Learn How To Work Not 1, But 3 Of Your Brain Regions
For Maximum Smartness!
How many times do you find yourself distracted when trying to
complete an important task? How often do you suddenly snap out of a daydream
for the hundredth time when you know you need your full attention on what’s in
front of you?
Procrastination is a natural byproduct of the human brain being
unable to focus 100% for long periods of time. Research has found that we can
only focus on what’s in front of us 53% of the time. So working on developing a
strong “attention muscle” is the key to creating more focus on tasks and, in
turn, allows us to spend our time and attention optimally in the moment.
But how can we train our minds to pay more attention and become
more focused?
The Two Ways Our
Brain Stops Us From Focusing
It causes feelings of frustration, demotivation and even
failure, but when we’re faced with a task that needs our focus and energy
there’s only so long our brain will allow us to 100% put our attention into it.
The two main procrastination avenues are:
- Daydreaming
or Zoning Off: We all have times when our thoughts drift away
but an interesting study conducted by Harvard psychologists
Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert, found that we actually spend
around 47% of our waking hours in this daydreaming mode. This means that
while you’re supposed to be focused on various important tasks throughout
your day, half the time you’re actually focused on something else. We’re
usually more mindful of this when we feel stuck on a task that requires a
lot of our energy and focus. Our brain dreads the ‘hard work’ and wants to
avoid it as much as possible hence we eventually lose focus.
- Distractions: How we decide to spend each
moment makes or breaks our productivity. While technology has made things
much faster in many areas of our life, it’s also the biggest cause of
distraction. The quick-fix stimulation it provides us outweighs the
meaningfulness we find in tasks and projects. In terms of convenience and
speed, technology allows us to work much quicker yet the paradox here is
that the faster we complete tasks, the harder it is for us to work in a
deliberate manner. And this is why we spend 47% focused on anything but
the task at hand.
It goes without saying that this has massive productivity costs
especially as our time and attention are so intricately connected in order to
get things done. In other words, the
less attention you devote to a task, the more time you have to complete it
because you’re actually working less efficiently.
Why Productivity is
More About Mindfulness and Intention
When we talk about productivity, we tend to assume it’s more
about getting work done in less time but this isn’t the case. If we’re looking
at it from a place of energy, focus and attention, then it’s more about being deliberate with what we
do and doing it with intention.
The power of being productive is all about carving out more time
and attentional space around the tasks that you do. As a result you create the
room to work on higher-return tasks in each mindful moment, and fend off
low-return tasks and so become a more productive person.
According to neuroscientists, our attention is made up of three
parts:
1. Central
Executive: This is the thinking and planning part of your brain located in
the prefrontal cortex.
2. Focus: This is the process
of narrowing your attentional spotlight on any given task in order to help you
work more efficiently.
3. Awareness: This helps you
become more aware of both your external and internal environments in order to
help you work more mindfully and deliberately.
The three of these together are what makes up your main
attention muscle and building up this important muscle involves using all these
elements equally.
How To Train Your
All-Important Attention Muscle
Be Mindful of Your
Distractions
Next time you have an important task to complete, keep a notepad
by your desk and make a note of every distraction, interruption and daydream
that occurs. This will make you much more aware of how often it happens and can
eventually allow you to deal with distractions before they pop up. Switching
off alerts on your phone is a common one especially as it can take as long as
25 minutes to refocus after an interruption has happened.
This is an important strategy of defence against interruptions
that will minimise the need to refocus while boosting your attention, focus and
flow.
Single-Tasking
Focusing on just one thing at a time is the absolute best thing
you can do to be optimally productive. This doesn’t necessarily mean “focus
harder” but instead prioritise your list of things to do and start with the
most important first. Yes, your mind mind may wander or you might start
reaching for your phone but try to resist those thoughts and stick to what you
need to do in the moment. Catching yourself and acknowledging the distraction
is the best way to renew your focus before too much time has passed.
There’s nothing better than the feeling of flow and being fully
immersed in whatever task or project you choose to do so allow yourself to feel
that benefit.
Chew Gum
Yes you heard right! You may have heard this trick before and
thought it was an old wives’ tale but a study by researchers at Cardiff
University found that chewing gum can increase your alertness and improve
attention span. The act of chewing ignites the brain and tells the body that
nutrients are on the way, therefore decreasing hunger pains (a common excuse
for procrastination). But another more mindful way of using gum to lessen
distraction is to provide focus with the repetitive chewing action and bringing
awareness to the breath especially if you opt for the minty variety.
Focus and Refocus
The consistency of a task is down to your attention span and we
all have an attention span limit. What you do when you reach this limit is the
crucial key for success. Most of us are unable to sustain attention on one
thing for more than around 40 minutes at a time so this is usually a great
moment to stop and have a break. However, it’s important to come back to the
task and refocus.
People with the best focus simply
realise that when they get off-track they must repeatedly choose to refocus. It’s a good
habit to get into because this ability to renew attention, trains you to “pay
attention” to things that last for more than a few minutes such as a long
movie. So the secret key to improving your attention span is a constant cycle of focus, distraction and
refocus.
So be honest with yourself. Do you spend more time on
distractions when trying to get a task done? Could you have finished the
project in half the time? Try becoming more mindful of where your focus is
going. Note how often your thoughts wonder or how many times you check your
phone notifications and aim to improve your attention span by focusing for
short bursts, breaking and then refocusing. By doing this you’ll experience the
wonderful feeling of flow, success and fulfilment in completing difficult
tasks.
Leon Ho
https://www.lifehack.org/645345/work-those-attention-muscles
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