Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
In an always-on workplace culture, focus has become the new currency, and we’re spending it faster than we can earn it.
Our digital habits are quietly hijacking attention, memory, and decision-making. It’s not just the endless notifications or multitasking that drain us, it’s the mental energy we burn trying to manage how we appear online and at work.
Social platforms and digital communication feed a constant comparison loop, training our brains to scan for social validation rather than sink into deep, uninterrupted thought.
In this cycle, our attention becomes externally focused—on what we assume others expect—rather than internally grounded in meaningful work.
The result? Shallow engagement, fragmented creativity, and a workforce that feels busy but unfocused.
The real saboteur of focus may not be technology itself, but our relationship to it—and to each other.
Activities that are sabotaging our focus at work
Here are the primary ways people are sabotaging their focus at work.
Doing too much
Multitasking isn’t actually possible. Our brains can shift from one concept to another quickly, however if this process is continuous, our productivity decreases.
Try staying focused on one project at a time, prioritizing what’s most urgent. As other lower priority tasks pop up, add them to a to do list so you don’ t forget to come back to them.
Distractions
We were never meant to be accessible at all times. Notifications decrease focus. There is anxiety in waiting to hear the ping of a device alerting you to something that is most likely not of critical importance, and there is anxiety in feeling the need to respond quickly to whatever the notification is.
By turning off notifications, unsubscribing from emails, and the like, one is able to decrease the anxiety of over-connection making moments of contentness in the here-and-now more possible.
Not knowing your why
“Why am I working these hours, why do I care if I make this deadline or expectation that no one else expects of me?”
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Are you working toward a promotion, providing for your family, etc.? Reminding yourself of why you’re doing this job can help to keep you motivated and on track at work.
Being too hard on yourself
Our neural networks are tuned in to all the negative phrases that we’ve said about ourselves or others have said about us. So, if you reiterate those aloud or in your head whilst attempting to focus, you are actually harming your brain and functionality.
Instead of saying “I’m a failure”, learn to say “I can focus on what’s right in front of me right now.”
Not allowing yourself time to recover
Attempting to hyper focus on important projects at work without rest, fueling yourself with healthy/energizing food, or moving your body regularly is like trying to fish in a desert.
To be your best at work, you need to take care of yourself.
Improving concentration and focus
Often, struggles with concentration and focus stem from unhappiness with the realities of our day-to-day, or worrying about things beyond our control.
The top ways to improve concentration and focus are:
- Remove the energy expenditure of being overly emotional or emotionally invested in others’ perspectives.
- Learn to curate your environment. Put down the phone, engage with people who are life giving, and develop a process for acknowledging and prioritizing your success. Your environment, including how you connect with others, is a measure of meaning and can improve both desire to and skills in focusing on what matters.
- Hone in on your values and the image of what you want your life to be now and in the future. Knowing our values helps us to stay focused on what and who matters so we don’t exert energy in ways that don’t align with who we are and who we want to become.
- Bilateral stimulation or rhythmic exercises like walking, drumming, etc. help your neural networks to process not only the stressors around you but the solutions that are possible. So, go for a walk to boost focus and productivity.
- Thought stopping is a cognitive-behavioral technique where, when your mind starts to wander, you say aloud (or in your head, if it’s not socially appropriate to do so aloud) “Stop,” and refocus on what is currently at hand.
- Retrain your neural networks by removing negative “I” statements like “I am a failure” or “I am lazy” or “I should have known better” and practice replacing them with positive statements like “I am capable,” “I am allowed to rest,” or “I did the best I could with the resources I had available to me.”
- The Pomodoro Technique can be helpful in breaking down larger tasks into more manageable ones. Especially for tasks that require intensive writing, it can be helpful to set a timer and “just write” for a short period of time without attention toward grammar/spelling, sentence structure, flow of ideas, etc. Then later, in another short burst of focus, you can review what you’ve written. And likewise, in another short burst, you can edit… and then add resources… and then edit for formatting, etc.
Distraction isn’t just digital, it’s deeply human. When attention orbits around social approval, we trade authentic productivity for performance anxiety, chasing relevance instead of results.
It’s easy to confuse responsiveness with effectiveness.
Reclaiming focus starts by redefining what matters. Leaders and teams can set new norms: fewer notifications, protected time for deep work, and a culture that values thoughtfulness over constant presence.
Mindful use of technology — and mindful awareness of how comparison distorts attention — can restore clarity and cognitive balance.
The goal isn’t to unplug completely, but to engage with intention. When we stop measuring our worth through the digital mirror, we free up the mental space to do the work that truly matters, and rediscover the kind of focus that fuels creativity, connection, and sustainable performance.
