How To Focus On Work If You Have Depression

Mental HealthMarch 21, 2019

If you have depression, you already know how difficult it can be sometimes to get your work done. Others might not understand why you’d spend so much time on a task that could have been done within a couple of hours, but depression makes it extremely difficult to concentrate on just about anything, let alone work. And we all know that even regular people need the utmost concentration when working, meaning that it’s out of the question for someone with depression to go about the process seamlessly. Depression not only clouds the mind and makes it difficult to work, but it also makes the person diagnosed with it lose all interest in their work. If you do happen to have depression, there are a few steps that you can take in order to make your time at the office much easier than it is right now. Here’s what you need to do in order to make that happen:

Talk About Your Problem With Your Boss

The first person who needs to know about the issues that you’re going through is your boss. If you don’t have the type of boss who could understand depression, you’re still likely defended by the law to be of any discrimination based on your disorder and may even receive a more flexible approach to work. You could have flexible hours as well – but this may depend on the country you live in, as well as what sort of boss you have. If you’re lucky, you might have the sort of workplace that understands what you’re going through. According to statistics, employees whose bosses are understanding and accommodating of their depression are more efficient at work.

Write Down All Your Tasks On A List

This might not seem all that important, but planning out your entire day could actually help you keep yourself and your work on track more effectively. Make sure that you time everything that you do, which is imperative for you if you want to get all your tasks done. You’ll feel more motivated to keep up with your tasks if you know that there’s a small deadline approaching, and that will give you just the right amount of stress to keep you going. It might not be fun, but it’s far better than procrastinating your day and then realizing that you don’t have much time left, forcing your mind to go into overdrive and rushing through your tasks, thereby sacrificing the quality of your work. One thing that will definitely help you is to not look at your entire list while working and to keep your head low and focus on one task at a time – not doing so brings that risk of you being overwhelmed and not getting anything done anyway.

Don’t Bring Your Work Home

Depending on the nature of your work, this could be taken literally or metaphorically. However, the main takeaway is that you shouldn’t be thinking about work on the way home – it doesn’t matter how you performed during the day and how difficult the next day is going to be. The longer you have your work on your mind, the worse you’re going to feel about it, which means that you won’t be able to perform well the next day. And of course, if you actually take your work home in order to complete it, you’re making a huge blunder. You should never give up your free time for work no matter what because your mind needs time to reset from the day. That means that your break from work is just as important as the work itself because it enables you to get the rest that you need and deserve. From the first step that you take outside your office, your main objective should be to relax so that you’re ready for the following day – make sure that you’re relaxed on the commute home. Listen to some music, read a book, or do whatever that relaxes you.

You shouldn’t let depression dictate how you live your life. By taking these steps, you can regain control over your work and subsequently your entire life. You shouldn’t have to spend more time than necessary at your workplace because of it, and you certainly shouldn’t have to work harder than the average person due to it.