If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you may have read that human attention span and the ability to focus and concentrate has shrunk over the decades. When someone was constantly distracted, the running joke was that they had the attention span of a goldfish. Ironically, modern human attention span has now plummeted to 8.25 seconds which is less than that of the goldfish which can focus for 9 seconds!
The usual counter-argument to this is that we are just better at multi-tasking. Apparently, that’s why we frequently shift our attention between different tasks. Yet psychologists have found that multi-tasking causes more errors and incomplete work. This could be because your brain doesn’t switch easily between different tasks, and the time lag results in extra effort and delays in real time.
These studies also show that paradoxically, your brain does benefit from taking a mini-break from intense concentration. If you’re engaged in work that needs your full focus, you could suffer from fatigue, stress and mental exhaustion. But taking short breaks is the key to success. This gives your brain the chance to re-focus with new energy, and can actually make you more productive and efficient.
The trick is to find the right balance between distraction and conscious, purposeful breaks.
Attention Drainers: What Are Yours?
When you find yourself unable to focus or complete any task at hand, it means that you lack concentration. The reasons could be many. Lack of proper rest and sleep can disturb your ability to concentrate. This can reduce your reaction time, ability to evaluate and make quick judgments and make relevant assessments. It can also make you irritable and anxious. Another culprit is lack of the right nutrition and hydration. Bingeing on sugary, greasy, fast-food, processed items and lack of water deprive your body and brain of the ability to function well.
Increased stress, certain chronic health issues, medications with side-effects or conditions such as ADHD and depression can result in low concentration and focus.
Boost Your Productivity With These Top Tools
Analyze: It’s important to understand, identify and locate the time, place and reasons for lack of concentration. Take the time to do your homework and come up with answers. You can ask for help from trusted family members, co-workers and friends. You may find a pattern in your distraction and focus cycles. Lack of focus shows itself in the inability to read long texts, trouble with organizing your belongings and environment, abandoning tasks before they are complete, and reduced memory for dates, appointments and instructions.
Task Management: Prioritize the tasks before you according to your own parameters. They may be sorted according to time, degree of importance, ease of completion or more. Give yourself a time limit for each one and mark off the completion time and date so that you have a reference for the next time. You can use a planner or digital to-do list to remind you about the tasks, alert you when you have to start and end and ensure that you keep appointments and important dates.
Digital Detox: Doom scrolling, mindless interaction on social media, endlessly switching channels on TV are all symptoms of digital addiction. You may start and end the day tied to your smartphone. Start with baby steps to free yourself from the tyranny of the screen. Set aside a couple of hours in the day when you do nothing that involves a screen – it could be reading, music, art, tidying the closet, cooking dinner or something else. Inform your friends, co-workers and family that you will not be available on the mobile phone. Keep all digital devices out of your bedroom. Ban phones at meal-times and never give your phone to a toddler to play with.
Timers: When you have a task to complete, set yourself a deadline within which you need to complete it. The next step is to break it up into smaller chunks. Use a Pomodoro timer to separate the chunks with the help of small breaks. Avoid taking phone calls or scrolling, keep notifications on silent settings, schedule your bathroom and coffee breaks so that you can continue according to the timer. Find the best Pomodoro technique timer here.
Brain training: Engage in brain training activities such as math puzzles, logic problems or jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku or Nanograms so that your body and mind learn to focus on a task that has to be completed. While you are solving puzzles, avoid multi-tasking or talking on the phone.
Mindfulness, Yoga and Meditation: Sign up for a yoga class that includes meditation and mindfulness training. These activities calm the mind and help you to focus on the present moment. Gradually you learn to concentrate on the task at hand and shut out all distractions.
App Based Tools: Today you can use a variety of app based tools to boost productivity and help you to concentrate better. Some of them block websites and pop-up notifications that distract you, others keep track of the time you wasted on social media and mindless scrolling. Some apps help to induce relaxation and sleep, while others allow you to prioritize your tasks and allocate the appropriate time to each.
