The Unfocussed Mind

As much as we might try, humans are not input-output machines. We can sit down to work with the goal in mind and our intentions to push out the needed result… and then stare at the newly opened, blank document with nothing coming to mind.

There are many reasons for feeling this way. A huge one can be burnout. Employees may feel anything from a slight slump to extreme depression when they hit that stage, and we can both be the first or the last to notice. Ignoring our body’s warning signs is easy when we approach being burned out. Maybe the morning coffee now has to be refilled two or three times. Maybe we feel more on edge and snap at coworkers or family. It can happen that while we manage to perform at work, none of our hobbies manage to entice us any longer.

But a lack of focus at work doesn’t have to be extreme.

First, explore what is happening. A lack of focus doesn’t need to mean a lack of concentration.

Concentration is the act of devoting your attention span to a particular stimulus. For example, when concentrating on a book, you will be immersed in reading while not minding the noise around you or thinking about matters outside the story.

Focus, on the other hand, is about where you direct your concentration. You can decide where to put your attention. You decide to open the book and start reading. You’re concentrating on the book rather than other stimuli in the room. Note that persons with ADHD may find even this tiny step a challenge already, and having any amount of focus can feel draining to them.

Let’s assume we’re not talking about a neurodivergent group and speak to the broader populous.

When your focus slips, check for factors that might have limited your ability to focus. Let’s look at a few of them and how the problems around them can be best addressed.

·????????Unrestful Nights

Our mom wasn’t kidding when she told us we must go to bed at a reasonable hour. Lack of sleep will significantly impact our ability to perform and comprehend what we look at. No matter how sleep gets interrupted or shortened – health issues, staying up too late, consuming stimulants too late in the day, for example – it always impacts your mental functions the next day.

If your sleep is shortened or interrupted by health issues, seek out your medical professionals. Both mental and physical issues could be the cause, and you will want to have it looked at by an expert. Changing your eating habits might help if you notice that consuming stimulants like caffeinated drinks impacts you. The heartburn waking you up at night could be linked to late-night snacking habits. Explore how you spend the four hours before bedtime and see which habits you can change to check if they impact your sleep.

·????????Overloaded with Tasks

Having a fulfilling life outside of work is everyone’s goal! But check if you are trying to fill too much into each day. Especially if you have a family to support, your days might end up too full if you try to pack all your hobbies, plush chores, plus time with children, pets, and a significant other all into one evening every day.

Re-organize your evenings if you notice the day being too packed. Check if your duties as a parent or partner can be divided up with others. If you have children, work with them on sharing household chores. If you have a pet that needs daily attention, check if you can move the times they need you around to break up your evenings. And, of course, you might need to cut back on some of your life events if there’s just too much going on at once. Write down everything you do or try to do each evening and review and organize these tasks. Maybe you can shift working on studying a new language every other day. Maybe working out can be done early in the morning instead. And maybe watching TV at night when you also want to read a book means you need to pick one over the other.

·????????Life outside of Work is draining

Going with the previous topic: Maybe what we’re trying to do outside of work is just becoming too much. After work, you drive the kids to the park, where you will sit and study for your evening classes; your partner calls to ask if you can bring home some shopping, you leave the park, head to shop with bored kids, come home, need to take the dog for a walk before dinner is ready, eat on the fly, take the kids to bed, then sit back down in front of the TV with your partner to binge the latest series while still working on that evening class.

The mental exhaustion from many of these tasks will add up quickly. Give yourself some balance. Find quiet time for yourself. Add exercise, so your body can get used alongside your mind. Plan some evenings when you limit mental stimulation. Allow yourself not to fill every hour off every day. Just as you’d not want to be on a treadmill all day, your brain will appreciate the breaks of not having to run at full power.

·????????Disinterest in the needed Work

Especially when working in creative fields like gaming – not every day will be packed with peak-interest tasks. Some days, we have to sit down and tackle that annoying bug, model that monster we think is ugly, write the quest with that NPC we dislike, and so on. No matter how awesome the job is, some days, it’s meh.

Sadly, work is work, and we must find ways to push through. Check if you can balance out unpleasant tasks by picking up something fun along the way. If you feel you’re getting stuck with tedious tasks, talk to your producer, team lead, or manager to review the tasks assigned to you. Let the people who work with you know if you feel stuck in a rut or are loaded up on tasks that bore or disinterest you. If nothing else helps, you might need to check if you can change departments or your career path!

·????????Poor Time Management

Once we reach adulthood, some come to realize there are basic skills we were just not taught. It can feel crushing to enter college and find we never really learned how to learn and study during school. Or that, while living at home, we never really learned how to cook simple meals. Entering the workforce, many find that learning to schedule their daily tasks and figuring out time management is a crucial skill we’ve never been taught.

If you run behind on tasks daily, worry about meeting deadlines, and the work you deliver feels unsatisfactory even to yourself, then it might be time to learn about better time management. While it feels like something basic we all should have learned, don’t be ashamed if you are lacking. Many adults enter the working world and wonder how to manage their daily tasks. This also means that you will find endless resources online to help you, from articles easily found via search engines to daily and weekly organizers found in bookstores. You may need to try a few different ways to find the right fit for you!

·????????Health Concerns

We briefly mentioned health concerns during Unrestful Nights, but your health can impact your mind even outside of sleep. Depression, anxiety, and related mental issues will impact a restless mind, but so can worries about other parts of our health.

Treating your body well by taking care of what you eat, how and when you exercise, and scheduling health checkups will help you put your busy mind at ease. We recently spoke about Men’s Health and the importance of checkups, but each family member should regularly look after their bodies.

If you struggle with mental exhaustion, take stock of what your mind must work on daily. Are you adding stressors like caffeine and alcohol? Is your day packed too full? Are you healthy and eating well? Do you have time for yourself to decompress? Could you be suffering from ADHD? Checking in with professionals in the medical field will help you explore these issues and find the needed solutions!

We hope this article gives you some insight into the question of “Why am I always so tired?”, and maybe even some suggestions on getting some peace and quiet for your restless mind!