Finding Focus in Hectic Times

Here you go, Rosie. Oh. At work, it often, it feels like I can't focus on the task at hand. I'm constantly receiving Slack messages, noticing an important email or hopping into another meeting. How do I preserve my attention span and my ability to focus in a fast paced, hectic role? This is going to be interesting. It sounds like we're bringing back our old friend boundaries. Boundaries. We. Love boundaries. Rosie, you have permission to turn off all notifications. You have permission to limit email checking to a few blocks of time a day. You have permission to say no to certain meetings. You know which ones are truly mandatory. You have permission to write short, but polite responses to long messages, like. Yes, thanks. And even better. No thanks. The no thanks is my favorite. I knew you liked that one. Since everyone suffers from information overload, you can also talk with your team about group boundaries. A lot of companies have implemented strategies like No Meeting Mondays to acknowledge the collective overwhelm. Yeah, and if you are a team leader or manager, cultivating an environment that facilitates communication within your team is so incredibly important. Try to make your colleagues feel like they have the space and opportunity to be heard. Absolutely. And remember to breathe literally three to five breaths can make a huge difference. So many people are cynical about the power of breathing until they actually try it. It works science. So to recap, Rosie, here are the tools you can use when you're feeling overwhelmed or bombarded and need to find a way to help you focus on whatever the task at hand may be. First, prioritize mindful communication. Let your colleagues know about your dedicated focus hours when you'll be less responsive on platforms like Slack or email. This helps sets boundaries around your attention. Utilize tools, use features on your communication tools to mute notifications during your focus hours or consider tools like do not disturb on your devices. Mindful breaks allow for short, regular breaks between tasks to consciously refocus your attention. Even a few minutes of deep breathing or short walk can help reset your focus. That is so true, Lindsay. A couple that we didn't mention but are just as useful too are one task at a time. Though multitasking might seem efficient, it can often divide our attention. Try to commit to one task at a time and just allow yourself to fully immerse in it. The next one is mindfulness meditation. A regular practice of mindfulness meditation can improve your to focus and ignore distractions. And to last but not least,...