How to Get Your Brain to Focus

I started to notice some unsettling things about my own behaviour a few years back. And with that, my life became a sequence of screens from the moment I woke up till the end of the day. I began the day with my phone, which is what got me out of bed in the first place. I sat in bed, watching different food videos on Instagram and switching between a number of different apps. However, when it was time to get out of bed and prepare breakfast, I turned my attention to the iPad that was sitting next to the oven in addition to the omelette that was cooking.

When it came time to get to work, I moved to another screen that was mounted on top of another screen. While I was attempting to get vital things done, this tiny demon on my wrist kept tapping, beeping, and blooping, distracting me. Out of all these many devices, though, there was one that I wasted more time on than any other. That was my phone, that evil device. I could work on this stuff for hours every day. I therefore made the decision to, well, basically throw the item away for a month.

I thought, "I'm going to live on this thing for just 30 minutes at most, every single day," as an experiment. This is the amount of time I have available for maps, phone calls to my mother, and any other activity I could want to perform. I also noticed several events that occurred within this period, such as listening to podcasts or music. It took me around a week to acclimatise to a new, lower level of stimulation, but once I did, I saw the occurrence of three intriguing occurrences.

My attention span first increased. It was as though, compared to before this experiment began, I could focus on things considerably more easily, if not effortlessly. In addition to this, though, my mind came up with more ideas as I was exploring the world, particularly when it roamed a little. On top of this, I also had more goals and thoughts for the future. These three outcomes resulted from the removal of one basic device.

How come? I began this extensive journey to understand what it takes to focus in a world of distraction after realising this a few years ago. At my workplace, I went through hundreds of study papers, cover to cover. I'm not sure whether you've ever watched a crime drama where the focus is on solving a murder. They have a large Bristol board with string tied to documents, notes, newspaper clippings, and other items; it looks exactly how my workplace used to. I took a plane to visit with specialists who study focus from all around the world.

I kept testing myself until I had 25,000 words of research notes explaining why this is the case. What effects does technology have on our capacity for focus and attention? I'd want to start by talking about our attention spans. This is how we observe the environment around us and how much attention control we possess. This specific field of study is the subject of fascinating investigation. It turns out that when we work in front of a computer, especially with our phone close by, we only focus on one task for forty seconds before moving on to the next.

This decreases to thirty-five seconds when we have Slack open while working. However, after reviewing the evidence, the reason this is the case is not what we might have assumed. We believe that mental distraction is the root of the issue. However, after reviewing the literature, I've learned that this is the primary cause of this diversion and is only a symptom of a deeper issue that is far more pervasive.

Our overstimulated brains are the cause of our distraction. The reason is that we are naturally drawn to distractions. Our brains are addicted to these little informational morsels, which we obtain via social media, emails, and other daily activities.

Our minds even include a mechanism known as the "novelty bias," which allows us to be rewarded with a hit of dopamine, one of those amazing pleasure chemicals. We receive the same hit of dopamine when we order an entire medium pizza from Domino's, eat, and make love. When we check Facebook, we experience the same stimulation. Dopamine starts to flow across our minds.

Therefore, our mind rewards us for first seeking out and locating diversion, in addition to the fact that we crave it. Thus, this is how we currently think. We are oscillating between a wide variety of highly exciting objects of attention because we are in a hyperstimulated condition.

So I began to wonder, "Okay, if the phone had this impact on my attention span, what if I lowered how stimulated I was even more, still?" It is named after this sensation we have when we transition from a high-stimulus state to a low-stimulus state, you know. The term for that state of restlessness we get after a very hectic week is called "boredom" (laughs). It occurs when we're lounging on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon and wondering, "Okay, so what am I doing now?" Thus, I made a call to the people who visit my website, asking them, "What is the most tedious activity that you can imagine doing? I'm going to spend an hour every day for a month forcing myself to be bored."

And so, I did several things that I am still furious with my readers for. I spent an hour reading the iTunes terms and conditions on the first day. (Giggles) As you might expect, it's more legible and shorter than it seems. On day four, I had to wait on hold with the luggage claims department of Air Canada. It's pretty simple - here's the trick: phone baggage claim instead of reservations if you want to kill time while waiting for hours on end, if you manage to get through at all. On day 19, I attempted to count every zero in the first 10,000 pi digits. Ahh. Day 24: For an hour, I observed a clock ticking away. plus 27 additional events this month. Oh my god. I still remember that.

Strangely enough, though, I observed the identical outcomes as I had in the smartphone experiment. My mind needed almost a week to acclimatise to a fresh, lower level of stimulus. Interestingly, this corresponds with research indicating that our minds require approximately eight days to completely de-stress and recuperate, such as on a vacation. We should take longer vacations than we do now.

However, I also observed that my attention span grew. Not that there were fewer distractions around me, but my mind was so much less stimulated that it didn't seek out the distraction in the first place, which made it even easier for me to focus. The exciting aspect, though, was coming up with these plans and ideas that hadn't occurred to me previously. This is because my mind was free to stray more frequently.

That famous line from J. R. R. Tolkien, "Not all those who wander are lost," is one of my favourite quotes. It turns out that the same is true when it comes to our attention and focus. When you have your most creative and innovative thoughts, you are rarely concentrated on one thing. Perhaps you were taking a shower this morning, or perhaps it was another morning, and your mind connected a few of the ideas that were circling around in your head to form an idea that would not have come to pass if your attention had been on anything else—like your phone, for example. This is a state that I refer to as "scatter focus," especially when we do it consciously and allow our minds to roam. Furthermore, studies reveal that due of our mind's tendency to roam, it facilitates idea generation and planning. This is very intriguing. It turns out that our attention travels to three primary locations when we simply let it rest: We consider the past, present, and future when we reflect on our thoughts. However, we only reflect on the past around 12% of the time, and during these thought-wandering episodes, we frequently recollect concepts.

Nevertheless, we stray to think about the present 28% of the time, which is a far more fruitful location to travel. And this is something as basic as typing an email and finding it difficult to phrase something because it's sensitive or perhaps political. You walk to another room in the house or office, and suddenly the solution dawns on you because your mind has had time to consider it and poke at the issue from various angles. The problem is that we tend to focus more on the future than on the past and present put together. 48% of the time when our minds stray, we consider the future. For this reason, even if the day hasn't begun, we schedule our entire day while we're taking a shower. This phenomenon, known as prospective bias, is what happens when our thoughts stray. These numbers don't add up to 100 if you're strong at arithmetic, or maths, as I should say—not in Canada anymore.

It's because our minds are dull, empty, or devoid of ideas that are anchored in time the rest of the time. However, whatever it is that you find simple and doesn't require all of your focus is what causes your mind to wander. I happen to adore knitting, which may not be particularly typical for my age and gender group. One of my favourite pastimes is knitting, which I do in hotels, on trains, and on aeroplanes. I was crocheting in my hotel room prior to today's event because it is a calming and nerve-settling activity. And while I knit, I have so many ideas that I always have a notepad close by. Whatever it may be for you, though, it may involve upgrading from a shower to a bath so you may soak not only with your body but also with your ideas. It might involve having an extra-long shower. It could be as easy as switching to a different route while you're walking around the office.

If you don't use your phone while you walk, your thoughts will wander to the ideas that are being discussed, the meeting you're about to attend, and the call you were just on. This will increase your creativity. It might simply be as easy as standing in queue and, you know, standing in queue. It might involve receiving a massage. I adore this photo so much, but you know, whatever it is that helps your mind be free to accomplish whatever it is that you love. Here's a professional suggestion: You're constantly incubating things and getting ideas, so ask your masseuse to allow you to take notes throughout the session so you may act on them later. However, I believe that after delving further into the study, there are two important changes we should make to the way we think about attention. We feel as though we must blend in more—after all, "hustling" is all the rage these days. I oppose hustlers. You'll never find a more lazy person than me, and I believe that's what inspires me to write and talk about so much. We don't have to squeeze in anymore.

We're overdoing it; we're doing enough. We're doing so much that we no longer allow our minds to stray. It is depressing. This is when we come up with our best plans and ideas. We require extra room. Relative to the speed at which automobiles are travelling, the amount of space between them that permits traffic to flow ahead is what makes a highway possible for vehicles to travel down.

Our life is the same as our work. The second shift: We tend to view distraction as the adversary of concentration. That isn't. It is a sign that our minds are overstimulated, which is the reason we struggle to focus. I want to put you to the test.

This two-week challenge is to just notice what occurs to your attention and to decelerate from thinking too much. How much input do you receive? How do you shift your focus? Do you make a lot of plans? Make your mind less active for the next two weeks. Numerous fantastic capabilities available on phones and other gadgets will enable us to cut down on the amount of time we spend using them. Utilise such tools to not only become conscious of how you spend your time, but also to find ways to cut costs and increase your creativity.

Establish a nightly separation ritual. One of my favourite daily routines is to entirely unplug from the Internet between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. Every Sunday, my fiancée and I observe a technology Sabbath as part of our weekly ritual to unplug from technology and re-establish our connection to the real, tangible world. Re-discover being bored; it doesn't have to take an hour. Do not call Air Canada, please. It's simply an unbearable world. But take a moment to rediscover boredom.

Where does your mind wander when you're lying on the couch? and divide your focus. There are some extraordinarily productive items in that attentional zone. After taking a deep dive into the world of focus, if there's one thing I've learned to be true, it's that our lives are shaped by the condition of our attention.

If we are constantly distracted, those little bursts of focus and overstimulation add up to a life that feels increasingly disorganised, overpowering, and lacking direction. However, we not only get increased productivity, attention, ideas, and creativity when we de-stress and quiet our minds, but we also lead better lives as a result.

Many thanks for it.