I meant to reply earlier, but I only just had a quiet minute to sit down and think about what you asked.
You were right that the room feels better when the shelves are not crowded, and I finally moved a few things around to test it.
I kept the wider chair near the window, shifted the lamp closer to the wall, and suddenly everything looked less busy.
I also tried your idea about keeping only one basket by the door, and that surprisingly made the entrance feel calmer.
I do think the longer rug works, even if it seemed odd at first.
Now that it is in place, the whole area looks more settled and easier to walk through.
I still need to sort the books and decide what to keep on the side table, but overall it already feels more comfortable and less cluttered.

I finally tried the routine we talked about, and it helped more than I expected.
Instead of trying to do everything at once, I picked one task, finished it, and gave myself a short break before starting another.
That small change kept me from drifting around and losing track of time.
I also turned off the background noise for a while and realized I focus better when the room is quiet for the first half hour.
Later on I can handle some music, but at the start it just pulls my attention away.
I wrote a tiny list on paper instead of keeping it in my head, and that made the day feel much less scattered.
There are still a couple things I need to wrap up tomorrow, but at least I know exactly where to begin.
So yes, your suggestion worked, and I am going to keep using it because the whole evening felt smoother and much less frustrating.