How to Stay Focused on Fridays

Fridays are arguably one of the best days of the week. With the work week coming to a close and the weekend beginning, it’s a day of excitement, forward-thinking, and distraction. Let’s be real - Most people mentally check out on Fridays and expect an easy day. While that might be true to a certain degree, the tendency to slack off during the final day of the work week can be a tough tendency to fall into if you’re not careful. With that being said, it can be tough to remain focused and to stay diligent for the majority of the day. Let’s see if we can find some ways to stay focused, shall we?

Schedule Your Day

We’ve dropped the hints by this point but we’ll reiterate - You have to plan, schedule, or time block your day. Making a viable, realistic, and productive plan is huge for your success individually and your team's overall. When you have a decent plan, even if it’s just a few hours or the morning - you’re working in a productive manner on a day where others might slack off. Enter your Friday with a productive mindset and the sky’s the limit. Check out this quote from our Time Blocking Blog: “time blocking is a great way to juggle work life and your professional life and any other side hustles you might have. Whether you spend 8-10 on emails, 10-12 on phone calls, 1-2 on personal tasks, and 2-5 on any other duties, tasks, etc you need to complete. You can even break it down even further and make it hyper-specific to tasks. For example: 8-10 scheduled social media posts, 10-12 write tomorrow’s blog, 12-1 lunch, 1-2:30 email building, and 2:30-5 miscellaneous. Basically, everyone can benefit from time blocking and time management skills. It’s something you can do everyday before work or everyday after work in an effort to plan.” Read the full blog here if you want to learn more about time blocking.

Help Where/When Needed

Sometimes slow Fridays happen. You don’t have a whole on your plate at the end of the week and you’ve completed your duties, and now you’re twiddling your thumbs. We’ve all been there! If you encounter a slow day like that, see if you can help a member of your team! For some, Friday’s are critical. Consider your team leader, boss, or director - Ask them what you can do, where you can help, and if there’s anything else you could add to your plate. Lend a helping hand, be willing to work with your team and be an asset! You will feel productive and your team will certainly appreciate your helping hand.

Plan the Next Week

Say it’s 3 p.m., you’re done with your work but the day’s not over. That happens frequently too! An easy way to stay productive and focused is to plan your next week. Inevitably, when one week ends another is just hours away and you’ll have to do the whole work week, wash and rinse cycle all over again! So, with that being said and with that on your mind, look to the next week. What didn’t you get to this week? Do you have a deadline coming up? Do you need to make an important call or speak to your co-worker? Take a moment or two and consider what is next and how you can better plan for the upcoming week. Set those meetings, time block a few days, take notes, etc. That way you can walk away from your week with a clean slate and enter a new one with organization and a plan.

Silence Your Phone

Our phones are easily one of our biggest distractions throughout any given day. I think we can all agree upon that. For some of us, our job relies on our cell phones, which is great - this may not apply to you entirely! But, if you have some work that is online, or requires other methods - put the phone away. Either silence that ringer, put it in your desk, or just turn it off! You have to be able to focus solely on one project sometimes and the worst thing for focus and productivity is your cell phone full of social media, texts, emails, and whatever else you have downloaded on there. See how much you can accomplish without your phone chirping every few minutes.

Take Breaks to Stay Sane

Burnout is real! Don’t allow yourself to experience burnout - it’s going to destroy you eventually. So, every few hours take a break. Walk around, visit with a coworker, listen to your favorite song, go grab lunch - Whatever you choose to do, you have to take little breaks to stay sane. Sitting in one spot for hours and hours can really take a toll on your productivity and focus levels. So, take 10 minutes every few hours and take a breather. Especially if you haven't moved your body in awhile. Get up, take a walk, get some fresh air, make a coffee - do something for yourself every once and awhile. That way, when you get back to work you have even more focus.