Out of focus

LegacyUser

Hi there,

I find my level of focus at work has severely dropped off in the last year, I will come into work check the tasks for the day, list them out & not do them.

The most focused periods I'm getting are about 4 hours at a time a couple of times a week.
My performance is definitely down but has not been picked up on. I am loyal to my boss & want to earn my wage fair & square but just can't seem to knuckle down & do the job a t hand.

I bought & half read a book on improving focus, another thing left in the air.
My concern is that I'm jeopardizing my productivity & therefore my job.

any one else have experience of tackling this effectively, I'd love to hear from you.

LegacyUser

I am exactly the same. I cannot seem to motivate myself at all. I might put in two good half days a week and the rest of the time I am wasting time doing nothing. The thing is on the days I do put in the work the time flies by. The days I slack off feel like they are never going to end! I know I should just get stuck in but I cannot seem to motivate myself. HELP

LegacyUser

yea, I used to have great focus & drive but I'm easily distracted by the internet & go off on a tangent.

I've got a great opportunity a work to spearhead a new initiative but just can't get my ass into gear.
every now and again I clean up my desk/office & rewrite my task lists & I get in about 1.5 days work before drifting off again. I spend a lot of time surfing this & other fora with no particular reason , just drifting from thread to thread.

I'm afraid that the only thing that'll get me back into the zone is an earful fro my boss & by then things may have gone too far at work & may be get the bullet.

What has anyone else on here done to get their focus back?

tenchi-fan

Hi.

This might sound weird but I have limited internet access at work only because I never requested full access. I can access rte.ie , bbc.co.uk and a few work related sites. On the rare occasions I need the net for something I use a colleagues PC or ask them to look it up for me.

They all think I'm a weird but I don't care because I don't trust myself to work when I have full internet access.

In a previous job I spent my whole time online - message boards, ebay, even social networking sites and I just felt like I was being lazy couldn't do anything about it. I stayed for 6 months. My manager didn't even notice (actually I blamed the manager for giving me little work to do) and according to the IT guy my usage didn't even register (no heavy downloading) but I knew I was dossing and felt awful about myself.

I strongly recommend making to-do lists at the very beginning of EVERY day and scribble out tasks out as you complete them.
I use one yellow post-it turned on its side... maybe start with the task you were dreading most then do a couple of easy ones. At the end of the day a few things will still be on the list. Just leave it on your desk until tomorrow, then add them to your new to-do list.

The day goes so much quicker when you're busy.

If your place is full of dossers.. maybe you're just not in the right environment. Consider looking for a new job.

LegacyUser

hey,
I totally get you OP.

"I'm afraid that the only thing that'll get me back into the zone is an earful fro my boss & by then things may have gone too far at work " This is soo me as well.

I used to be a good worker and I'd have a conscience about slacking etc. A wee bit of dossing or surfing isn't the end of the world. Everyone does it. However, I'm now at the point where I'm completely apathetic towards work. The only thing that would make me pull my finger out is a good bolloking from the boss. I can't believe that i've gone this far. I (finally) know what my problem is though - in this order: 1. depression (that's getting sorted now throuh counselling), 2. lack of direction from boss from day 1, have had 3 team leaders in a 1.5 year period, as well as terrible interim boss in between, and 3. I'm simply not interested in my work.

OP: maybe you're simply in the wrong job, and it's easy to get lazy or whatever when you're bored out of your tree. I presume you're 'happy' in yourself, and in all other areas of your life?! If not, then maybe this is contributing. As someone once said to me "you can't work if you're not happy". and believe me, I know.

LegacyUser

Well it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one.

me too: I was also very conscientious & driven in the past. Maybe the job is not right for me, it was challenging at the start but is now it is in more control & there is less of a challenge. I'm going to look into the jobs market today for $$ reasons as much as this focus issue.

Technifan:I already make those post it lists almost every day to put the work into bite size chunks but still no traction, I'm looking at one right now. All the jobs are very doable by me, I've done most of them before & some of them are new but within my ability, so I can't claim it's that all the jobs are boring repetitive ones that I've done a thousand times before. too late I've already got full access & asking for it to be curtailed would be weird. Maybe I could self impose a restriction & let a friend hold the passwords, hmm. I get the same guilt as you did in your last place but it's not enough to galvanise me into taking action.

U are not alone: What are you going to do aout this? I feel very frustrated that I recognise the issue but am not taking action to resolve it, even as I write I should be working, but nooo must check boards before I start to work...sheesh.

Has anyone tried any herbal meds to improve concentration. I think I'll look into this- when I should be working of course - another frivolous tangent.

thanks for your replies so far.