There are a lot of parents who are attempting to work from home while having their children around. Unfortunately, this frequently leads to the inability to concentrate but there are some things you can do about this.
Understand Why You’re Struggling to Concentrate
When you feel anxious and uncertain you’re bound to feel on edge since these are states of high alert. In evolutionary terms, the ability to redirect your attention from the threat and focus on something else wouldn’t have helped you survive. This is why you find it so hard to redirect your attention and focus on your work when these conditions exist.
Recognize When You Miss Cues That Help With Concentration
As someone who works from home, it’s important to create routines that will help trigger your ability to concentrate. For instance, if you sit down on your bed and open your computer this may be a signal to your brain that you’re about to do a few hours of work.
When you’re accustomed to working in an office there are certain routines and cues that you have in place there to tell your brain it’s time to start concentrating so you can get some work done. Your inability to concentrate at home stems from these routines not existing there.
Be Realistic
It’s important to understand that part of your inability to concentrate is due to the fact that some of your cognitive and emotional resources are being used to help you cope with the pandemic we’re currently facing. While you may think that this can’t possibly be correct since people who work in emergency response roles are able to operate at near full capacity you need to realize that they’ve been conditioned and trained to do so. They’re also focused on meeting immediate needs which is something you’re not focused on which will confuse your brain.
Don’t Predict Productivity
Even though you may be in the right frame of work to accomplish work, this still may not determine how much you’ll do or how well you’ll do it. When you’re feeling anxious it’s more likely to take you some time to get in the rhythm but you’ll still be able to conquer your inability to concentrate and get some work done. The best way to do this is to start with your deep work so that your conditioned cues that occur when you’re concentrating will start to take over. This is something that’ll occur typically between 15 – 30 minutes after you start work. You’ll notice this is happening because you’ll feel like things are going well. It’s the same thing that happens when you go jogging when you don’t feel like it but ultimately end up feeling better.
Spend Time Recovering
Once you’ve been able to successfully concentrate on deep work for a few hours you should give yourself some time to recover. Since your children are probably home you may need to do this with your children. For instance, you may want to spend some time together coloring or you may want to go outside for a while. You can also engage with them in doing a puzzle or baking something. The point is that you don’t need to escape from your children to be able to relax. Spending 20 minutes engaging in creative activities with them will also improve upon your inability to concentrate. If you really need some help with your recovery, consider doing some restorative yoga. Your child may even enjoy doing this with you.
Ignore the Need to be Hyper-Productive
While you’re at home it’s a great time to spend engaging in those projects you’ve been procrastinating over. Whether you’ve been wanting to spend some time reading books, decluttering your linen closet, or doing another project now is a good time to do these things as long as you find them beneficial. However, it won’t help your inability to concentrate to put even more unnecessary pressure upon yourself which is why you only want to do those things that you find helpful.
Sometimes, despite your best efforts the inability to concentrate when working from home will still be an issue. This is where TMS Advantage in Clearwater, St Petersburg, and Pinellas County, FL can be beneficial, so contact them today.
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