How do you tackle the lack of focus?
At least at some point, we all deal with burnout and lack of motivation when working on routine/non-challenging/boring tasks. But there's one more issue that although not affecting everybody, can be equally frustrating: the lack of focus. You might label it as poor organization and dismiss it, but there's more to it than that.
True, I'm not the best at organizing, but I usually micromanage, divide bigger tasks into multiple smaller ones, and in the end the job gets done. My current process works for me, but I cannot help to wonder if I'd be more efficient (or less burnout) sticking to the initial plan rather than additionally drifting off to X other things in the meantime.
The problem is my mind has some background processes of its own, it's like a jukebox randomly and forcibly playing stuff. I get ideas (and not necessarily for the project I'm working on at that time), or I remember some problem I encountered some time ago, or I just open a related file, see other issues or improvements etc. And no, I don't just create tasks or reminders for them, I just feel compelled to fix them right then. Otherwise the universe would implode. Sometimes the chain of additional work gets out of control, and I forget where I started from. That's when it really drives me bananas…
So, have you ever dealt with this? What did you find helpful in moments like these?
I can relate to everything you're saying. What truly worked for me is to learn to change task even if the prior is not 100% done. Do something that you enjoy and you'll gain that focus back in no time 👌
Lack of focus is definitely something I've struggled with. Some common approaches that I've found helpful:
- Daily meditation to practice focus (5-10 minutes?).
- The Pomodoro technique of short bursts of work followed by five minutes of free time
- Time tracking in general, with my tracker always visible on a secondary screen so I know what I'm supposed to be working on
- Brief daily journaling (even just a couple sentences) where I'll talk about what I'm working on, how I'm feeling, how focused/productive I am being, etc.
Thanks, Ben. Unfortunately, those didn't work for me..
My mind just doesn't sit still enough to be able to meditate, or just even relax for a few minutes. Sometimes I cannot fall asleep even exhausted and with external stimuli removed. I have tried, though.
I heard only good things about Pomodoro, but it's the only one with the status "won't try myself" 😁 I plainly hate alarm sounds…
This helped me to some extent in the past, though I didn't keep the tracker visible to not get distracted
Actually, daily writing helped. I'll give it another try. The problem is forming a habit: if I forget a day, after that I'll find any excuse to not do it. 😁
Nice timing, @alina. I was about to ask the same 😄
For the burnouts, some things that help me
- Take 1 or 2 days away from the project.
- Start a new, easy and quick project so I can finish it or at least some feature soon. This way I have the feeling that I finished something and I get more motivated to come back to the main one.
- Maybe just test a new language, framework or package.
- Watch coding videos from brilliant coders. Watching clean good code makes me want to go back to work.
For the lack of focus
- I look at the project and say, okay what I need to do.
- Divide the tasks into small tasks and write them at the whiteboard next to a big checkbox.
- I also like to clean the room where I work and of course, the desktop. Remove unnecessary things.
- Make a tea, put some LOFI low music, headphones and back to work.
- If I feel stuck after some tasks, I just erase the whiteboard and start again at point 1. 😂
But yeah, I struggle more with the lack of focus than the burnouts.
😅 It's been on my mind to write about it for some time too.
Thanks, Ricard, for the detailed list. It really resembles a lot mine.
- Every time I try this, I end up with saying "ok, just 5 minutes for this" and then…
- Funny, this is something I'm trying now, I started to build a small css grid framework. I'm thinking it'd be useful for me, even if it won't help with focus.
- In progress 😋
- Yeah, good old friends YouTube and Twitch. Problem is I just can't watch anyone, depends on the person. Sadly this goes even if I'm the one who's missing on a great code video.
—
- This doesn't always work for me
- That's exactly what I do, but in Notion.
- Yes. Yes. And yes. When there's mess around me, I cannot function properly. This comes in as a very handy motivation to clean, even in my most lazy moments.
- My poison is coffee 😁 Headphones do indeed help removing the street noise (or me singing).
- Oof, yeah, the worst case scenario. Known to happen.
This is excellent timing, because I'm struggling with it right now.
I've taken some steps today - my week mostly consisted of just watching YouTube and Instagram, which I admit - sucked ass.
You are definitely not alone. 😉 It's actually the first time I wrote anywhere about it, because yesterday it got acute, there was absolute chaos in modifying Makerlog files. Nothing broke, progress is still ok, but if you change your mind I'll understand 😅 Maybe we should open a dedicated space on Makerlog to talk, exchange ideas or just be comfortable to blow off steam on the subject with a hearty "Oof". 😋
But you should feel great for the way ep. 1 of Shipcast went, and all the other good things that happened this week.
Later edit: Funny thing is I never used Instagram :) Though in the last 2-3 weeks I started being somewhat active on Twitter, it's both interesting and exhausting.
I suffer from a lack of focus on a bigger scale. I find it extremely hard to commit to a specific project because I always feel like all the other opportunities might be even better.
But in the end it just hurts my progress and mental health.
For this year I try to "blindly" commit to projects no matter the expected outcomes.
Thanks for your reply, Kevin. I didn't know there was another level..
Maybe making a list with your ideas and what each idea would take to build, would help see the bigger picture, compare and better choose between them. Think about what you want from your next project, like do you want a personal passion project, a community or something more focused on revenue, a saas, app etc. Make a more informed choice before you stick with it.
Or try to minimize your work, start by creating smaller projects or just MVPs, something that takes less work hours, something you can revisit, polish and improve later. If you finish 1-2 projects, the satisfaction will greatly help with completing other projects afterwards.
Another possible option would be a collaborator to share some of the workload and even get motivated from.
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