How to Improve Your Focus with a Work-Break Balance

August 22, 2018

Categories: Focus

Sometimes I struggle with getting distracted during my workday. For example, the other day I was really trying to focus on a writing project. I was making good progress, and then for some reason I got distracted. I opened Facebook and started to browse various posts. Then I read an article on ESPN. Then I checked my Twitter feed and read an article I found interesting.

Before I knew it, 30 minutes had passed! So much for my attempt to focus on my writing project.

Schedule Breaks

One strategy that has helped me improve my focus is to schedule in a series of breaks in my workday. For me, I have found that about 45 minutes is the longest I can work before I begin to lose focus. So I try to schedule in a break after 45 minutes of work. I stand up from my chair, get a snack or drink of water, and stretch a bit. It doesn’t really matter what you do—just take a break from your work and do something different for 10 minutes.

After my break, I’m usually able to focus and get back to work. But only for another 45 minutes! After that, I need to take another break.

Action Step: Pick an amount of time that you can focus on your work without getting distracted. Maybe it’s only 15 or 20 minutes, that’s okay. Commit to focus on your work for that amount of time, and then take a 10-minute break. After your break, commit to focus on your work again, but only for the limited amount of time. Continue the cycle of focused work and taking a break. Did scheduling in the work-break balance help improve your focus?

Categories

Related Thoughts

No Comments

  1. anela August 24, 2018 at 7:19 pm - Reply

    The author is right on basis of historical facts. WWI was a mistake, and WWII had a madman instigating it, but apart from those anomalies Germany has always been oriented towards Russia and Russia has been oriented towards Germany, Germany being the gateway to Europe. The Denmark Sweden has had huge trade with Russia, the Baltic is our common inland sea and St. Petersburg the trading port of choice. Swedish vikings DNA is easily tracked in Russians. So President V. Putin of course had no problem speaking with Chancellor A. Merkel, well they also have some commonality, Merkel being an Oster and Putin have been stationed there as an agent. I think the problem we Europeans have with our eastern neighbor, is security and trust, we would gladly scrap Nato if we had the assurances, however our history has been marred by wars and we hardly trust ourselves! The French- German detente via EU has been extremely important and is cruicial for Europe, and is in reality the reason for European wealth. A trading partnership with Russia and in the end China and the far east, will benefit all enormously, The US becoming more and more a third world country and with declining buying and producing potential. I am sure both Mr. Putin and Frau Merkel know their history, both are intelligent people seeking way for their countries to prosper in a peaceful way. I will vote for that any day. (Another good writeup by Rostislav Ishchenko, thank you!)

Leave A Comment

Subscribe To My Newsletter

Join my mailing list to receive the latest blog posts.

Receive my e-book “The Mental Health Toolkit” for free when you subscribe.