Improve your focus in 2024 by banishing mental blocks

Most employees know the feeling of being stuck on a task, unable to complete it and move onto something else. But the right strategies can help you avoid and overcome these mental blocks. 

Fifty-nine percent of employees have a mental block on a daily or weekly basis, and almost half of employees say that mental blocks cause them anxiety around their work, according to a report from project management software platform Miro. Their research also defined the three most common types: Information hunting, when employees spin their wheels looking for information they can't find; spiraling, when a worker takes on too many tasks at once; and blank screen, when an employee can't start a task or project. 

But a mental block doesn't have to derail an entire day's work, says Hollie Castro, Miro's chief people officer. It's important to acknowledge the block before it takes too big of a toll on productivity and morale. 

"The short-term impact is that you're not going to make the deadline, and you start to feel high anxiety, or maybe even worse, you shut down and become paralyzed," Castro says. "But the longer-term impact can be pretty significant for the mental well-being of employees. So when they get stuck, what you see is misalignment of teams and the quality of work is significantly lower." 

Read more: Mental health trends and predictions for 2024, according to Lyra

While mental blocks aren't new, talking about them at work can be beneficial, though scary for employees. Miro found that a quarter of employees don't think they can ask for help from a manager with their mental block. But teamwork and collaboration can help an individual get unstuck and move forward — or move on. 

"My advice to managers is to constantly ask your employees how they are doing. The role of the manager is to unblock and remove obstacles, and create an environment where employees can do their best work," Castro says. "It's the job of the manager to really become a coach and a facilitator of free ideas and creative flow." 

Managers can do this by setting clear expectations around projects and timelines. There should also be an open dialogue about challenges and strengths that each employee has, so when it's time for a review of their work, there are no surprises or added stressors. 

Read more: Why managers should maintain (and model) work-life balance 

For employees struggling with mental blocks themselves, there are a few ways to try and reset. Castro likes to physically move locations, or take a break to go for a walk or to the gym. She also tries to reframe the issue she's having to avoid spiraling about how impossible it is to complete. 

"If I'm super stuck and I can't get this done, I literally have a list of people I call and I'd say, do you have 10 minutes, I need to talk you through a problem that I'm stuck on," she says. "These are people that are very skilled at reframing, or asking me a series of questions in a safe way that I can figure out how to reframe myself." 

If you do have a mental block, feeling ashamed is not the way to overcome it, Castro says. Being curious about what's going on both in and out of the workplace can reveal if this is an issue that needs more resources, whether that's manager support, time off, or mental health benefits. 

"There's some stigma around, am I failing if I get blocked? But it actually happens across the board in all disciplines," she says. "Create an environment where people feel safe enough to say, 'I don't know how to do this,' or 'I'm feeling overwhelmed.' People are more aware of it, they're more willing to talk about it, and they're more willing to say when they are feeling burned out."