How many things are vying for your attention right now?
That nagging to-do list that just seems to keep growing?
This post originally appeared on theCrew blog.
Think about this: The average office worker is distractedevery3 minutes.
Losing focus is easy, really easy, its getting it back thats the hard part.
Yet despite knowing the dangers of distraction, we do very few things to protect ourselves from it.
Neuroscientists call thisselective attention, and it comes in two different forms:
1.
Top-Down (or Voluntary focus)
This is the holy grail of focus.
Top-down focus is goal oriented.
Its responsible for seeing the bigger picture and uses your past experiences to figure things out.
Happens when:Youre studying for an exam or trying to solve a difficult problem.
You cant help but pay attention to whats happening.
So Whats the Problem?
We cant control what kind of focus our brain is using.
Despite our want to stay in Top-Down mode, Bottom-Up focus is able to override our brains filters.
Blame it on ourfight-or-flight response: Loud noises and sudden movements are associated with danger.
Your brain handles tough cognitive loadsbestin the late morning hours (after 10 a.m.).
Reward Your Mind for Staying Focused
Your brain learns by doing.
Youve trained your mind to feel some sort of reward for being distracted, and that needs to stop.
Instead, train your brain to stay focused by catching yourself before you fall into bad habits.
Each time you feel yourself being distracted stop as soon as you’re able to.
The harder you make it to become distracted, the more your mind will stay focused.
In fact,it does quite the opposite.
To strengthen your focus, find a place that is free from distraction.
Forget Multitasking
Multi-tasking is actually a misnomerit doesnt mean what we think it does.
The less you have a go at do at once, the better youll work overall.
When you lose focus, ask if its you or the task at hand.
Practice Mindfulness
Stress is afocus killerof epic proportions.
Which really sucks considering that were most likely to be stressed when we need to focus the most.
Try taking five minutes for yourself, choose one of your senses and concentrate only on this sense.
If you want to take it further, try thisexercisefor helping to increase mindfulness at work.
If gums not your thing, have a snack.
Your brain gets energy from glucose, and you need around 420 kcals so you can maintain normal function.
Thats about 100 pistachios or 4 bananas.
If you feel your focus waning, grab a snack and give your mind some fuel.
Finding your focus is really as simple as just making things a little bit easier on your brain.
The science of how to stay focused: Psychology, slow habits, and chewing gum| Crew
