\n<\/p>\n
I<\/span>t\u2019s believed that we have about 50,000 thoughts a day: big, small, urgent, banal \u2013 \u201cDid I leave the oven on?\u201d. And those are just the ones that register. Subconsciously, we\u2019re constantly sifting through a barrage of stimuli: background noise, clutter on our desks, the mere presence of our phones.<\/p>\n Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains. Just 0.0004% is perceived by our conscious minds, showing just how hard our brains are working to parse what\u2019s sufficiently relevant to bring to our attention.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no wonder you feel distracted. <\/strong>Formidable though they may be, our brains\u2019 processing powers are a poor match for the fast-paced modern world, the constant pings of our devices and sources of distraction. Many of us routinely feel overwhelmed, and struggle to focus on what we need to get done.<\/p>\n But a new book suggests doing so may be easier than we think. In Focus On-Off, Dutch experts Mark Tigchelaar and Oscar de Bos argue that we can better harness our attention by better understanding our brains, and learning how to manage common \u201cleaks\u201d of our concentration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like to play the blame game with focus,\u201d says De Bos, head of the training company Focus Company, over Zoom from Amsterdam. But many of the most common difficulties, \u201cyou can solve for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we commonly get wrong about focusing, and how we can better manage our minds.<\/p>\n <\/span>Even a mention of your name, for example at a party, can cause subconscious distraction.<\/span> Photograph: Posed by models. Compassionate Eye Foundation\/Natasha Alipour Faridani\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Most of us don\u2019t find it hard to focus on something we\u2019re interested in, De Bos points out. What we condemn as \u201cdistractions\u201d are just the brain prioritising what it perceives as most important at that moment. Yes, you might conclude that checking Instagram wasn\u2019t the best use of your time \u2013 but your brain didn\u2019t struggle to act on the urge to open the app and enjoy some pictures of your friends or of strangers\u2019 cats.<\/p>\n It shows that focusing isn\u2019t hard. Where we run into difficulty is by struggling against our brains, and even judging them for doing what they\u2019re built to do, says De Bos.<\/p>\n We routinely underestimate how hard our brains are working to take in everything around us and put it into order. De Bos gives the example of talking to someone at a party. \u201cIf you\u2019re listening to this conversation and somebody mentions your name, you\u2019re going to be subconsciously distracted,\u201d he says. \u201cAll the words around you came into your ears, were processed inside your brain, and then your brain decided: \u2018Oh, wait, this is important \u2013 let\u2019s switch our attention.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of trying to fight this mental tendency to jump around, we can learn to manage it by becoming aware of common \u201cleaks\u201d of concentration. If you find a task boring, make it more interesting. If your work environment is distracting, move somewhere quieter. If your mind is too busy, clear some space by writing down your thoughts. If you\u2019re exhausted, give your brain a break.<\/p>\n Most of us know to turn off notifications to limit interruptions from our phones, but even having our devices within sight subtly drains our concentration.<\/p>\n A 2017 study by researchers at the University of Texas found that participants performed better in complex cognitive tasks when their phones were in a different room, compared with when the devices were in sight or even inside a pocket or bag.<\/p>\n The mere presence of the phone was found to negatively affect available working memory and functional fluid intelligence (such as problem-solving and critical thinking), even among people who typically didn\u2019t struggle to focus.<\/p>\n While keeping your phone to hand probably won\u2019t interfere with sending emails or similarly untaxing tasks, De Bos suggests moving it to a different room and\/or turning it off when you want to get \u201cdeep work\u201d done.<\/p>\n Even keeping your desk and workspace clear, and minimising open browser tabs, can aid cognitive capacity, he says.<\/p>\n <\/span>Total focus \u2026 in the \u2018flow state\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: Posed by model; Rattanavan Baunoi\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The antithesis of a frazzled, jumpy state of mind \u2013 and frequently put forward as optimal for productivity \u2013 is the fabled \u201cflow state\u201d, whereby we\u2019re absorbed in what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n Coined as a term by psychologist Mih\u00e1ly Cs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1ly in 1975, it\u2019s characterised by total concentration, and such effortless, productive attention that we\u2019re not even aware of time passing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s nice when you can get it, says De Bos, but it\u2019s not realistic to aim for routinely. Achieving flow depends on striking a delicate balance between challenge and skill: a task must be difficult enough to be absorbing, but also achievable. It also takes time to kick in, usually around 10 to 15 minutes without interruptions.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019re ever going to get \u201cinto flow\u201d going through your emails. We may also be losing the skill, having become so accustomed to jumping between tasks, De Bos suggests. \u201cIt\u2019s almost beyond what the average person can do nowadays \u2026 We don\u2019t have these 10 to 15 minutes of doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Stop striving for flow when you\u2019re unlikely to achieve it, and set yourself a lower bar, says De Bos. \u201cFocus is just a few seconds of doing the same thing; the flow state is more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n The biggest thief of our focus is task-switching. Sometimes this is put upon us by external interruptions, such as a question from a colleague or a buzz from our phone, but the trigger can also be internal: a thought will register and we\u2019ll act on it, almost without thinking.<\/p>\n You might think \u201cit\u2019ll only take a second\u201d, but every time you switch to a new task, part of your brain clings to what you were just doing, splitting your attention, slowing you down and making you less effective.<\/p>\n Simply checking your phone or inbox causes a temporary drop in IQ, lasting at least a minute. If either the original activity or the interruption is a bit more complex, that recovery takes longer.<\/p>\n <\/span>Minimise task-switching \u2026 <\/span> Photograph: Posed by model; Milan Markovic\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The best way to improve your focus is to take whatever steps you can to minimise this task-switching. De Bos suggests not checking your emails before (or during) a meeting, shutting down your inbox while doing complex work and not starting tasks you don\u2019t have time to finish.<\/p>\n If you have more control over your time, you can further minimise task-switching by structuring your days (or weeks) by tasks, projects or themes. De Bos reserves meetings for Monday and Wednesday mornings, deep work for Tuesday and Thursdays and creative work on Fridays.<\/p>\n Not only does this give you a chance to \u201cget into the groove a little bit\u201d, but over time, \u201cthese highways in your brain get stronger, so it\u2019s easier to stay focused\u201d.<\/p>\n Likewise, if you feel a sudden urge to check your phone or email, wait five minutes, training your attention span.<\/p>\n <\/span>Distracting conversations can be blocked out by reading faster.<\/span> Photograph: Posed by models; Maskot\/Getty Images<\/p>\n We might think we need total silence to focus, but \u201csometimes we don\u2019t have enough<\/em> stimuli\u201d, De Bos says. That\u2019s why our minds tend to wander when faced with a task we find boring, easy or slow. \u201cEverything else is more exciting for your brain, and it will start to think about something else.\u201d<\/p>\n One solution is increasing the level of mental challenge. If you\u2019re struggling to read a dense document while your colleagues are having a noisy conversation about The Traitors, try reading faster, De Bos suggests.<\/p>\n Similarly, listening to music you know well (and are unlikely to be distracted by) can help you to engage with work you don\u2019t find stimulating. Both strategies make your brain work harder, focusing it more effectively on the task at hand.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially if it\u2019s something you do every day, challenge yourself \u2013 go a bit quicker, or make it harder, to kind of trick yourself into thinking that it\u2019s more exciting,\u201d De Bos says.<\/p>\n It can be tempting to pad out your to-do lists with small wins as a way to motivate yourself to tackle more, but De Bos cautions against it.<\/p>\n \u201cFor some people, it works, because you can get a kind of dopamine rush,\u201d he says. People with ADHD in particular, who can struggle to prioritise and order tasks, may benefit from creating momentum.<\/p>\n But often, says De Bos, those easy victories work against us by draining our finite mental reserves. He supports what\u2019s known as the \u201ceating the frog\u201d method of time management, and tackling your most important task first.<\/p>\n <\/span>A good night\u2019s sleep regulates glutamate levels.<\/span> Photograph: Posed by model. Catherine Falls Commercial\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The brain tires with exertion over the course of the day, making us less effective and more impulsive. A 2022 study by researchers at the Paris Brain Institute found that, as we\u2019re engaged in \u201cattentionally demanding\u201d work, glutamate (an amino acid and neurotransmitter) gradually accumulates in one area of the prefrontal cortex, impairing functioning.<\/p>\n That buildup of glutamate \u201cis not easily cleaned up\u201d by short breaks, says De Bos: it really takes a good night\u2019s sleep for the brain to feel fully refreshed, meaning you should budget on having \u201ca certain amount of focus\u201d each day.<\/p>\n Knowing that, it makes sense to spend it judiciously, and do your most important work first. \u201cYou never know how much you\u2019ll have left in the second half of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Spacing out mentally taxing activities and taking breaks from work both help to regulate glutamate levels, but what we do in those breaks is also important. Scrolling social media, reading and many other activities we find fun or refreshing might be less demanding than work, but still involve taking in new information. \u201cYour brain is not recharging in that moment,\u201d says De Bos.<\/p>\n Without regular opportunities for the brain to pause and \u201cdo mostly nothing\u201d, over time, that accumulated glutamate can lead to stress, sleeping issues and potentially burnout: \u201cThat\u2019s where you really get into problems.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Stare way to tech heaven?<\/span> Photograph: Posed by model; Igor Suka\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The most restorative activities are those that require very little of you, such as going for a walk without headphones, cleaning and even staring out the window. These activate the brain\u2019s all-important \u201cdefault mode network\u201d, says De Bos, permitting it a chance to recover and stave off burnout. \u201cWhen you\u2019re not feeding it with new information, it finally has time to clean up your memories of the day \u2026 Anything where your mind can kind of wander is a good break.\u201d<\/p>\n Even rewatching a familiar television show is a better option than a new or challenging one, De Bos adds \u2013 and certainly less involving than social media.<\/p>\n Many productivity hackers swear by \u201ctime-blocking\u201d, where you plan out your day hour-by-hour and assign hours (or minutes) to a particular task or activity in a calendar.<\/p>\n If it works for you, great, says De Bos. Just don\u2019t then also use a to-do list as you\u2019ll risk creating inconsistencies between that and your calendar \u2013 not to mention potentially spending more time on productivity management than being productive.<\/p>\n For many people, however, time-blocking is a headache and sometimes counterproductive, given that it depends on our faulty powers of prediction. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to think, \u2018How much time is this task going to take me?\u2019 and the answer is never right,\u201d says De Bos.<\/p>\n Either we underestimate and fall behind, or else a straightforward task balloons to fit the time assigned to it. \u201cWe overestimate what we can do in a day, and underestimate what we can do in an hour,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The Pomodoro technique of working in 25-minute bursts can be better for motivating you to meet a deadline, or getting you started on a complex (or boring) task. But sometimes the secret to getting more done is attempting to do less, says De Bos. Our finite powers of focus mean there is a limit to how many projects or responsibilities we can take on.<\/p>\n <\/span>Many meetings are over just as they\u2019re getting started.<\/span> Photograph: Posed by models; Organic Media\/Getty Images<\/p>\n While nobody likes meetings, the trend for making them shorter \u2013 or replacing them with emails \u2013 isn\u2019t helping our ability to focus, says De Bos.<\/p>\n It takes at least 10 minutes to really engage with an activity, meaning many meetings are over just as they\u2019re getting started, leading to more meetings. But managing, sending and replying to emails is an even bigger drain on our concentration. \u201cIf it\u2019s important, I\u2019d rather have a good, long meeting and be done with it,\u201d De Bos says. But, he adds, \u201cI think we\u2019re over-communicating.\u201d Technology has enabled us to externalise and outsource our every thought at the expense of not just our time but other people\u2019s. \u201cWe kind of do brain dumps on each other \u2026 There\u2019s no time for work any more; it\u2019s just emailing.\u201d<\/p>\n So try to be intentional and considerate in your communication. Do you need to fire off this \u201cquick q\u201d to your colleague, or could you wait to see if it resolves \u2013 or answer it yourself?<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot we can do smarter,\u201d says De Bos. If you have too many things on your mind, make a note to revisit later. Don\u2019t use your colleagues \u201cas your capture tool. If you email a lot, you\u2019re part of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Between the stranglehold of Big Tech, reports of screen addiction and shortening attention spans, it\u2019s easy to feel hopeless about our ability to focus. But De Bos is refreshingly optimistic.<\/p>\n Yes, the modern world is riddled with sources of distraction, but we also have more power to resist them than we might assume. \u201cThe time is now to start thinking about it, and make some decisions: what does worklife look like?\u201d Instead of shutting your phone in a drawer, ask yourself: how are you going to spend the time you would have lost to scrolling? What routines and rules can minimise day-to-day disruptions and decision-making?<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018We get nervous about not being productive\u2019 \u2026 Oscar de Bos.<\/span> Photograph: Judith Jockel\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Perhaps your struggles with focus stem from asking too much of yourself. \u201cWe get so nervous about not being productive,\u201d says De Bos.<\/p>\n But our brains need breaks, and time to recover, just as our bodies do. Sometimes, it might be best to stare into the middle distance.<\/p>\n <\/em>Focus On-Off by Mark Tigchelaar and Oscar de Bos is published 29 January<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s believed that we have about 50,000 thoughts a day: big, small, urgent, banal \u2013 \u201cDid I leave the oven on?\u201d. And those are just the ones that register. Subconsciously, we\u2019re constantly sifting through a barrage of stimuli: background noise, clutter on our desks, the mere presence of our phones. Every second, 11m bits of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1865,5011,16727,22728,22729,1547,337,12479,4605,891,13006],"class_list":{"0":"post-43451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-attention","9":"tag-cat","10":"tag-constantly","11":"tag-distracted","12":"tag-focussing","13":"tag-good","14":"tag-life","15":"tag-myths","16":"tag-photos","17":"tag-style","18":"tag-youre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Myth: concentrating is hard<\/h2>\n
Myth: turn off notifications to focus<\/h2>\n
Myth: we should be striving for \u2018flow\u2019<\/h2>\n
Myth: it\u2019s only a quick email<\/h2>\n
Myth: getting stuff done takes peace and quiet<\/h2>\n
Myth: take the easy wins<\/h2>\n
Myth: we should all be \u2018time-blocking\u2019<\/h2>\n
Myth: most meetings should be emails<\/h2>\n
Myth: we can\u2019t beat Big Tech<\/h2>\n