It’s always good to consider how we can best focus our mind and our efforts.
Modern day society seems to be full of distractions in every direction. There is always something new to watch, listen to, look at, do, touch, experience etc – which sounds amazing and can make life really interesting – but when do our senses get a break? When do we get to practice just focusing on one thing? These days even a conversation with our nearest and dearest is often with a phone in one hand or the TV (or even both).
Just like every other part of our body, if we don’t use it regularly then we lose it. From muscles to memory and everything in between, it’s important to use and develop our body & mind and all the things we do with it – this includes focus. Modern world seems to be intent on making us believe we should always be doing more than one thing at once. Seemingly successful multi-taskers are commended highly whilst those of us who like to just do one task at a time can be seen as unproductive and even lazy.
Let’s take a look at what history & science tells us about multi-tasking. The term multi-task has only really been in use since the 1960’s – and was initially first acknowledged by IBM to describe the capability of their IBM computer system. Shortly after that human multi-tasking started to be used to describe the ability to do more than one thing at once. Psychologists identified early on that the human brain already does many things unconsciously (breathing, digesting etc) – but to consciously engage in more than one ‘task’ at a time actually splits the focus of the brain – therefore increasing the risk of mistakes made and increasing the overall time needed to complete the task (sometimes up to twice the amount of time). Added to this – if you continually practice the art of multi-tasking – your focus ‘muscle’ gets out of practice so then, when you do try and focus on just one thing, your mind starts looking around for another distraction. Sound familiar?
Studies prove time and time again that multi-tasking is not an effective productivity skill and can negatively impact all areas of your life. We can start to find it difficult to even watch a TV programme or have a conversation without our mind drifting or our eyes looking over at our phone (that’s assuming of course we are not already scrolling through a social media feed).
Another downside to this is that a distracted, unfocused mind is often one that is particularly vulnerable to mental health problems such as stress and anxiety – losing the ability to focus effectively allows room for all those negative, catastrophising thoughts to jump in and take over, leaving you feeling unsure and irrational as well as exhausted as it’s hard to switch off from those.
Here are a few tools and tips you can do to help improve your ability to focus – strengthening that focus muscle:
- SWITCH OFF YOUR PHONE
Dedicate time every day away from phones and screen distractions. In fact you can go one step further and switch off notifications permanently. Go into your emails and social media at set times of the day rather than whenever a notification comes in. That way you choose your focus and drastically reduce the time you get distracted. - BE MINDFUL
Practicing mindfulness is often misunderstood – you don’t have to sit in silence or clear your mind. Quite the opposite. Mindfulness is, at its essence, focus. Just spending a few minutes counting the number of things you can hear or how each of the children in your class are sat, or how many colours you can see on the walls – these exercises would all be classed as mindfulness. - ONE THING AT A TIME
May seem obvious but try and only do one thing at a time. If you are eating a meal try to not reach for your phone or the TV. If you are spending time with someone, give them your full attention – and practice listening to hear rather than to just reply. - DO NOT DISTURB
Implement a Do Not Disturb system – either as a notice or by putting headphones etc. Tell your colleagues/friends/family that when this is on you need to focus but that you will come to them afterwards (unless it’s an emergency of course). Studies have shown that when we get disturbed during a task – it can take us 10 – 20 minutes to get back into focus mode. - BODY SCAN
Spend a couple of minutes, starting at your head, mentally scanning down your body and noticing how each area feels. The purpose is to just notice and not to fix. Notice each muscle, is it tense or relaxed, how your clothes feel against your body, how your feet feel on the ground etc. And if when your mind wanders – you just bring it back to the body. You can do the same thing with breathing too. - PRACTICE – 2 MINUTES A DAY
We all know what focus means – so just practice it – however you want. Focus on a project, a conversation, a feeling, a noise, a candle, a flower, a fingernail – absolutely anything. Just practice focusing for 2 minutes at a time. You can then build this up when you feel ready. - LISTS
Practically – lists help us not only get organised – but they help stop the distraction. Write down everything you have to do and if something else comes to mind, rather than doing it straight away (before you forget) add it to the list. Then just work your way through it – one at a time.
So why not run through this with your team and make sure you take the time to focus and refocus to achieve your objectives. If you need any help with mindfulness, stress management or occupational health, then please get in touch with one of the team on 01924 827869 for more information about how we can help.
This blog was written by Nicky Lloyd Greame, founder of The Stress Specialist at https://www.thestressspecialist.com.
