How Am I Supposed to Focus on Work Right…

In the US, the federal government, which funds a ton of things we rely on, not to mention aid to other countries, is being dismantled. An unelected guy has access to every American’s confidential data. Food is about to get even more expensive.

You can be forgiven for having a hard time focusing on your paperwork!

But you have bills to pay, and it won’t do anyone any good for you to lose your job. There’s enough of that going around already. So what can you do?

Set Up Your Home Office for Focus and Productivity

I love working from home. The leisurely mornings with no commute, control over the thermostat, the ability to move my clothes to the dryer while my code is compiling…it’s beautiful. 

But probably the biggest reason I love it is that I can actually focus better when I’m in a space I find comfortable. Like many perfectionists and procrastinators, emotional regulation is key to my ability to get things done. When I feel like someone is looking over my shoulder, or when I can’t quite find a way to sit in my office chair without my back aching, it’s like my brain stops working. Whereas, cocooned in my favorite chair at home with a cup of tea from my personal collection, I can fall right into a flow state.

So working from home is a great option for those of us who need to dial down the anxiety in order to focus. And yet, it’s a double-edged sword. With all your favorite snacks and hobbies around – not to mention your bed! – it can be hard to consistently choose work over rest and play.

For some managers, this is exactly what they have in mind when they insist you come into the office – they want to make sure you’re staying on task!

So let’s show those managers that you can have the best of both worlds – the cozy comfort of working from home, and the focused productivity of a structured, motivating environment. Recently, Redfin asked me how people could organize their home environment to support their goals for their blog post on how to keep your New Year’s Resolutions this year, and that inspired me to go further and put together these tips for creating a productive home office space.

How to Stop Mindless Scrolling

You swipe upwards and more posts appear: an ad, a meme you’ve already seen, and a question everyone already knows the answer to – posted just to get comments. “I should stop this mindless scrolling and get back to work,” you think.

But deep down, you know that’s impossible. Work feels so daunting right now. You have twelve decisions to make before you can write up this proposal, and you don’t know the answers to any of them.

Scrolling, on the other hand, is easy. It’s so easy it seems like it’s happening without your conscious control. You’re just watching your thumb flick and new images appear. Will you find something to make you feel better?

Not exactly: it’s a post about politics saying exactly what you disagree with. It’s wrong in so many ways at once that your counterarguments have a traffic jam on the way out of your mouth and you’re left speechless. Yeah, this isn’t relaxing anymore.

“If I’m not going to work, I should at least take a walk and get some exercise,” you tell yourself.

But that brings a pang of guilt. How can you leave your desk when you have so much work to do?

The only thing that feels doable right now is to keep scrolling. It solves exactly zero of your problems, but it takes so little energy that you’re stuck there. You’ve fallen into the Guilt Trap.

Breaking the “Tomorrow I’ll do it all!” cycle

You had such big plans for today. You were going to get up early, hit the gym, finish that big work project that’s been hanging over your head once and for all, and then knock out all your chores. You might even have time to think of a cure for cancer before getting to bed right on time.

But somehow, it didn’t go that way.

Your inner critic has a lot to say about your day. How could you fall so short? You’ll have to really hustle tomorrow to make up for it. Yes, tomorrow, you’re going to get up early, hit the gym, finish that big work project…wait. I see where this is going.

Getting out of the cycle of disappointing yourself

If you’re going to get out of the loop of setting high expectations, not meeting them, and then raising them even higher, you need to be honest with yourself about what is and isn’t working in your day.