Focus on refocusing

Being distracted just seems like a way of life nowadays. Multitasking, constant electronic stimuli, the multiple demands of work and family — concentration seems a matter of luxury rather than a matter of course. Yet, what does such lack of focus cost you?

Psychologist Michael Komie tells Eilene Zimmerman of The New York Times that the multitasking myth has been debunked for a while now: that multitasking while trying to solve complex problems “is a very bad strategy”.

In a Psychology Today article, David Rock reports that constant connection to electronics impairs your intelligence as much as losing a night’s sleep or using cannabis. Rock also reports that work distractions make up 2.1 hours of every work day, and that most employees spend just 11 minutes on an assignment before being distracted, and that it takes an average of 25 minutes before they can refocus successfully. He also reports that employees switch activities every three minutes.

Distractions are stressful and exhausting. Each interruption worsens your ability to refocus and depletes your mental energy because attention is a limited resource. You can lose insights, forget your ideas or make poor decisions. You can become chronically stressed and irritable, with your health and relationships suffering.

You can lose concentration because of the nature of a task too. Zimmerman reports that both boring and challenging tasks can cause us to become distracted. In both cases, we may feel momentarily compelled to escape the task at hand. In addition, the part of your brain responsible for concentration and attention is connec-ted to your emotional centre. This means your emotions can affect how well you are able to maintain your attention. Whenever your attention lapses, a region of your brain known as the default network, the medial prefrontal cortex, kicks in. This default network begins worsening your distraction because it keys into your internal feelings and emotions.

We’re also wired to respond to novelty, reports Rock: we’re wired to pay attention to the ever-present new, just what distractions are.

Laura Schwecherl of Time magazine writes that younger generations may have increased problems focusing because they’ve been raised in a multi-tasking, multi-electronic-responsive world. The shorter attention spans they’ve grown up with may make deep concentration even more difficult.

Even though your brain may be prone to wandering, either because of learning, social expectation or your wiring, you can learn to focus more effectively. Schwecherl writes that one study found that when listening to a boring lecture, the brain fights to stay attentive by “rewriting” the speech to make it more interesting to us.

The first thing to do is to minimise distractions as much as you can. Switch off your email, your phone ringer and other electronic devices that may interrupt you when you need to concentrate. You may need to devise a system for interruptions and discussions with colleagues and make this known.

The next thing you must do is learn to pay attention. It takes patience and practice to understand how and when our focus falters according to internal feelings or because we automatically respond to external distractors. You have to work to recognise that you allow yourself to be swayed from concentrating. You have to become mindful rather than responding mindlessly. Once you begin paying attention to how you pay attention, you can begin practising putting the brakes on, says Rock, halting your concentration loss and not allowing distractions to take hold. Rock also recommends starting your day with tasks that require more concentration and leaving busy, novel work for later on when many of your resources have been depleted.

Habits are hard things to break, but learning to avoid distractions is both positive and possible. In an Entrepreneur.com article, Jane Porter offers some tips to help you leave multitasking behind and learn to focus.

Re-energise by thinking about your goals and priorities, about your successes and motivations if you’re feeling overwhelmed. List your priorities for each day rather than being pulled in different directions at every moment.

Schwecherl, like Rock, advises figuring out what causes you to lose focus. Sometimes it’s simply hunger or lack of sleep.

Visualising a reset button in your mind can help you redirect your energies and rewire your brain. You can also set a computer or phone alarm that instead of acting as a distraction, acts instead as a reminder to pay attention to your attention.

If you find yourself unable to combat distractions, it’s best to stop what you’re doing and change activities. Try some deep breathing or go for a walk. Listen to music or try a pleasant activity. If you notice yourself becoming distracted because of fatigue or hunger at the same times every day, then schedule a snack or a short walk for those times.

Be careful about your to-do lists. You may become anxious about completing everything on them and then become distracted by reviewing them constan-tly. That’s why prioritising is so important. Knowing which things are most important to do gives your brain a rest from worrying about everything you want to eventually get done.

Other tips from Schwecherl include breaking challenging tasks into smaller segments, allotting specific amounts of time for specific tasks rather than 
expecting to finish each task, clearing clutter from your work environment, and scheduling rewards for your accomplishments.

If you find that you spend too much time on the web, either answering emails or visiting social network sites, schedule times for those tasks as well. In that way you’re controlling those distractions rather than allowing them to control you.