As a businessperson, you have a lot on your plate. Staying
focused can be tough with a constant stream of employees, clients, emails, and
phone calls demanding your attention. Amid the noise, understanding your
brain’s limitations and working around them can improve your focus and increase
your productivity.
Our brains are finely attuned to distraction, so today's
digital environment makes it especially hard to focus. "Distractions
signal that something has changed," says David Rock, co-founder of the
NeuroLeadership Institute and author of Your Brain at Work. "A distraction
is an alert he says, 'Orient your attention here now; this could be
dangerous.'" The brain's reaction is automatic and virtually unstoppable.
While multitasking is an important skill, it also has a
downside. "It reduces our intelligence, literally dropping our IQ,"
Rock says. "We make mistakes, miss subtle cues and fly off the handle
when we shouldn't, or spell things wrong."
To make matters worse, distraction feels great. "Your
brain's reward circuit lights up when you multitask,” Rock says, meaning that
you get an emotional high when you're doing a lot at once.
Ultimately, the goal is not constant focus, but a short
period of distraction-free time every day. "Twenty minutes a day of deep
focus could be transformative," Rock says.
Try these three tips to help you become more focused and
productive:
1. Do creative work
first. Typically, we do mindless work first and build up to the toughest
tasks. That drains your energy and lowers your focus. "An hour into doing
your work, you've got a lot less capacity than (at the beginning)," Rock
says. "Every decision we make tires the brain."
In order to focus effectively, reverse the order. Check off
the tasks that require creativity or concentration first thing in the morning,
and then move on to easier work, like deleting emails or scheduling meetings,
later in the day.
2. Allocate your time
deliberately. By studying thousands of people, Rock found that we are truly
focused for an average of only six hours per week. "You want to be really
diligent with what you put into those hours," he says.
Most people focus best in the morning or late at night, and
Rock's studies show that 90% of people do their best thinking outside the
office. Notice where and when you focus best, then allocate your toughest tasks
for those moments.
3. Train your mind
like a muscle. When multitasking is the norm, your brain quickly adapts.
You lose the ability to focus as distraction becomes a habit. "We've
trained our brains to be unfocused," Rock says.
Practice concentration by turning off all distractions and
committing your attention to a single task. Start small, maybe five minutes per
day, and work up to larger chunks of time. If you find your mind wandering,
just return to the task at hand. "It’s just like getting fit," Rock
says. "You have to build the muscle to be focused."
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