Ryan’s Journal: How to Focus
by Ryan Pew
I wrote on this a bit last week.
When it comes to open floor plans you have the ability to break concentration pretty quickly.
Maybe you ask a work-related question, or you see someone walk by who catches your attention, or it could be the other meeting occurring five feet away that draws your attention.
All in all, it can add up to a loud and unproductive environment.
That said, there is another issue at hand: the collective focus of our country.
I have political leanings (most folks do), but I don’t address them in this forum.
However, I have found it is very difficult to focus with the hyper-political environment we are in right now.
The latest on Trump, Supreme Court nominees, and international trade dominate the conversations. Even at work, I have found it can be a minefield to even poke into certain topics. How do we overcome this?
One thing I have started doing is actually turning off the news and not keeping up with every little change to the topics of the day; it can be a bit freeing. At the same time, I am not in a position where I can be completely ignorant of what is happening.
I have also found that there is common ground among my co-workers on how divisive it has all become.
And it is a lot harder to push your politics on someone when they are standing right in front of you. The shield of anonymity is gone.
I have found that reading negative press also has the added effect of making me less productive.
I focus on the negative and it goes into my head. What good is all that?
So maybe next week we can focus on the positive and move forward?
Most of us get presidential alerts on our phone now, but we can also turn them off.
Image credit: VirtualWolf
