Achieving And Maintaining Focus In The Age Of Distraction And Anxiety

February 23, 2018 / Oskar Cymerman

Do you ever pick up your smartphone to do one thing and end up doing five other things before you get to the one thing you really need to do?

Or worse, you set out to do one thing but become distracted by all the other things gifted to you by our technological advancement and you completely forget the one thing you really wanted to accomplish?

Some experts call it digital dementia and while it sounds cool it isn't that great. As we are becoming more accustomed to outsourcing our brain functions to digital devices and losing abilities such as being able to compute in our head we are also allowing ourselves to be more distracted.

It doesn't just happen to us. While it may seem that way it is in fact us who allow ourselves to become more distracted.

As the blue light emitted by the screen flashes across our field of view and the dopamine floods our brain we check out. We immerse ourselves in the digital world that opens up right in front of our eyes and if we don't consciously consider what is happening (and we most often don't) we lose touch with reality. That other world becomes our reality.

Don't worry. I'm not about to start making a case against smart phone use. I love my iPhone and have a hard time imagining life without it. I use it for communication, entertainment, and self-improvement. I just notice that when I am not mindful of how I use my phone and when, I become easily distracted and get sucked into the virtual and pulled away from whatever real project I'm supposed to be working on.

And, while the phone can be a distraction it's not the only distraction. There are many others you have to manage.

I use the word manage because eliminating all distractions is impossible and if you want to maintain focus when working on a particular project you'll need to have contingencies in place to manage the different distractions life will throw at you.

Dealing With Phone Distractions

I found the best way to avoid being distracted by my phone is to use it. More specifically, I give it a job. Say I'm writing a blog post like now. I put my phone in airplane mode and use it to time my work sessions. I use a productivity app that allows me to set 25-minute chunks of work time and 5-minute breaks. I hit start and then I work for 25-minutes on one thing only: writing.

Dealing With People Distractions

What do you do when you're in a place where it's easy to be distracted by other people?

Say you’re in a busy place such as work, cafe, or house bustling with activity. Let everyone around know what you’re trying to accomplish. Ask the waiter, or the coworkers, or your wife and kids to give you 25 uninterrupted minutes. Close the door or find a remote corner if you can. Then work on only one thing; the task you set out to work on.

Dealing With Workspace Distractions

First, keep your workspace organized. Make sure the surface is clean so you’re eyes do not keep wandering to that dried out banana bread crumb or week-old coffee stain.

Remove all clutter. If possible, remove all but the few things you need to accomplish your task. While doing so may seem unnecessarily sterile your brain will be glad you reduced the number of things it can be distracted or overwhelmed by.

Dealing With Other Distractions

The truth is that you can't always know all the sources of potential distractions, but if you accept they will happen you can plan for them.

With experience you will get good at identifying potential distractions and preemptively striking to avoid them. This will depend on the environment you choose to do your work in.

For example, if noise bothers you you might choose to buy noise cancelling headphones. If a guy sitting at the nearby cafe table is giving off inexplicable odors know that this will distract you more than once and move away. Just make sure to maintain a subtle pleasant smile as you do this to avoid hurting his feeling and feeling guilty for avoiding his person.

Lighting

Lighting plays a key role in maintaining focus as well. Experts suggest you find natural light and avoid the enervating fluorescent light so often present in hospitals, places of work, and schools. Good luck with that!

But seriously, using a cool or blue light desk lamp is a better alternative if you do not have access to natural light. Scientific studies indeed suggest that cool color lighting, which has higher temperature, improves mood and attentiveness leading to higher productivity. Avoid dim lighting as it can make you drowsy and hurt your focus.

Dealing With Stress and Anxiety

While you might not have previously known how different lighting affects your mood you probably realize how stress affects it. It is nearly impossible to focus when you’re constantly stressed because of the stress hormones cortisol and norepinephrine wreaking havoc in your brain. While normal levels are necessary for maintaining health, alertness, and even focus too much cortisol and norepinephrine does the opposite.

The human brain’s ability focus and link new neurons is severely compromised when it experiences anxiety. This leads to decrease in creativity leading to the decrease in productivity. Thus, minimizing stress is key to maintaining your top performance.

Perception Vs. Reality

Awareness is the first step to managing stress. While most people experience anxiety few consider the fact that most events we fear never materialize. A Cornell University scientists discovered that 85% of that which we fear never happens and an additional 12% of our worries always turn out better than expected. The catastrophic thinking we experience is a result of the dangerous human past that has stuck with us despite the fact that we have been the top predator in our environment for thousands of years now. Armed with this knowledge you can take more risks and stress less.

Feed Your Mind The Right Stuff

Another way to minimize stress is to be conscious of what you feed your brain. And while brain-healthy diet is important - so make sure to eat avocados, eggs, blueberries, walnuts, salmon, and green leafy veggies - it may be even more crucial to avoid the constant input of negative and sensationalized information most news channels focus on.

Instead, consume books, audio, videos, and other material that focuses on personal and professional growth, uplifts, and spreads hope. I am not saying you should ignore all of the bad news. What I suggest is that you become conscious of the pervasiveness of it and that you limit your intake.

Stress Reduction Techniques

Research proves that decreasing stress can be as simple as using auto suggestion and visualization. One way to use these tools is to spend a few minutes each day imagining various positive outcomes that will happen and telling yourself things you might be anxious about will turn out okay. It may seem weird or corny but it works.

Meditation is another proven method for stress reduction. And, it does not need to be a huge undertaking. Allowing 5 to 10 minutes to quiet your mind and listen to yourself breathe works magic. In fact, just taking deep 4-second breaths will aid stress relief as you oxygenate your body and mind. 2 second in. 2 seconds out. Yes you can.

The last two are no brainers: sleep and move.

Getting adequate sleep equates 7 to 9 hours of sleep for adults. Everyone is different but it is clear that we focus better, produce more, and are more creative when we’re well rested. Besides the desired formation of neural connections while we sleep our brain relaxes and allows brain fluid to flush out the pesky metabolic toxins that otherwise slow our processing, cloud our judgement, and contribute to stress buildup.

And even as little as four minutes of exercise in the morning helps regulate cortisol release which in turn leads to better stress management and helps you focus, be more productive, and positively impacts your sleep cycle.

Achieving And Maintaining Focus

As it turns out, the two overarching themes to achieving and maintaining total focus are being intentional and planning. It all starts with careful consideration of your work environment and how you use your work tools. It involves planning what you will work on, how you will minimize distractions, and how you will manage stress in advance. Finally, achieving total focus is directly related to what you feed your body and mind so when it’s time to be productive your performance is optimized because your entire being is nourished, rested, and alert.

What is perhaps the best news in all this is that you can train yourself to focus. You can improve your focus. If you’re a complete mess right now start small. Maybe instead of doing 25-minute pomodoros begin by planning and performing in 10-minute chunks of time. Then, slowly build up to 25 minutes. The key is to start building the focus muscle and to keep exercising it.

Just as Rome wasn’t built in one day Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson wasn’t always buff. He can even sing a little too.

But don't take my word for it. Just grab your phone and look up "Moana Soundtrack" on YouTube. Or, if you need to get something done pronto, put it in airplane mode, set the timer to 25 minutes, and get to work.

Oskar

I hope you found this article helpful. If you did share the info with those who may benefit. I frequently write about learning, teaching and training, and success strategies so if you'd like to receive my future posts sign up for my newsletter below.

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Achieving And Maintaining Focus: Routine, Readiness, and Rhythm

February 21, 2018 / Oskar Cymerman

“The only thing that can grow is the thing you give energy to”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do you remember the last time you tried to get some (or a lot) of work done and you spent the first 5 minutes twiddling your thumbs trying to decide what to do? Maybe the thumb thing was followed by staring at the wall in front of you wondering where to begin?

Have you ever managed to achieve the type of focus that allowed you to continually produce meaningful results for the entirety of your work session?

But let’s not stop there. Let’s up the ante and strive for more.

Have you ever managed to achieve the type of focus that allowed you to continually produce unfathomable results?

Well? Have you?

Total focus. This is what it takes. Science says It can be done. Let's explore this further, shall we?

Total focus, complete focus, insane focus, call it whatever... can be achieved with effective planning and deliberate practice. While the exact method is unique to every person there are common elements that increase focus. These are having the right routine, being ready to work, attaining the right rhythm, managing distractions, and minimizing stress.

Routine

Choosing the right work environment and keeping it consistent is key to achieving total focus. One way to do this is to be like Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway had a desk with one object on it: a typewriter. Hemingway used his desk for one thing: writing. He didn’t read at it. He didn’t eat at it. He stood by it and wrote. History and legions of entranced readers prove Hemingway produced works of art.

But why is doing it the Hemingway way beneficial? While it might seem a waste to use your desk for one particular thing only, there’s a method to this madness and yes it’s scientific.

When a soccer player sets aside his Sunday loafers and places cleats on his feet his mind, body, and the rest of his being is told it’s time to play soccer. When you designate one and the same spot to work on your larger than life project you communicate to your entire being that it’s go time; it’s time to work on THIS and ONLY THIS one thing.

And then it happens. The more you repeat the behavior the quicker it becomes a habit. Your work spot becomes sacred. The uncertainty disappears. Each time you get to your magical place of work your body, mind, soul, and spirit know exactly what to do. Every part of your being consciously and unconsciously pushes you toward success.

So whether you choose to work at a nearby cafe, at the kitchen table, in your cubicle before or after hours, or at a desk in a quiet attic room make it predictable to achieve total focus. Make it your routine. One spot. One task. One goal.

Readiness

It is difficult to focus and produce desirable results when your brain is missing the information necessary to complete the task. If you have knowledge gaps or lack experience necessary to be successful in your endeavor do the research and learn whatever is needed before you start your work session.

If your time is severely limited, but you commute to work start reading or watching videos on the train to work or listening to podcasts and audiobooks while you drive. Alternatively, you can devote 25-minute work chunks (pomodoros) to doing anything that helps you learn more about the ins and outs of your project before producing the actual product.

After all, learning and gaining experience is an integral part of any project you undertake. The more expertise you gain the better the final product will be. Few things are more disappointing than finally carving out some time to start on your dream and then realizing that you’re experiencing the biggest brain fart.

Brain farts aside; once you start you want to keep going. How will you maintain total focus for 25 minutes? How will you keep going without stopping? How will you attain rhythm?

Rhythm

If you’re thinking music you’re on the right track but it’s important to pick the right type. While lyric-filled music can be inspirational it is best to use instrumental music to attain rhythm during tasks that require intense mental focus. Lyrics work well when you’re training for an Ironman race but are distracting if you’re reading or writing. Luckily, there are plenty of productivity mixes on YouTube or Spotify. I suggest you find and save your favorite ones ahead of time. Then, try them out and pay attention to whether they help or hinder.

Another way to get in rhythm is to time your work sessions. You can use your phone’s timer or download an app that lets you do that. Some apps keep track of your work (or focus) sessions and breaks. In addition, putting your phone in airplane mode and using it specifically for focus and rhythm helps you manage the distractions it can potentially cause.

Eliminating distractions is difficult if not impossible but if you want to maintain total focus you will need to have contingencies in place to manage the different distractions life throws at you. And this is what my next post will explore: Achieving And Maintaining Focus In The Age Of Distraction And Anxiety.

Till then I would be honored if you chose to use a few strategies from this post to help students, coworkers, or your loved ones focus better.

You have the power to change lives. Use it often so they can change the world.

Oskar

I frequently share brain-based teaching, learning, and success strategies. Sign up for my newsletter below to receive them when I post them.

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Listening Is A Skill Students Lack Because We Don't Teach It. Let's!

February 15, 2018 / Oskar Cymerman

Listening consciously, listening is a skill

“Listening Consciously Is A Doorway To Understanding”

— Julian Treasure

We are taught to read and write in school, but not educated on how to listen. Not really. Not deliberately.

We're constantly told to listen, but we're not shown how to do it. I wonder how often and how many teachers assume students know how to listen but just choose not to?

However the (non) listening problem is deeper than students just choosing not to listen. Sure enough some do, but many just don't know how to listen, because schools don't treat listening as a teachable skill. As a result the listening skill of many students and later adults is poorly developed.

Fortunately, listening can be improved with a little know how and practice.

This is what this post is about.

There are two ways I recently learned about but upon closer examination they're essentially the same. It makes sense as the elements of good listening are the same regardless of who, what, and where.

I recently listened to a podcast featuring Julian Treasure, a positive noise expert who has delivered a couple of Ted Talks including 5 Ways to Listen Better.

Listening As A Skill

Our personal and professional success depends on how well we can absorb, connect, and apply information and how well we can connect with and understand others. Thus, listening is an essential skill at school, work, and in relationships.

On this podcast, Julian Treasure used the acronym RASA, which stands for Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, and Ask to explain how to develop the listening skill.

Receive

Receiving is all about listening 100% without doing anything else. This involves single tasking, focusing on the speaker's verbal and non-verbal cues, and maintaining eye contact.

Appreciate

To appreciate is to consciously put value on what the other person is saying and setting the intention to learn from him or her. If you tell your mind This is good stuff! it will be and you will benefit.

Summarize

Summarizing involves taking the other person‘s words and restating the key points using your own so it's easier to recall and use the information later. This can be done in your head or on paper.

Ask

Asking questions during the conversation or presentation helps understanding and keeps you engaged with the speaker. Asking follow up questions helps with retention of content and furthers understanding and the ability to use the information properly.

Listening Is A Conscious Activity

Listening is a conscious activity, but most people do not see it as such. Often, we just approach it as something that happens to us and so we miss the point. We are distracted, multitask, and fail to connect to the speaker and the information she conveys. Just think of all the times you had a conversation with a friend or a loved one while browsing on your phone or tablet.

This is why it’s important to teach listening as a skill and as an active endeavor. It is important for our students to become conscious of the fact that they are doing something when they are listening. Listening is not a passive thing that happens to them. Let's tell them that and teach them to listen with intention. Then, let's allow them to practice and become better at it.

I wrote an article about this in the past and while in it I use an acronym HEAR to teach active listening the information leads to the same outcome: Developing the Active Listening Skill.

But whether you use RASA or HEAR or something else doesn't matter. What matters is that we teach our kids to listen well.

You have the power to change lives. Use it often so they can change the world.

Oskar

I frequently share brain-based teaching and learning strategies, lessons, and brain-related infographics. Sign up for my newsletter below to receive them when I post them.

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