How can you avoid distractions while working from home, especially when fighting brain fog from chronic conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome? There are three aspects to consider: eliminating, minimizing, and managing.
Addressing Distractions While WFH
1. Eliminate
Eliminating, of course, involves getting rid of certain distractions altogether. That could mean putting your phone in another room or turning it off during work hours. You could also turn off email notifications and set your online status to unavailable during times when you need to focus on a work task.
2. Minimize
Sometimes, it’s impossible to completely remove a distraction from your workday. If you’re worried about missing emergency calls, you may need to minimize rather than eliminate distractions on your phone. Since you’ll need to keep it on, you can minimize the number of distractions by turning off unnecessary notifications while you’re trying to get work done. (Do you really need to be updated in real-time on what every single one of your Facebook/Instagram/TikTok friends is doing?)
You can try focus modes or focus apps, which limit notifications to only essential ones while you’re working. These tools can help create a more controlled environment for productivity by filtering out distractions. The great part is that you can customize the filters to fit your needs, ensuring that distractions get filtered out while the important notifications can still come through.
3. Manage
Other times, you may have little control over when and how often particular distractions weasel their way into your day. In this case, you would need to figure out the best way to manage them so they don’t completely derail your focus and productivity. For example, I get very distracted by extraneous noise (I believe I may have misophonia). When my upstairs neighbors’ kids are home, it sounds like that Geico commercial with the family dancing in clogs. And anyone who has ever lived in an apartment or condominium complex with noisy neighbors knows that it’s not always possible to compromise.
So if you’re stuck listening to the thunderous impact noise of children running relay races above your head, you need to find a way to manage it so it doesn’t drive you completely insane while you’re trying to get some work done. Noise-canceling headphones are extremely helpful; however, I find that they are not sufficient for covering impact noise on their own. I also have to pipe sounds like white noise or brown noise to drown out the sounds of jumping and stomping. I found that waterfall sounds tend to work really well for this.
Gloria Mark, author of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, recommends creating “hooks” to pull yourself out of distractions. If you find your attention frequently drawn to non-work-related distractions, such as endlessly scrolling social media, devise a plan to cut it short. You could set a timer or have a go-to work task that is less demanding that you can easily switch to.
I also like to use Mel Robbins’s 5 second rule. If I catch myself scrolling compulsively, I’ll count down “5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” then immediately close out the app. It sounds too simple, but it works.
Staying Productive in Spite of Brain Fog
When you struggle with brain fog, it’s crucial to break your workday into smaller chunks. You can modify the Pomodoro Technique to suit your individual needs. The traditional technique involves working in 25-minute increments and taking 5-minute breaks, followed by a 15-minute break after every three pomodoros are completed.
For those with brain fog, 25 minutes of focus can feel like torture. And trying to force yourself to push through it can often be counterproductive. Try gradually reducing the 25-minute increment to shorter blocks to find your sweet spot.
You might find that you can only manage 5 minutes of undivided attention before the mental fog starts to roll in. If that’s the case, start there and take a brief break, such as 30 seconds to 1 minute. Move your body, get a drink of water or something with electrolytes in it, and then sit back down for another 5 minutes of focused work. Over time, you may be able to gradually build up your ability to stay focused for longer blocks until you reach the recommended 25 minutes.
Remember to Reward Yourself
Give yourself something to look forward to after completing a focused work session. This can help reinforce the habit of maintaining focus. Some ideas are:
- Treating yourself to a favorite snack or beverage
- Taking a short walk
- Reading a few pages of a book
- Sending a text to a loved one
- Sitting outside to enjoy a little sun and fresh air
- Setting a timer for 5 minutes of social media time
- Watching a short video you enjoy
- Planning your next day trip or vacation
Make a personalized menu of tiny rewards to help support your productivity goals while working from home with chronic illness. Frequent small rewards can be incredibly motivating, help break up the workday, and give your foggy brain a rest. Just be sure to choose rewards that make you feel better afterward. If scrolling social media tends to make you feel anxious, depressed, or irritable, scratch that from the list. Stick to rewards that make you feel pampered, relaxed, loved, excited, or that make you laugh. Humor is an amazing antidote for overwhelm.
When you’re trying to work while managing a chronic illness, the last thing you need is more stress. While addressing distractions, taking breaks, and planning small rewards may not eliminate the brain fog that makes it tough to stay productive while working remotely, they can go a long way toward helping you feel a little better each day.
