How to manage attention and focus

Attention: what it is and how it works

Let's start with the basics: What is the focus? According to the definition of psychologists, it is an act of the direction of interest or action on one goal. Yes, it sounds boring, but here lies a very important idea.

What is the focus

To concentrate on something one, will have to ignore everything else.

The concentration appears only when we say "yes" to one embodiment, and "no" - everything else. In other words, an exception - a prerequisite for concentration.

From what you do depends on what you can do.

Tim Ferriss, author, speaker

Of course, to stay focused, do not require a constant "no", it is important to say "no" now, at this moment. Later on, you can do something else, but now you must guide your attention to only one thing.

Attention - this is the key to productivity. Saying "no" to any other options, you open your ability to complete the one remaining case.

Now the important question: what should be done to focus on things that are relevant and ignore useless?

Why can not concentrate

Most people have no problems with concentration. They have difficulty making a decision.

We can convince ourselves to focus on the fact, if out of the way all distractions. You have ever had a problem that had to be finished during that whatever the cost? You perform it, because the deadline made the decision for you. Maybe you prokrastinirueteBut, as soon as it forces you to make a decision, you act.

Often, instead of having to take a difficult decision and choose one thing, we convince ourselves that it is better to multitask. But this is an inefficient approach, and here's why.

Why multitasking is not working

Technically, we can do two things at once. For example, watching TV and cooking dinner or answer an incoming call during a phone.

But to focus on two cases at the same time is impossible. You either watch TV, stir the pasta in the pan in the background, or cook the pasta, and the TV becomes background noise. In every single time you concentrate, or on one or the other.

multitasking It causes your brain to quickly switch attention from one case to another. And if the human brain is able to move from one job to another without any additional effort, there were no problems. But our brain does not work.

Think of a situation when you're being interrupted when you're writing a letter. When the conversation ends, you usually need a few minutes to navigate, remember what you wrote, and continue. Something similar happens when you do several things at once.

Every time you switch from one task to another and back again, you have to make a mental effort.

In psychology, this is called the effect of switching costs.

Switching costs - a disruption in productivity, which we experience when we switch our attention from one thing to another. StudyReducing the effect of email interuption on employees. 2003, published in the International Journal of Information Management, revealed that, distracted by the usual checking email every five minutes a person spends 64 seconds on average, to resume execution of the current tasks.

In other words, because only one e-mail we waste one minute out of every six.

The myth of multitasking says that it makes you more efficient. In fact, the value has only to focus.

How to focus and increase attention span

Let's talk about how to overcome our tendency to multi-task and concentrate on one thing at a time. How do you know which of the many options you need to pay attention?

The strategy of Warren Buffett - "Two lists"

One of my favorite methods to focus on the important and eliminate the rest, came up with the famous investor Warren Buffett.

Buffett has used a three-stage strategy to enhance personal productivity, to help its employees to identify priorities and plan of action.

Once Buffett offered his personal pilot to perform a simple exercise that consists of three steps.

• Step 1. To begin, Buffett asked the pilot Mike Flynt record 25 major career goals. In fact, to understand and write, Flint took some time. Tip: You can perform this exercise with the objectives in the short period of time. For example, make a list of 25 things you want to end this week.
• Step 2. Then Buffett asked Flint to revise your list and choose the 5 most important goals. This Flint took time again, but in the end he chose the top 5 priorities.
• Step 3. At this point, Flint appeared two lists. The five most important items have been combined in List A, and the remaining twenty - in list B. Flint decided immediately start working on the five most important goals.

At this point, Buffett asked him what he was going to do with the second list.

Flint said: "The five most important goals take my focus, but also twenty other important too, so I will work on them from time to time, when the opportunity. They, of course, is not so urgent, but I still plan to pay attention to them. "

What Buffett said, "No, Mike, you understood everything correctly. All but five of the main objectives, - a list of cases that should be avoided at all costs. Whatever happens, you should not pay attention to the B list until you reach the five important goals. "

I love Buffett method, because it pushes a difficult decision and eliminate things that can be considered a good waste of time, but not the best. Thus, the tasks that distract the attention, you choose the ones that are really worth spending time.

This is just one of the ways to direct your attention and abstract from all distraction. There are others, such as matrix or method Eisenhower Ivy Lee.

But no matter what method you use, and how seriously would not have been set up at some point, the concentration is lost. How long to stay focused? To do this, two simple steps.

Measure your results

Care is often lost due to the lack of feedback. Naturally, your brain wants to know, if it turns out you have to reach your goals.

We all have areas of life, which, as we say, it is very important to us, but we do not track. This is fundamentally the wrong approach. Only with the help of figures and full traceability, we can do something about it, when we become better or worse.

• When I started calculating how much did push-ups, I became stronger.
• When I began to follow the implementation of the habit of reading 20 pages a day, I read more books.
• When I wrote my values, I became more critical.

Tasks that I've been tracking, remained at the center of my attention.

Unfortunately, often we avoid the measurement results, because we are afraid that the figures are unimpressive. Understand measurement does not need to blame yourself. It's just feedback, which is essential for the understanding of what stage you are now.

Measure to discover, to learn, to understand. Measure to learn more about themselves. Measure because it will help you focus on the things that matter to you.

Most progress, not the result indicators

The second thing you can do to keep the longer note - to focus on the process, not an event. Too often we think of success as an event that can be achieved and completed.

Here are a few examples.

• Many people think of health as an event ( "If I can lose 10 kilos, I'll be in great shape").
• Many people think of entrepreneurship as an event ( "If you would have written in the New York Times, we would come to the success of our business").
• Many people think of art as an event ( "If my paintings are exhibited in the large gallery, I would become known").

These are just a few examples of the many that we define success as a single event. But if you look at the people who are focused on your goals, you will realize that the value does not have events or results and the concentration on the process. These people love what they do.

And the funny thing is, the concentration on the process in any case will allow you to enjoy the results.

• If you want to be a good writer and best-selling release, that's fine. But the only way to achieve this result - love to write.
• If you want the whole world to know about your business, it would be nice to write about you in Forbes magazine. But the only way to achieve this - love the promotion process.
• If you want to be in good shape, maybe you really need to lose 10 extra kilos. But the only way to achieve this result - to love a healthy diet and exercise.
• If you want to get much better in any business, you have to love the process. You have to fall in love with the construction of the image of man who is engaged in business, and not just dream about the desired results.

Focusing on objectives and results - it's our natural inclination, but focus on progress leads to great results in the long run.

Life hacking to improve concentration

Even when you are genuinely in love with the process and know how to stay focused on your goals, daily practice can bring chaos and harm your care. Here are some additional ways to increase the concentration.

1. Select the anchor problem

Choose one (and only one) priority on every business day. Although I plan to complete other tasks during the day, my priority is the one non-negotiable thing that I have to finish. I call it "anchor task."

Due to the only priority we did not hesitate to begin to build a life around that commitment.

2. Manage your energy, not time

If the task requires you full attention, plan it at a certain time of day when you have to force it. For example, I noticed that my creative energy is highest in the morning. In the morning I was cheerful, better writing and better strategic decisions for your business. Therefore, I plan to all creative tasks in the morning. And all the other working the case moved to the second half of the day: meetings, answering incoming phone calls and chats in a Skype, analysis and processing of numerical information.

Almost every productive strategy includes advice best manage your time. But time itself is useless if you do not have the strength to accomplish the task.

3. Never check e-mail in the first half of the day

Concentration - is to eliminate all distractions. And email can be the biggest distraction.

If I do not check email at the beginning of the day, I can independently make their daily routine, rather than adapt to the daily routine of someone else.

I understand that many people does not make sense to wait for the second half of the day, but I want to throw you a challenge. Can you wait until 10 in the morning? Or up to 9? To 8:30? The exact time limit is not so important. The bottom line is that you can carve out some time in the morning when you can focus on what matters most to you.

4. Leave your phone in another room

I usually save the phone away in the morning. It is much easier to tune in to the job, if the SMS, phone calls or notifications do not distract the attention.

5. Work in full-screen mode

Every time I run the program on the computer, I use it in full-screen mode. If I read an article on the Internet, the browser fills the screen. If I write a note in Evernote, I use full-screen mode. If I edit the image in Photoshop, the program window - the only thing that I can see. I set up the desktop so that the menu bar disappears automatically. When I work, I do not see the time, application icons and all other distracting things.

It seems a trifle, but in terms of concentration is a very important action. If you see an application icon, you have from time to time are tempted to click on it. However, if you remove the visual signal of the field of view, and the desire to escape disappears after a few minutes.

6. Remove all tasks that interfere with your concentration in the morning

I love to do the most important things in the morning, because at this time there is not a rush. So I moved the first breakfast at noon to release a bit of extra time in the morning to work, rather than cooking.

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No matter what strategy you practice, remember that when the world distract you, all you need to do - to stick to one business. Initially, you can not be obtained. But you just need to start.