The chances of losing your energy and momentum are a lot higher when you keep going from task to task.

If you want to build momentum and make sure you achieve both your short-term and long-term goals, then you need to stay focused.

Prioritize your tasks. 

Start with the important ones. 

Then move on to less urgent tasks afterward.

Factors That Limit Your Ability to Stay Focused – How to Regain Focus

People often lose focus due to several things and reasons.

These reasons may be internal or external.

Knowing the factors that can affect your focus is important if you want to maintain or regain focus.

Therefore, below are some of the internal and external factors that may limit your ability to stay focused.

Technology Distractions

A lot of people have come to depend so much on their smartphones and the internet. 

Their dependence on their phones is so bad that they can’t stop thinking of it.

Some people can’t longer than 30 minutes without looking at their phones.

But the sad thing is a simple chime from your smartphone can take you deep down a rabbit hole of several notifications that you might spend hours before you climb out of.

Some persons have a compulsion to always check their emails because they want to be available at all times.

The bad thing about this is they end up spending valuable time replying to their emails and forgetting the task they have at hand.

Emotional Factors – How to Regain Focus

Your ability to focus can be affected by several emotional factors such as lack of self-confidence, anxiety, and the fear of failing.

These emotions can make you doubt your abilities, thereby making it hard for you to concentrate on the task.

You may then find yourself procrastinating or even abandoning the task altogether.

Physical Factors – How to Regain Focus

Poor eating habits, irregular sleep patterns, not engaging in physical activities, and so on can affect your physical ability to focus.

If you lack the physical ability to focus, even though you are mentally and emotionally able to focus, you would still have a hard time focusing on anything.

Too Much Workload – How to Regain Focus 

Sometimes, you may have a lot of work on your table. 

You may try to get them all done at once by multitasking. 

You might think that’s the best thing to do. 

Sadly, you could not be more wrong.

Multitasking would only make it impossible for you to concentrate on any of the tasks. 

You end up throwing your thoughts all over the place.

When you multitask, you find it difficult to prioritize and get your tasks done.

Rather, you shuffle between different tasks, give your bare minimum on each, and sometimes end up not completing any of them.

So, rather than looking at how much work you need to get done and multitasking them all, try to do them one after the other.

Tips on How to Regain Focus

No matter how hard you try to stay focused, you may get distracted at some point.

Sometimes, these distractions may linger and you may find it even more difficult to concentrate on tasks.

Thankfully, you can retrace your steps and regain focus.

Here are 15 sure tips to help you regain focus.

1. Try Meditation – How to Regain Focus

There is usually one major reason your mind is distracted; you have a lot on your mind.

When several thoughts are going through your mind at the same time, you most likely would have a hard time isolating and concentrating on just one thought.

If you find yourself in this situation, the only way you can regain focus is to turn off all the noise in your head and clear out other irrelevant thoughts.

Meditation is among the best methods to achieve this.

Luckily, meditation does not require any special equipment or space, so you can do it anywhere you are.

A 10-minute session can go a long way in helping you sort through your thoughts and filtering out the unnecessary ones.

Meditation can also boost your self-confidence and make you see that you are capable of completing the task. 

There are several forms of meditation but some such as zen meditation, mindfulness, and breathing exercises are better suited for improving concentration.

So, when next you get distracted by your thoughts, try out any of these forms of meditation to regain focus.

2. Finish A Task Before Doing Another

Trying to do several tasks at a go is a sure way to throw your thoughts and focus all over the place.

This is why you need to avoid multitasking and rather focus on one task before moving on to another.

You would only be making things more difficult for yourself when you multitask because you won’t be able to focus on anything.

Therefore, even when you have a lot of tasks on your table, do not multitask.

Rather, prioritize the tasks and do them according to their importance.

When you are done with one task, then you can move on to the next important one.

Keep on doing this until you have cleared out all the tasks.

Do not let your mind wander off to the other tasks as you try to get one done.

Make sure that you pour all your attention and efforts into the task at hand.

3. Do Your Tougher Tasks First

The thought of starting the day with a hard task does not appeal to a lot of people.

People tend to do simple tasks first and then tackle their hard tasks later on in the day.

But this often ends up leaving them tired, draining both their willpower and energy.

And then, when it is finally time to do the tougher tasks, they keep getting distracted because they no longer have the energy to tackle the task.

So, always tackle your hard tasks first before moving on to the simpler ones.

4. Take Some Minutes Break – How to Regain Focus

Sometimes, you may find it difficult to regain focus immediately despite all the things you do to get back on track.

In times like these, the best thing to do is to go on a break.

Taking a break will help relax your mind and also replenish your lost energy.

Most times, if you keep working in this condition, you’d only become less efficient; you may end up stressing yourself without accomplishing anything.

So, it is always better to take some time off to relax your mind.

You can decide to take a power nap, take a walk, listen to music, or watch some funny videos.

Regardless of what you do, just make sure you relax your mind enough and then get back to work.

5. Reward Yourself – How to Regain Focus

If the task is hard, you may lose focus and motivation easily because of how much energy is required to get the task done.

Sometimes, you may not see an end to the task as it might keep dragging on for hours.

This makes it even harder to avoid distractions.

But you can fight this challenge by giving yourself awards for every major step you take towards completing the task.

For instance, you can promise yourself a cookie, your favorite meal, or an episode of your favorite show if you can achieve a particular aspect of a difficult task.

These rewards may seem little, but they would go a long way in keeping you motivated and focused on the work at hand.

6. Write Out Your Ideas – How to Regain Focus

Sometimes, the things distracting you from your task may be ideas.

But regardless of how great these ideas are, you should not let them distract you from what you are currently doing.

It would be counterproductive to abandon something you are already working on to think about an idea that just popped up in your head.

So, if you get a spontaneous idea while you are working, instead of focusing on it, write it and forget about it for the time being.

When you are done with your task, you can then return to the idea and consider it properly.

7. Have A Deadline

If you do not have clear deadlines, then you won’t feel any pressure to get the task done.

You may end up procrastinating the task in favor of other irrelevant distractions.

So, even though you are your own boss, you need to set deadlines for your tasks. 

Setting deadlines will make you see the urgency of completing the task.

This would help you stay focused as you try to complete the task.

8. Split Your Tasks into Smaller Units

When you have a huge task to complete, chances are the mere size of the task may overwhelm you and make it difficult to stay focused.

Therefore, if you have a huge task at hand and you find yourself getting distracted, then you should consider splitting it into smaller units.

This way, you would stay motivated as you complete each unit and then move on to the next.

You won’t feel like you are tackling a huge problem.

Splitting your tasks into smaller units will also help you stay on track and also keep track of your progress.

9. Ensure You Are in An Organized Work Environment

If you have been having issues focusing at work, then you need to consider all the factors that may be responsible for this.

One thing that can make you lose focus is an unorganized work environment.

Organizing your thoughts is not enough to ensure you stay focused.

You also need to have an organized work environment.

Organize your work table. 

Remove clutters from your workspace.

Organize the desktop on your computer.

Once your workspace and mind are organized, you would concentrate better when working. 

There won’t be irrelevant things in both your mind and workspace to distract you from the task at hand.

10. Have an Hourly Plan – How to Regain Focus

Another way to ensure you get back on track when you lose focus during the day is to schedule your tasks by hours.

When you make plans by the hour, you get to enjoy so many benefits that would prevent you from losing focus.

Some of the benefits this strategy offers include:

  • You can prioritize your tasks. This will help you do the tougher ones first and then work your way to the simpler ones
  • You get to set realistic goals and make an estimate of the time needed to complete the tasks
  • Knowing what you have to do before the day ends
  • You already know the next thing you need to do even before you finish the task you are working on

11. Turn Off Your Notifications – How to Regain Focus

One of the things that may distract you from your tasks is the notifications on your phone.

So, whenever you get distracted by your phone put off your notifications.

This would help you get back on track. 

Just go to Settings on your phone and switch off the notifications for apps that you constantly get notifications on.

You should not discard your phone completely because something may come up and someone may try to contact you.

So, check your phone from time to time.

Just make sure you do not check it all the time and then waste valuable time checking your emails and all your social media accounts.

12. Block Websites That Distract You – How to Regain Focus

Nowadays, a lot of people work with their laptops.

This makes it more likely for them to get distracted during work hours. 

Most people put their Wi-Fi off to avoid distractions. 

However, sometimes, you need your Wi-Fi on when working.

In this case, avoid distraction by using productivity tools that can help restrict your access to distracting websites during your work hours.

13. Limit Your Coffee Intake, Take More Water Instead – How to Regain Focus

A lot of people rely on coffee to help them stay active while working.

But when you take too much coffee, you may end up making yourself more tired and less likely to concentrate.

Too much coffee can cause insomnia and dizziness, and this may make it harder for you to focus.

So, when you feel distracted, do not take too much coffee to regain focus.

Instead, drink water; this would keep you hydrated and help you concentrate better.

14. Be Healthy

If you have been unable to regain focus for an extended period, then you need to take a closer look at your lifestyle.

Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating well? Do you get enough exercise? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself.

If you aren’t healthy, you will find it a lot more difficult to regain focus.

Therefore, make sure you get enough sleep, eat properly, and exercise your body.

15. Find Inspiration – How to Regain Focus

When you feel distracted, you can regain focus by drawing inspiration from the purpose of the task.

Remind yourself of the benefits of completing the task and draw inspiration.

Conclusion on How to Regain Focus

Going through a task or project without getting distracted along the way is nearly impossible.

However, it is up to you to decide on what to do when you lose focus while working on something.

Any productive person would do everything possible to regain their focus and get back to the task at hand.

If you want to be one of such persons, then you can always use the tips shared in this article to regain focus and accomplish your goals and tasks.