How can I focus on tedious tasks?

January 16, 2008 5:22 AM

Sometimes at my job I have to do boring things. I want to be able to hunker down and just get things done, but I just can't focus.

Distractions aren't the issue. I've tried locking down the web browser and closing the IM program. I'll get a few minutes of work done before I find myself daydreaming and the work not getting done. When I'm doing something interesting (which I also get to do sometimes, yay), this is not a problem. But tedious tasks are taking me longer than they should. What can I do differently?

posted by Dec One to work & money (17 comments total)

I make it into a game when I have to do crap like this.

If I can get down to row 500 in Excel in fifteen minutes, I WIN and then I reward myself with something like a longer lunch or a short book break (I take book breaks because I'm a non-smoker. Let me tell you, they're addicting).

You have to convince yourself that it is a game, which can be difficult, so it's helpful to have lots of short milestones sometimes, such as if it normally takes 30 min to do a task, and you can do it in 22 min, taking a 3 min break on metafilter (the reward for winners) STILL saves the company time, plus you WON!!

I know, it sounds strange, but it's all in your head.
posted by Pants! at 5:31 AM on January 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Can you give yourself a distraction that will keep your mind occupied without interfering with your work? If it's truly a mindless task, try listening to an audio book or talk radio. Otherwise, music. I've successfully used audio books to get through some really tedious data entry in my day.
posted by Mr Bunnsy at 5:53 AM on January 16, 2008

I put my earphones on, block everything out with music, get a sweet latte, and enjoy my vacation from the craziness around me. Combined with music, I literally find a rhythm in the work itself and breeze right through it. My job is backend corehost processing and support for banks. I find it hard to imagine a job more tedious.
posted by ick at 6:16 AM on January 16, 2008

I do the same as ick, ipod on, podcast usually BBC, CBC or NPR and it keeps the half of my mind that gets bored occupied.
posted by arcticseal at 6:24 AM on January 16, 2008

Coffee. I am not a caffeine fan, but damn if it doesn't sharpen my focus for a couple of hours and put an edge on mundane tasks. Diet soda might work the same way, alternatively, though to a lesser extent. Also, as a long shot, Ritalin is prescribed for this sort of thing, though it is of course a controversial solution.
posted by crapmatic at 6:27 AM on January 16, 2008

Approach it as a form of meditation.

No, seriously. I find this only works (for me) if it's something that has a rhythm to it, or is free of external interruptions.
posted by aramaic at 6:34 AM on January 16, 2008

Sounds to me like you need to set shorter-term goals, to break up the big, monotonous task. If you have, for example, 10,000 lines of data entry to do, that sounds really daunting. So, just do 500, or maybe 1000 depending how quick the work goes. Then grab a quick coffee or smoke break or whatever, and do another 500-1000.

Basically, set short-term goals that you can easily keep. Work goes a lot easier and faster when the end goal is within easy reach.
posted by CrayDrygu at 7:02 AM on January 16, 2008

Music works wonders. I prefer non vocal music (electronica, trance, ambient) when I'm doing any work that requires my focused attention.
posted by Meagan at 7:22 AM on January 16, 2008

Tabata My Job by Joshua Newman

"At its heart, Tabata is simple: eight brief intervals of very intense effort, separated by an equal number of even briefer intervals of rest. . . . . .ten minutes work, five minutes rest. Eight intervals, then, take exactly two hours. Here’s how it works: Take the eight tasks at the top of your to-do list. This is important. Don’t cherry-pick tasks, as it leaves the ones you don’t want to face floating on your list for weeks on end. As painful as each B2B Tabata interval may be, it’s also brief enough to be endurable; the same goes for ten minutes of any of your work tasks. Whip your interval timer out of your gym bag, and set it for eight ten-minute/five-minute repeats. Fire it up, and jump in on the first task."
posted by tiburon at 7:24 AM on January 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Seconding (thirding?) talk radio. Talk radio saved me at my finance job.

This American Life is a godsend. Engaging enough to be able to sit there for 8 hours, breezy enough that you can zone in and out without losing too much.

They are available streaming through Real Player. Real Player is annoying, but at least its not your computer. :-p
posted by ian1977 at 7:29 AM on January 16, 2008

Edit: They don't require Real Player any longer. They have their own built in player.
posted by ian1977 at 7:32 AM on January 16, 2008

This helps me sometimes: keep a detailed to-do list, and make a point of checking each thing off as you complete it. Those checks can be mighty satisfying as they accumulate during the course of the day/week. Also, see if you can break some of the longer and more tedious tasks into sub-tasks, so you have more frequent feelings of progress or accomplishment.

If you have any experience with mediatation or martial arts, I second aramaic's suggestion of doing the "chop wood carry water" bit of treating repetitive, tedious tasks as a form of meditative discipline like mantras or form repetition.
posted by aught at 7:49 AM on January 16, 2008

I try to use the ten minute jumpstart. You promise yourself you'll work on whatever it is with no distractions for ten minutes, and usually the momentum carries you forward until you're done. If not, coffee break and then ten more minutes, etc.
posted by lhall at 8:34 AM on January 16, 2008

I have struggled with this kind of thing (ADD?) as well. Like others here, I have found it helpful to break big, dull tasks down into parts, put each part on a checklist, and check them off one by one as I complete them.

Music helps me too, especially energetic stuff. If the task I'm doing involves highly verbal material, I can't listen to stuff with too many words.

If I'm still not getting stuff done after breaking a big job up into pieces, I may go and break it into even smaller pieces.

Also, I sometimes find that I get a lot done late in the day, after a lot of my co-workers have left and things are quiet and peaceful.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 9:01 AM on January 16, 2008

I don't think this is ADD, just boredom. People don't like doing boring things (or at least, most of them don't).

When I have a boring task (and I currently do), I find that mini-goals with rewards work the best. Go through ten sheets, a few rows. Maybe 10-15 minutes of work, and then a tiny break, like a small computer game (minesweeper) or a particular website (like ask.me).
posted by that girl at 9:17 AM on January 16, 2008

Put me in the "I need music" camp. Specifically, I need Spy Music. Movie soundtracks are especially good - think Bourne <whatever>, Oceans 11+, James Bond, etc. They lend a little sense of urgency to whatever you're doing, even if it's something monotonous. You can pretend you just need to get this task done in the next 10 minutes, or else THE VILLAINS WILL BLOW UP THE WORLD! But not to worry, you have it under control - you are the super-suave hero of this story. Or something like that. And then you can laugh at yourself for compensating with such ridiculousness, and before you know it the work will be done.
posted by vytae at 10:12 AM on January 16, 2008

I do music as well, but it cannot be rap or any music that's lyrically intensive. I just can't concentrate on my work because I'll be trying to listen to the lyrics. That's why I can't listen to podcasts either because I end up losing focus on my work and instead focus onwhat they are saying or what the podcast.

When I start to zone out, I usually get up and walk around the office grab some water and then head back in. Usually if I stay in the same position for too long, with the same problem, I will get zoned out so I need some form of escape.
posted by spacesbetween at 8:16 PM on January 16, 2008