Staying focused can be a difficult task amidst the emails, never ending ‘to do lists’ and demands of the workplace making it very easy to get off course. However, by incorporating mindfulness activities into your daily routine, we can maintain our concentration amongst the hurricane of distraction. In this post we will explore some mindfulness strategies to help you stay focused during your busy and productive workday.
Five Mindfulness Tips to Stay Focused:
1. Mindful Observation: Connect with the natural beauty of the workplace environment through observation, a practice that is easily forgotten when we are racing around the workplace attempting to complete a barrage of activities. This exercise will help you stay present and focused while working in the office and can done discretely without interrupting our work performance.
a. As you are sitting in your office chair with your back straight and relaxed, ensure your feet are on the floor and keep your eyes open.
b. Pay attention to your breath and its natural rhythm when breathing and just observe it.
c. Feel the sensation of your breath and the air entering and leaving your nose. Including the rise and fall of your belly as you breathe through your belly.
d. If your mind starts to wander, bring it back to the task at hand while continuing your work-related activities and concentrating on your breath.
e. Continue to work and breathe mindfully as you are involved in your work, which can assist your mind from drifting, becoming distracted or stressed.
2. Complete One Task at a Time (Single Tasking): This approach assists improve performance and concentration. Identify the most time sensitive task and dedicate your full attention to its completion and then move onto the next.
3. Mindful Tech Use: Establish specific times for checking emails and other digital distractions and during allocated work times or during focused tasks switch off all non-essential notifications to improve your concentration.
4. Mindful Check-Ins: During different times of the day ask yourself what you are feeling and thinking during the current present moment. Increasing our self-awareness can assist us to identify distractions or thoughts contributing to the quality of our mood so that we can remedy these promptly to improve our mood and focus.
5. Mindful Reflection and Review of The Day: At the end of each workday engage in reflection and review of your accomplishments and write them down. Giving ourselves credit for these accomplishments can shift our thoughts away from negative self-criticism and improve our mood and sense of self-appreciation.