Focus
How to stay focussed
With or without a pandemic, from home or at work, we all need focus. Many struggle with tapping into their ability to focus and retaining this mental state. During my Masters it became clear that I was subconsciously using a system, a structure, to work with and understand the material presented. While many of my peers complained about not being able to study at home or focus at work. I did not spend a single day in the library and graduated Magna Cum Laude using nothing but the same techniques to focus and to study.
Later on I started reading and learning about this structural way of focussing using multiple sources including:
- The Organised Mind by Daniel J. Levitin (book)
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (book)
- Study Less Study Smart by Marty Lobdell (video lecture)
Putting my own experience together with the in-depth explanations from the aforementioned sources, I would like to share 6 keys that enabled me to stay focussed.
Create a Switch
During my search for techniques on how to study I stumbled upon this gem of a lecture from Marty Lobdell. I highly recommend viewing the complete presentation if you are struggling with studying.
Zooming in on this lecture’s dedicated study area part (around 10 mins. in), Marty explains how much we are affected by environmental cues. How certain areas or objects serve as a trigger to our minds. From an early age, you’ve used your bed mostly for sleeping, your living room for engaging in social activity and the bathroom to clean yourself and get ready. These are all environmental cues that help us do what we’re “supposed” to do when encountering such triggers. For many students, the library can be a trigger to study and stay focussed. At work this can be your desk or simply the work area.
Now that Work From Home (WFH) is the standard, many of these triggers are inaccessible and a new trigger should take their place. In most WFH situations people make use of their multi-purpose room. Meaning, instead of having a dedicated room to work or study, people have to work within the same area they relax, sleep, eat and socialise.
To tap into your focus amidst all these environmental cues, you can create a switch. This switch is your condition to focus. An example of such a switch can be a lamp on your desk or dinner table that is turned on only when you need to study or work. The goal is to condition yourself that when you flip that switch, you focus. This implies that when you go for a break you turn the lamp off, when you can’t focus anymore, lamp off, get a personal call, lamp off. Anything can serve as a trigger, such as a certain playlist, a pair of headphones, a bracelet, you name it.
Set a Limit
A classic and golden rule, set a limit on how much time you spend on something per hour, per day, week or even per month. Per hour can be the most important one when it comes to retaining information, as the average attention span is around 40 minutes.
We humans have the tendency to fill whatever time we assign to a task, even if the task can be completed in less time (Parkinson’s law). The Organised Mind provides key examples of people having pre-specified time slots during the day in which they check their email or their phone. With such a system in place, you can stay focussed knowing the incoming distractions will be addressed separately.
I have just scratched the surface on this myself, limiting the number of hours spent on something during a day. My goal is to set slots of working 45 minutes with breaks of 5 to 35 minutes to do something non-work related.
Offload From Memory
Remove anything you don’t need right now from memory. Get yourself a notebook, notes app, to do list, whatever suits you, and start offloading. This is a key topic in The Organised Mind which provides an example of people carrying index cards with them at all times, just to offload from memory.
By offloading I mean you immediately write down anything that comes to mind that you need to do today, tomorrow, next week or simply need to remember. Don’t let it distract you from thoughts that matter here and now. A less extreme version of this approach is writing down all things you want to do tomorrow right before bed. Here you remove pressing thoughts and urges from your memory to give yourself peace of mind.
This key keeps you focussed on the task at hand as you’re offloading any non-relevant items. In addition, you still keep track of all thoughts and ideas you want to give attention to in the future.
Stay Clean
If you’re not frequently cleaning your personal space because of hygienic reasons, consider the added benefits of easily locating your belongings when your place is tidy and organised. Having a clear overview of your belongings means you can find what you need in seconds. Next to the efficiency benefit, it gives you the peace of mind knowing exactly what you have and how to find it.
A straight forward cleaning strategy is to have dedicated areas per category, for example a drawer filled with cables, computer accessories, batteries and extension cords, any categorisation that makes sense to you. Finally, consider reserving one or two drawers for the “other” category, make sure this category is out of direct sight and all items within cannot be allocated to the established categories.
Destroy Distractions
Distracted by your phone, remembering something you wanted to say to someone? Write it down. Not sure why you are on that social media app? Delete it. And if you must check your phone, set a limit, either on your phone itself or on the apps you use most.
Next to material or social distractions, your thoughts can still be a distraction. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People explains the circle of concern and within, the circle of influence.
This circle represents a simple and effective way of viewing what you can control and what you cannot control. Before thinking about hypothetical scenarios or possible future tasks, reflect on what is actually within your control. If something is outside your circle of influence, treat it that way and don’t let it distract you. Of course if the thought is something that needs to be addressed, write it down, offload the thought from memory.
No More Multitasking
Even though it seems like you are handling multiple tasks in parallel, your brain is not. The Organised Mind explains how tasks are best processed sequentially focusing on a single task at a time. Multitasking is far more taxing for your brain as you are not actually performing the tasks in parallel but rapidly switching between them. This switching requires additional focus draining your ability to stay engaged with a single task.
Conclusion
The 6 keys I use for tapping into my focus and keeping it:
- Create a switch, condition yourself.
- Offload from memory, don’t try to keep everything in your head.
- Set a limit, no one has an infinite attention span.
- Eliminate distractions, do you need it? Is it within your control?
- Stay clean, why spend time searching if you can know where it is?
- No multitasking, don’t drain your focus.
Try keeping to one of these keys and see if it enables you to focus.
Thanks for reading, hope this post can help people who are unable to focus at home or seem to lose their focus too often. Or perhaps one of these keys will improve your focus. Let me know how you stay focussed!
Happy to connect on LinkedIn.
