Why You Can’t Focus (and 3 Proven Ways to Fix It)

If you feel constantly busy but get nothing done, you’re not working; you’re just reacting.

Think about it: when was the last time you had two uninterrupted hours to focus on something meaningful? No emails, no Slack pings, no doom-scrolling. Just deep, immersive work that moves the needle.

The truth is, most professionals aren’t drowning in work; they’re drowning in distractions. Meetings, notifications, and constant task switching are killing your ability to focus and get shit done.

So, how do you escape the chaos and finally get meaningful work done? It starts with cultivating deep work: a skill that separates high performers from the perpetually busy.

Deep Work and Its Importance

Deep work is the ability to focus intensely on complex tasks without distractions. It’s not about looking busy, it’s about producing high-value work that’s hard to replicate (e.g., coding, writing, or building financial models). It requires uninterrupted focus away from emails, impromptu calls, and social media, and challenges our cognitive limits.

On the other hand, shallow work is low-value, easy-to-replicate work: emails, admin tasks, scrolling LinkedIn under the excuse of networking, and meetings that could’ve been an email.

Why should you care? In a world where AI takes over routine tasks, the ability to focus deeply will be the last true competitive advantage for humans.

Enemies of Deep Work

In a 2009 study, Dr. Sophie Leroy introduced the term "attention residue", which is the mental fog that lingers when you switch tasks. Every time you shift gears, part of your attention stays stuck on the last task, making it harder to focus and think clearly. Surprisingly, the study found that even brief interruptions, whether a Slack ping or a five-minute conversation, had the same negative impact on focus as larger ones.

So why do we keep working at half capacity? Because our attention is constantly being fragmented. In today’s world, that fragmentation comes from three primary sources: digital distractions, our own internal habits, and the workplace itself.

Digital distractions are a modern plague, and we’re least equipped to resist them. Our brains aren’t wired to handle today’s endless notifications, inbox-zero obsession, or the compulsive need to check if the world is on fire (spoiler alert: it is).

But technology isn’t the only culprit. Humans are distraction machines all on their own. We multitask, believing we’re getting more done, when, in reality, we’re just doing everything poorly. We treat boredom like a disease, something to be cured instantly with a screen. When was the last time you stood in line without instinctively reaching for your phone? Or closed an app, only to open it again 10 seconds later, without even noticing? We can’t stand empty space, so we fill it with distraction. Are you stuck or bored? Your hand instinctively reaches for a screen as if on autopilot.

Our workplaces are distraction factories, built to keep us busy, not productive. We rely on meetings for everything, big or small. Decisions that could be settled in an email drag on for 30 to 60 minutes, eating up valuable time. Even when we try to focus, we're constantly interrupted by questions, last-minute "urgent" requests, and random office chatter. How many times have you spent the whole day in meetings, only to start your actual work at 5 PM?

Strategies to Cultivate Deep Work

1) Designing your environment

As we discussed in “Why 80% of New Year’s Goals Fail by February,” your environment shapes your habits more than willpower does. To eliminate distractions, you need to design your environment for deep work.

Step one: Choose a quiet spot with minimal foot traffic, whether at home or in the office. Less foot traffic, less noise, and less activity mean deeper focus.

Step two: Clear both physical and digital clutter from your workspace. That means:

• Clean your desk. Toss those empty Monster cans and clear anything distracting from your peripheral vision, such as papers, gadgets, dirty dishes, and laundry.

• Declutter your digital workspace. Close unnecessary apps and finally shut those 15 browser tabs you’ve been "meaning to read" for months. If you haven’t read them so far, they weren’t that important or interesting anyway.

• Put your phone, tablet, and smartwatch in another room. Keep only your work computer in sight.

Step three: Once you’ve set up the basics, take it further by adding a few sensory enhancers.

• Wear noise-canceling headphones to block auditory distractions and play instrumental music to boost cognitive performance and mood.

• Use scents and essential oils like lemon, mint, or eucalyptus. They are proven to increase alertness and processing speed and reduce mental fatigue.

• Invest in an ergonomic chair. It should be comfortable enough to support focus but not sleep.

2) Structuring your day

With your environment set up for deep work, the next step is mastering your time.

Schedule deep work during your quietest hours to minimize distractions and maximize energy. I prefer early mornings, but if you have commitments (meetings, kids, etc.), find another quiet time that works for you. Whatever time you choose, ensure minimal distractions and enough mental energy to focus. For night owls, late evenings can be just as practical due to the quiet.

Feeling busy but getting nothing done? That’s because you’re mistaking urgency for importance. This is where the Eisenhower Matrix comes in¹ .

The matrix divides tasks into four categories:

• Urgent & Important: These tasks need immediate attention and contribute to long-term success. You want to do them now, but also work to manage them so they seldom become urgent in the future. (e.g., crises, deadlines)

• Not Urgent but Important: These tasks ensure long-term success in your life. These are the projects you want to spend more time doing deep work (e.g., strategic work, writing, side hustles)

• Urgent but Not Important: These are tasks you can outsource to technology or others for whom they will be important (e.g., most emails, admin work)

• Not Urgent & Not Important: These are the time-wasters and energy-drainers. Eliminate them from your list (e.g., doom-scrolling, unnecessary meetings).

Image credit: Asana

What about the emails and Slack messages you can’t delegate? You’ll handle them in focused batches. Since each task has high mental “overhead costs,” you’ll want to batch similar work to stay efficient. Instead of reacting to messages all day (running fast but getting nowhere² ), set fixed times to handle them in one go. You can apply this method to any high-overhead task: meal prep, finances, or even errands.

Attention and willpower are limited, yet they are renewable with the proper methods. You can give your brain the occasional rest by using a method such as the Pomodoro Technique³ : focus for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute breather (one Pomodoro cycle). You can repeat for four cycles and take a longer break. This method prevents burnout, boosts focus, and clears attention residue.

3) Training your brain

Like any muscle, your brain strengthens with training; deep work gets easier the more you do it. It’s all about the reps. The more you single-task, the sharper your focus becomes. Here are other “exercises” to build your mental endurance:

Build daily and weekly habits to unplug. Try a simple rule: no social media or email after 7 PM. Tried it but struggled to follow through? You can use an application such as Freedom to keep yourself honest.

I’ve also adopted a non-religious version of the Jewish Shabbat—one full day without screens. Observed from Friday sundown to Saturday night, Shabbat is a dedicated time for rest, reflection, and disconnecting from work. Try it yourself: pick one day a week to go completely offline.

You can also consider starting a meditation practice. Meditation isn't just about relaxation; it physically rewires the brain for focus. Studies show that just 10 minutes of daily meditation improves cognitive flexibility and reduces mind-wandering, helping you stay locked into deep work. I’ve used Headspace since 2016, and I’ve found that it helps me embrace silence and resist the urge to seek distractions.

Want an easy mental reset? Step outside. Research shows that just 20 minutes in nature can boost focus and working memory while significantly reducing mental fatigue. When I feel stuck, I take a quick walk outside instead of doom-scrolling. Trust me, it’s the fastest cognitive refresh you can get.

The final step: take control

Your attention is your most valuable asset, and the modern world is designed to steal it. But you have the power to reclaim it. The only question is, are you willing to take control?

Your challenge: This week, schedule two deep work sessions, eliminate one distraction, and unplug for an evening. Small shifts lead to massive results. But only if you start.

Your future self will thank you.

1  The Eisenhower Matrix is a tool inspired by Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34^th President of the United States, and popularized by Stephen Covey’s book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

2   I recently came across the term “Red Queen Effect” in Sahil Bloom’s phenomenal new book “5 Types of Wealth” in the context of Time Wealth, describing the situation in which we are running fast (like Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) yet feel like going nowhere.

3  Developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, the Pomodoro (Italian for tomato) Technique was named after a tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Francesco used to track his bursts of deep work.