The #1 skill you are neglecting

“Time management is a problem of the past, where we really suffer today is focus management.”

Take a moment to pause and consider everything currently on your mind. You are reading this, likely with several other tabs already open, your cell phone near with numerous apps still running, you might also have the television on, and are passively carrying on a conversation, while you are trying to work.

As the cognitive demands for our attention build-up, the capacity to actually focus on one thing drains. It’s no wonder we are a nation tired but wired, ingesting but not well digesting, consuming but not comprehending.

The average adult multi-tasks upward of four to five tasks at once, the majority of the day. While it may seem effective, ask yourself to honestly measure your productivity and see how optimized you truly are.

Multitasking has now been scientifically proven on numerous occasions to actually decrease our productivity, increase our stress levels, and worsen our memory.

What is the point of bogging ourselves with quantity if the quality suffers?

But alas, recognizing a problem does not make solving it any easier — especially with the world dinging a new notification every few seconds. Technology really has brought the world to our fingertips, making it an insatiable temptation to always been plugged into multiple, competing sources of distraction.

The following are a few tips and tricks to gain control over this cascade of interruptions that will hopefully help you to regain focus and increase productivity.

• Turn off notifications. Simply, if you cannot hear it, see it or sense it, it cannot break your focus. Unless you need it, put your phone out of reach or flip it upside down to avoid distraction.
• Dedicate a specific area to work. Creating a calm, clean environment promotes the ability to focus. Chose a well-lit, tidy workspace free of clutter and unnecessary noise that is used only for your task at hand.

Hint: your couch that also doubles as a TV lounge or the kitchen table where you eat is not the best — make a space that is just yours with the absolute minimum necessary.

• Use time blocks. Having clearly defined start and end times for your tasks makes them seem more achievable and sets mental boundaries for your brain. When you create clean expectations around your time commitments, your brain is more at ease and able to focus intensely. As concentration is quite energetically expensive, aim to organize your time by scheduling breaks every 50–90 minutes where you disengage entirely from your task by getting up and changing your environment. Be conscious that picking up your phone to check social media is not actually giving your brain the rest it needs to feel refreshed. Start with small, realistic ratios and gradually increase your work and break times as your ability to focus improves. A great place to start is committing an easy 10 minutes to one single task and then giving yourself a 1-minute refresh to stand-up, shake it out, and get back to it for another 10.
• Alleviate feeling disorganized by delegating your responsibilities with daily lists. Keep your lists simple, specific, and action-oriented. Prioritize the tasks on your list and tackle the hardest or worst tasks first. Keep a list for weekly tasks and break it into small, manageable daily tasks that are easy to accomplish. If you find yourself regularly not accomplishing your list, begin honestly tracking how you spend your downtime, and don’t be afraid to completely eradicate tasks that you make no movement on. Sometimes completing a task mentally is as simple as canceling it entirely.
• Set the tone for the day with a brief mental exercise first thing in the morning. Most people are biologically hard-wired to have more mental stamina early in the day. Practice engaging your brain on a simple morning task such as meditation, positive affirmations, or breath work as opposed to diving straight into social media, emails, et cetera, and employ mental exercises to set the tone for a focused, productive day.
• Reward yourself when you get into a good groove and be kind to yourself when you fall off track. Show yourself some compassion and realize that you are not a machine. Integrating regular brain breaks to change your physical and mental environment is extremely beneficial. Realize that engaging with social media, or other to-do tasks is not actually giving your brain the break it needs. Try to completely step away and focus on breathing or moving your body.

Focus is a skill — luckily with a little persistence and effort, we all have the potential to improve!