Five Ways to Get Your Focus Back

If you're anything like me, tasks you used to knock out in an hour now seem to take a lot longer than they should. Especially when anything electronic is involved. I know how to get stuff done, but no matter how much I try to control interruptions, there's no universal cure.

I used to be able to keep it all straight in my head. Now — whether it's brain fog, more things being juggled, or just the pace of modern life — it's much harder to get back on track once something knocks me off.

Every day, kids squabble. A delivery needs a signature. A call runs long. Sometimes I find myself staring at the screen for minutes at a time trying to remember what I was working on. Here are five techniques I've been testing to get back to the task faster.

Avoid tech at the start

Resist the urge to create digital-first. I try to start on paper whenever possible.

I know — going back to paper seems counterintuitive because now you're doing it twice. But you'll get so much more of the hard thinking work done in a short block when you're not mistyping, fixing formatting, or watching notifications pop up. Working on paper also helps me sort my thoughts because I can draw arrows, circle things, doodle as I go. The free form is, well, freeing.

If you're not a tactile person, dictate. Whichever way keeps notifications out of your creative work.

Digital is where you go next — but it's for refinement, not creation. You'll end up with a better product and probably spend less total time. So — not saying don't go there. Just don't start there.

Plan breaks between focus blocks

If you've listened to any productivity advice, you've heard of Pomodoro — 25 minutes of work, 5 minutes off. The part I'm still working on is right-sizing the work I can fit in 25 minutes.

There's a quote I always come back to: Parkinson's Law — work expands to fill the time available. It's a little cynical, but it's a great honesty check when I'm estimating how far I can get. On the other hand, 25 minutes isn't much time if any troubleshooting is involved, or if you tend toward perfectionism.

What helps me:

• Split tasks into pieces that will actually fit inside a 25-minute block.
• If it won't fit, at least estimate how many blocks it'll take.
• Use a real physical timer, not a phone timer. (I love mine.)

As for the breaks — 5 minutes is barely enough for a bio break, but I try to do something that gets my blood moving. A few squats. Deep breaths. A walk outside if I can. A quick hug from one of my kids. Snacks are key: nuts, dried fruit, a slice of cheese, a mushroom coffee in the afternoon. Whatever you do, don't waste the break on social media. That will not rejuvenate you.

Distraction awareness

When the fog starts rolling in, get hyper-aware of what triggered it. Run through your senses:

• Visual — a notification, a cluttered surface, movement outside a window?
• Sound?
• Smell?
• Are you sitting in a position that's slowly making you uncomfortable?
• Are you hot? Cold? Hungry?

God made us so complex there are a million possibilities. But once you've named the trigger, you can remove it. Most of my distraction problems turn out to be things I could have controlled if I'd noticed them ten minutes sooner.

Have a plan so you're not spiraling

A lot of the time when I lose focus it's not because something interrupted me — it's because I don't know what to do first, or I'm secretly trying to do two things at once.

Three habits that help:

• Reprioritize your tasks every day. On my daily planner it's a simple dump of tasks and then I number them. That's it.
• Bookmark yourself when interrupted. I keep a sharpie and a sticky pad next to me. When something pulls me away, I write down what I was working on and stick it in front of my screen, so I can pick up exactly where I left off when I come back.
• Kill tab hoarding. At the end of every day, I close all my tabs. I know — you'll never find that site again. Yes, you will. Browsers have tab groups now — save the whole research trail into a group and close it. History still exists. Like we tell the kids when we shut off a show: it's not going anywhere. Coming back to a hundred tabs, each with something screaming for attention, is a distraction tax you're paying for no reason.

Fully engage — mentally, if not physically

The best way to stay focused on something is to be doing something physical that's directly connected to it. Taking notes is the classic. It matters even more on remote calls: be on camera even if no one else is, take notes where everyone can see them, and you'll often be the only one paying real attention. Everyone will thank you later.

If you aren't on camera, physical activity is fine as long as it doesn't steal your mental attention. Loading the dishwasher or walking while listening to a meeting can actually be better than sitting in front of your computer, because it stops you from trying to sneak in "just one more email" while the meeting plays in the background.

The discernment question

Here's the honest one: what interrupts you most often, and which of these five would help you the most this week?

Pick one. Try it for five days. Focus doesn't come back all at once — it comes back in small, boring habits.

Prefer to listen? Find the episode here.