Guess Who’s Speaking At CAHR2023?

It’s me, hi, I’m the speaker it’s me. I’m excited to be giving the secrets of FOCUS to help people in Human Resources from all over the state of California have a more productive workplace. (If you’ll be at the conference, let me know so we can meet in person!) Not only can HR professionals themselves benefit, but they can find out how to help their people stay focused too.

Why you shouldn’t feel bad if you can’t focus

It doesn’t (necessarily) mean that you have ADHD.* It doesn’t (necessarily) mean that you’ve started to lose your cognitive power or that dementia is setting in. What it means for the vast majority of people who worry about losing focus is that they live in 21st-century America.

We used to have boundaries around work: your boss couldn’t get hold of you after hours unless it was an emergency, and when they were in a meeting, you couldn’t get hold of them. Anyone traveling was virtually unreachable. But now, with remote and asynchronous work, you have to form and hold your own boundaries. If you’re not used to doing that, you’ll have a hard time focusing.

Also, TV used to actually, like, just end at midnight or so. The channel would make a weird pattern and white noise signaling that TV was over until the next day. No such thing as 24/7 news, commentary, etc. And of course, there was no “social” media to scroll through endlessly.

We’re a consumer economy, for better or worse, and so all the companies compete for our time and attention. That means they turn the dial WAY up to be “heard” over the noise. But once everyone turns the dial up, there’s just a lot of noise.

All of this contributes to the distractions we all face, and makes focus harder and harder to achieve

Why focus is crucial for better time management skills

One of the biggest brain myths out there (and believe me there are plenty!) is that the human brain can multitask. That refers to doing two (or more) cognitively demanding tasks at the same time. It’s just not true, even if the prevailing culture insists it is. 

The human brain (yours, mine, and everyone else’s) can do only one such task at a time. When you try to do more than that, your brain has to switch back and forth very quickly. To your conscious mind, it may seem like they’re happening simultaneously, but they’re not. Not only can the brain not multitask, but switching back and forth really tires it out.

You end up doing less work and feeling more tired than if you just focused on one task at a time. But when you do one thing either to completion or to a good resting spot, THEN work on another thing, you get a lot more work out of your brain. Plus, you can stay focused for longer because your brain isn’t as worn out.

Working more is not the answer. At least not for someone who’s already putting in a good eight hours or more a day. All the time management skills in the world won’t help you when you’re staying busy by trying to multitask. 

You only get a certain amount of time each day for your cognitively demanding work, and if you’re wearing your brain out by so-called multitasking, you get even less than that.

How to stay focused for a productive workplace

You have to be proactive about not allowing common distractions to get in your way. Unfortunately, some of these distractions are cultural. For example, believing every email must be read and responded to immediately. Or having your cell phone by your side at all times in case someone is trying to reach you, but you’re constantly interrupted by notifications that aren’t important.

You have to be the one to set boundaries around your working time, especially if you’re remote. Or if you’re an entrepreneur. Technically, yes, there’s always something that you could be doing. But will it really move you or your business forward? Or would spending time doing things you enjoy be a better use of your hours outside work? (Hint: it’s the last one.)

*As an aside, please don’t joke about your “ADHD” brain when you don’t have the disorder. It trivializes a real problem for people who are neurodivergent. Similarly, if you don’t actually have OCD then don’t talk about your “OCD brain” when you’re just organized in a specific way. These two disorders create very real issues with daily living for people who do have them.

Recap (TL;DR):

Come see me at CAHR2023 if you’ll be there! Either way, kick so-called “multitasking” to the curb and do one thing at a time. Paradoxically, you’ll get more done when you focus instead of allowing interruptions and other tasks to get in your way.

Having trouble staying focused? Take the Distraction Quiz to find out your biggest distraction and how to handle it.