Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture

How To Stay Focused at Work and Avoid Distractions

Nate Swanner
By
Man with his hands on his temples as he is trying to focus with a laptop in front of him.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Let’s cut to the chase — have you ever spent a chunk of your working hours viewing adorable cat videos and getting sucked into the internet rabbit hole? You’re not alone there. In fact, one of the challenges that busy professionals face is staying focused at work.

Learning how to keep your laser-like focus at work may not be as fun as chilling out in cyberspace, but it can help boost your productivity and improve your employment prospects. So, are you ready to stay focused and finish your tasks with a bang? Here are our top productivity tips for professionals, whether you’re working from home or getting back to the office.

Recommended Videos

Get Comfortable

A young and bearded man wearing a plaid shirt at the office while typing on his Mac.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s hard to stay focused when your neck and back are killing you. Crafting an ergonomic workstation isn’t just important for comfort, but for your health. There are several schools of thought on how to make your station as ergonomic as possible: an adjustable standing desk, chair with lumbar support, yoga ball, treadmill, etc. If you have the means, you might adopt all of the above and employ them at different times throughout the day. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recommended positions.

Set a Time Limit

Close-up shot of a man holding a cup of coffee while checking the time on his watch.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Setting out to work eight solid hours is a fool’s goal. Working for just one hour, however, is much more doable. If you don’t trust yourself to stay on task, you might download FocusBooster, an application that challenges you to stay on task for just 25 minutes out of 30. Stay focused for 25 minutes, then reward yourself with a video of Chewbacca reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Break Work Into Increments

A man with glasses on writing reminders on a sticky note placed on a corkboard.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If breaking your workday into time increments isn’t effective, try breaking it into project-oriented increments. While it might seem daunting to fill out 19 TPS reports or whatever, it’s definitely not daunting to fill out just one. It’s much easier to stay focused when the finish line is in view, so you might as well bring the finish line a little closer. After finishing the project, give yourself a well-deserved break and start the process over again.

Hide Your Bookmarks Bar

A man with a buzz-cut and beard using his laptop with his phone on the side.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Keeping a visible row of bookmarks on your browser makes it very difficult to stay on task. All you have to do is click a box, and boom, you’re cruising up the on-ramp of the Internet Superhighway. A good roadblock is to simply turn off your bookmarks bar by hitting Crtl+Shift+B (if you use Google Chrome). Hiding the bookmarks bar in Firefox is a little trickier, but doable. With your bookmarks gone, you’ll need to actually type your favorite time-wasting websites into the address bar, giving you more time to think through your choices. You might also delete your browsing history, so the URL doesn’t automatically fill in when you type it. (You should probably do that anyway. You know, for reasons.)

Listen to Instrumental Music

A man wearing glasses and headphones while browsing on his desktop.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The average workplace can be a chaotic place. Working from home can be even more chaotic. Instead of boiling with anger at your coworkers’ or roommates’ shenanigans while trying to focus on an email, consider popping on some comfortable headphones and crafting your own personal soundscape. I would recommend sticking with instrumental music, however, as lyrics can corrode your focus. Plus, you don’t want to unwittingly include crass phrases in that email.

Get Your Snack On

A bearded man preparing guacamole and toast on his wooden kitchen table.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Forget coworkers and silly videos — hunger can be the most distracting thing of all. To combat the beast within, keep an array of (preferably healthy) snacks within reach, and don’t skip mealtimes. Pro-tip: Opt for snacks that don’t get your fingers dirty, as that could create a rough situation for your keyboard.

Take a Walk

A smiling man wearing a beanie and jacket as he takes a stroll around the street.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

No matter where you work, you’re likely to get stir crazy. Instead of chaining yourself to your desk until you finish, which doesn’t really work, take a few minutes to get up and get out. A bit of fresh air will help clear your mind so you can think up better ways to approach your project. Also, it’s good to get up and walk around every once in a while; sitting for too long can seriously impact your health.

Use Productivity Apps

A man wearing a work shirt as he uses his iPad.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In an effort to help people maintain focus, folks have developed all sorts of online productivity services. The productivity apps and add-ons that will help you the most depend on your particular productivity demons. Timeneye pays attention to exactly what you spend time on, and can supposedly shame you into staying on task. Self-Control makes it easy to block out the sites that absorb the most time.

Get Your Eyes Checked

An enthusiastic man wearing glasses while viewing his laptop perched on a riser.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ironically, optometrists are some of the most overlooked medical professionals out there. If you’re having difficulty focusing at work, or you get a headache after working for a few hours, it could be because your vision isn’t as clear as it could be. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to man up and visit an optometrist. A pair of reading glasses can keep your eyes in good shape and help you focus on the job. Unfortunately, you might not be able to get to an eye doctor ASAP. However, you can order blue-light-blocking glasses online to protect your eyes.

Discovering how to stay focused at work is a constant, frustrating enterprise. Though each of the above suggestions can be helpful on their own, odds are they will break down at one time or another. The best way to maintain focus is to employ all the suggestions simultaneously while discovering a few of your own. Thanks for reading. Now, get back to work!

Editors' Recommendations

Nate Swanner
Nate Swanner
General Manager
Nate is General Manager for all not-Digital-Trends properties at DTMG, including The Manual, Digital Trends en Espanol…
How to Stay Physically and Mentally Well in Isolation
mental physical health isolation

It's Day 21 (or 36, or 48, or whatever) of shelter-in-place. How's everybody doing? I don't know about you, but I can vaguely remember a time when, swamped with work and social engagements, I'd wish aloud that I could indefinitely stay inside my cozy house and not do anything. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Even hardened introverts are starting to go a little crazy under social isolation. If you're like me, you may be wondering how much longer your physical and mental health can handle it.

With my sanity hanging by a thin thread, I reached out to Dr. Dan Pardi, who has been long been studying how lifestyle choices impact health and functionality. He even designed a platform around it: HumanOS provides education, training, and interviews with experts on how small, strategic changes to your routine can improve the body’s overall health, as well as its integrated immune response.

Read more
How to Stay Sane Working From Home With Kids
working from home kids screen time

As a full-time writer with two small children, I can definitively say that the last several weeks have been the hardest of my life. Turns out that when you’re providing childcare, trying to work, and hunkered down amid a global pandemic, there’s little time left for safeguarding your sanity.
I’m alive, healthy, and employed, and for that I’m grateful. I know that the real heroes are on the front lines, offering medical help, volunteering, selling groceries, delivering food, providing unemployment advice, or reporting for small, struggling papers and bringing the truth to a society that does desperately needs it. Countless people are underpaid and simply cannot work from home right now and they deserve genuine praise.
Because so many of us have taken on new roles at home that involve a juggling act of work and parenting, I’ve decided to share some wisdom I’ve accrued so far. It’s saved me from the brink and it might just do the same for you and yours.

Create a Schedule
The repetition and monotony of the quarantine might be killing your adult soul but it can be candy for kiddos. Make a schedule and stick to it. In fact, slap it on a giant poster board with scribbles and other props and make it your daily sundial. Repetitive rituals are familiar and comforting, just ask your grade school teacher or nanny. Fill the schedule with various activities (walks, arts and crafts time, dance party, etc.) and give each a sizable block as it’s more of a guide than a lesson in precise punctuality.

Read more
What Companies Are Hiring During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
grocery store checkout

At a time when the news is filled with stories about people out of work, about swelling unemployment applications, and about so many of us in the American workforce who are still employed being forced to adapt to a new work-from-home paradigm, there are still a few bright spots for people looking for a job. Not every company is shedding workers off the payroll during this coronavirus pandemic. In fact, a number of companies are hiring in unprecedented numbers.

The job you score tomorrow might be cut again in a few months when COVID-19 is finally under control, but short-term employment is certainly better than a total lack of income -- just make sure you balance the benefits of working with the potential hazards of putting yourself out there right now, especially if you have any underlying conditions that make you more susceptible to complications caused by illness.

Read more