Hacks for increasing focus in the age of distraction

Struggling to focus?  Getting lost in your inbox?  Feeling busy all the time but like you’re not really achieving anything of value?  You’re not alone, this is something that often comes up in our development coaching sessions so this month we’re sharing some thoughts and strategies on how to build focus in our ever-distracted lives. 

Here at Kindred, we provide individual development coaching across a wide range of topics, and increasingly we have been having conversations about focus, for people struggling to keep up with everything, people looking to the next step of their careers and get out of the detail, as well as in our work in the neurodiversity and learning disability space. It’s fair to say many are feeling under the pump at the moment and one of the things we are asked is “how do I teach myself to focus to use the time I have more efficiently?”.  So here’s some tips you can try to increase your focus in our workplaces and lives that are increasingly full of distractions.

Remember, we are all different when it comes to processing information and focus, we’re sharing some ideas to try below but also recommend speaking to an expert for individualised support around what will work best for you. 

1.      Reflect on what distracts you.

Start by understanding what causes you to lose your focus, by understanding this you can begin to develop strategies to minimise your distractions.  Some of the more common challenges that prevent focus are…

• Mind wandering - our minds wander at least 30% of the time and for some up to 70% of the time.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; research has shown that people whose minds wander a lot are more creative and better problem solvers. However, it can take attention away from the task at hand.

• Chronic stress floods our nervous system with cortisol and adrenaline that short-circuits important cognitive functions including focus and memory.

• External distractions - things that are all around us like chatty colleagues, meetings, notifications, social media, children, pets, and general office noise, can impact our ability to focus.

• Internal distractions - things within us including our feelings and emotions, procrastination, feeling overwhelmed with workplace change etc. can lead to us being preoccupied and struggling to focus.

• Sleep deprivation also has an effect on our cognitive functioning including our attention and ability to focus on one task while blurring out distractions.

• Time of day - many of us will focus more easily or conversely be more prone to distraction at certain times of the day.

 

2.      Build strategies to increase focus.

Once you know what’s causing your distractions select a few strategies to try to help reduce them. Consider trying to…

• Manage your notifications - research shows notifications popping up on your phone and laptop are one of the worst distractions.  Consider the notifications you receive. Are they serving you or constantly leading your attention astray?  Take time to check your notification preferences and keep it to the minimum.  Consider turning off your notifications completely or if this is too big a step schedule times during the day where you work offline to get your most productive work accomplished.

• Have phone free desk - if your role does not require you to be constantly contactable by phone, could you consider having a phone free desk?  One study found that workers were 26% more productive when they left their phones off their desk.

• - spending too much time in our inboxes can be really unproductive, for many clicking into emails as they come in leads us to feel busy but like we’re not achieving anything of real value.  In addition, reading emails and then thinking “I’ll respond to that later” can mean we are reading and re-reading emails 3-4 times before they’re done.  To manage this…

  • Shut down the inbox and block out dedicated slots a few times a day to read and respond to emails.

  • Leave transactional email processing and inbox cleaning for the times during the day when you’re feeling less attentive (for me its straight after lunch).

  • Unsubscribe to unwanted emails - those few minutes deleting irrelevant emails each day can really add up.

  • Move tasks that require more time within emails straight into your calendar to schedule time to action.

• Take action to create a more productive workplace culture – Constant meetings, expectations around response times to emails, and requirements to be present in open plan offices full of distractions can all hinder focus.  Spark the conversation with your colleagues around how you can work together to better allow for periods of focus and getting the higher value tasks done  Consider trying…

  • Traffic light systems on desks (with red meaning “please don’t distract me right now”)

  • Set days for meetings rather than scheduling them sporadically throughout the week

  • Building a culture that says “it’s OK not to respond to emails immediately”

• Try time-boxing – using a technique like Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro technique to block out time to focus on one task for a set period of time followed by a break can really help to focus and also overcome internal distractions like procrastination.  To do this…

  • Selection just one task to get done.

  • Set a timer for 25 minutes (there are apps for this like Forestrapp)

  • Work on the task until the timer goes off.

  • Take a short break (i.e., grab a cup of tea, go for a short walk)

  • After 4 x 25-minute blocks take a longer break

• Just start - If you are procrastinating or struggling to get started on a task consider making a deal with yourself to spend just a short time on the task (i.e., 5 minutes) often once you’ve taken the first step of starting you’ll find yourself breezing through the rest.

• Make use of your natural rhythm - scheduling tasks to make use of when your focus is at is naturally at its best can be a huge help.  For instance, if you’re freshest in the morning use this time to do your higher value tasks that need more focus.

Remember, be kind to yourself!  No one can or should stay focused for 40 hours a week – the tips we shared here are about working smarter with the time you have, not trying to make your mind do the impossible.  Looking after your general health and well-being, practicing techniques like mindfulness and maintaining balance in your life have also been shown to help increase focus. 

Want to learn more about this topic?  We love Carl Newport’s Hidden Brain podcast series, understanding the concept of deep work (work that requires you to focus intensely on more demanding, productive and value adding tasks), and shallow work (transactional, lower-value work that can be done when distracted) can really help with making the most of your time.