Kyle MacDonald: I can't focus on my work, do I have ADHD?

A lack of focus can be caused by many factors including stress, fatigue and burnout. Photo/123rf

Q: I feel like my ability to focus on work has really deteriorated. I was much better able to concentrate when working from home during lockdowns, but since going back to the office, I struggle - to sit still, to focus and complete tasks. Do I have ADHD? Should I be meditating? I tried it and just found it too hard, I couldn't even focus on that.

A: If it's any consolation - you're not alone. There is no doubt that our ability to focus has been impacted by all of the recent events, and there is also evidence that the wonderful technology we carry around in our pockets is also making an impact.

There is also an upsurge in interest - and understanding - around Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as more people come to the realisation that their struggles with focus, sequencing and learning in a "traditional" way may have been impacted by how their brain works, and are only now as adults seeking a diagnosis to help them manage that.

However, let's not jump to that particular conclusion in your situation. Firstly ADHD is more than just having trouble concentrating, and if it is something that describes how your brain works, then you would have had that experience your whole life. I'll leave it up to you to assess whether that requires further investigation.

From what you've said however, it sounds like this is a more recent problem, and that prior to the stress and disruption that the pandemic has dumped on us, it wasn't so much of a problem.

Two things to consider. Firstly, trouble concentrating can be caused by underlying fatigue, stress, distress or burnout. So I'd want to encourage you to consider that you might need a break, or consider whether your current workload is still manageable since moving back to the office. While working from home had its own problems, and distractions, its also true that for many it was possible to manage workloads a little more flexibly - and if you have a commute you've since lost that time too.

Secondly the wider issue is that if you have a smartphone, use social media, and don't actively manage your notifications you may have trained yourself into a degree of distraction as well. Each time someone likes, retweets, posts, mentions, DM's, emails or chats with you, our attention is drawn away to something that generally we find quite reinforcing - we all want engagement, in the relationship meaning, not the social media meaning, of that word.

Of course we used to get our fix of that around the actual water cooler - or tea room - where we actually have to get up and walk to the tea room, not have the chit chat virtually delivered to our screen, our phone, or even our watch.

So mindfulness can help, but we also have to work on structuring our environment. Use the technology, don't let it use you. Set blocks of time to check messages, turn off notifications within work - or designated hours - and find ways to limit incoming distractions.

Mindfulness can then help with the un-training, and, yes, it can be hard when you start because just like exercise, you have to start where you are, and sit with the distraction and keep working on bringing your attention back to the point of focus, usually the breath.

But just like exercise, focus is a muscle that can be focused on, and built with conscious effort, or lost with lack of use.