CPD tips - How to focus better at work

Research published last year by Asana and GWI suggests that people are feeling more distracted than ever at work.¹ One of the key findings showed that as many as 33% of respondents suggested they now have shorter attention spans and on any given day they’re distracted by notifications from an average of nine apps.

Now more than ever, employers and employees alike are looking at how to be less distracted at work and how to concentrate when distractions can’t be avoided. Here are our top tips on how to stay focused at work and some helpful tools and techniques to maintain your concentration.

Banish the phone

When it comes to improving focus and concentration at work, you’ll likely know what the first distraction on the list is your phone. In 2020, Screen Education's Digital Distraction & Workplace Safety survey found that on average employees spend 2.5 hours per day accessing digital content not related their job. To put that into perspective, if you were able to reclaim those 2.5 hours per day, you’d add 650 productive hours into your working year - imagine how successful you could be with all that time put to good use!

If you don’t need to use your phone in a work capacity, consider locking your phone in a drawer or leaving it in another room. If that isn’t possible, most smartphones now offer a “Do Not Disturb” feature to stop your phone from flashing with inbound notifications. You can normally set exceptions too, so if you need to accept phone calls from particular contacts, this can be overridden.

Control your environment

Your surroundings will also affect your ability to concentrate. A quiet setting is likely to lead to more prolonged periods of focus, so honesty is always the best policy - if you need to meet a deadline and you’re feeling distracted by the people around you, it’s absolutely acceptable to ask those around you to respect your need to focus. People are going to understand if you need to concentrate on a particular task - you’re all there to work, so don’t be afraid to make sure you’re able to do yours effectively. 

Timekeeping techniques

For many, the prospect of needing to complete a number of tasks across a full day can seem daunting, leading to poor prioritisation and unwelcomed procrastination.

One way to maintain your attention span in such a situation would be to break down your to-do list into smaller chunks and focus on shorter bursts of activity. One of the most famous examples of this is the Pomodoro Method. This involves setting a timer for 25 minutes of continuous work. Once this is up, you may take a 5-minute break, before repeating the process up to three more times. This dedication to prolonged periods of focus, with regular breaks, can help you achieve more in less time, and take the pressure off the larger workload at hand. Learn about better time management in our previous article.

Improve your health to improve your concentration

It may not seem like it, but your health can play a big part in improving your focus, too. Brains are like any other part of the body - they need the right amount of fuel to function. Your concentration and focus will be improved through:

• Eating regular meals

Skipping breakfast may be an appealing option when pressing ‘Snooze’ that last time, but it can hugely affect your morning productivity.

• Having a balanced diet

Certain foods are linked to improved brainpower, such as berries, walnuts and vegetables. Make sure to include them where you can.

• Limiting your caffeine

Relying on high levels of caffeine to give you focus is not the best and healthiest way to get your work done. The best approach is to enjoy caffeine in moderation making sure to know your upper limits. Give yourself a maximum amount of caffeine for the day and stick to it. If there’s a period within the day you especially need to focus, by all means have some caffeine beforehand to improve your alertness - just make sure this doesn’t exceed your daily limit.

How to become a CPD accredited training provider

We hope this article was helpful. Established in 1996, The CPD Certification Service has over 27 years’ experience providing CPD accreditation. With members in over 100 countries, our CPD providers benefit from the ability to promote themselves as part of an international community where quality is both recognised and assured.

If you are interested in offering training courses, seminars, workshops, eLearning, or educational events suitable for Continuing Professional Development, please visit the Become a CPD Provider page or contact our team to discuss in more detail. Alternatively, if you are looking for a free online CPD record tool to help manage, track and log your ongoing learning, as well as store your professional training records and attendance certificates in one simple place, go to the myCPD Portal page.

References:

¹ANATOMY OF WORK GLOBAL INDEX 2022, Asana