You Probably Suck at Directing Your Attention

Tags: career, motivation, productivity
Published: 2020-06-14 03:59:19

We have all stumbled upon and read articles on how to manage our time, our tasks, our relationships and just about anything else we do on a daily basis.  From observation, however, there is an aspect of our day that doesn’t get nearly enough consideration. And that is having conscious mindfulness where we put in our attention. 

Naturally, we assume we work a lot if we have a full-time job. Easily 40 hours a week go towards building a career, right? And we, hopefully, get enough sleep which can add up to 50/60 hours. Beyond that we generally do not have much time on our hands left, so we plan out and perform activities that bring us the most joy and benefit to our lives. 

But do we really get the most of our time, even if we allocated enough of it?
##How much attention do you really pay to what you are doing?
Just in the time, I have been writing out this article, I have had music blasting in my headphones taking a certain amount of my attention. Additionally, when I get notifications on my phone, I intuitively interrupt my thought process to check them out. Not to mention that since I work from home, my cat would casually stroll on my lap, so I end up petting her before going back in to finish my sentence. And at that point, I had to reread the whole paragraph just to remind myself what I was getting at.

My point is, just because you decided to work for a period of time, and you were able to get *something* done, doesn’t necessarily mean your attention was on the task at hand. All of those interruptions and annoyances take a considerable amount of time that slips through our fingers and we do not even notice it. This is probably why you have been a little behind on your work, or have been having a hard time getting things done, in general.

While we are bound to get distracted, there are still ways to stay on top of that, and at least be better at noticing when time is disappearing without a trace.
##Observe your patterns
Everything we do in a day is a part of a habit. Which is essentially a pattern. Unless you consciously make decisions that are out of the auto-pilot mode of your actions, you will repeat the same sequences over and over again. 

Here is an example. Every day when I wake up, I lay in bed for a bit, scrolling through Youtube videos. On days I don’t have anything with a set time, I can spend an hour or two without even thinking about it. While I do think I have learned a lot through the platform I have undeniably spent more time scrolling out of boredom as opposed to advancing myself in any way.
##Task switching can be problematic
You have probably seen a lot of resources glorifying multitasking as a way to get things done. When it comes to [software developers]  (https://www.dreamix.eu) in particular, It almost seems to be a key part of the process. Switching from app to app and interrupting work to do research seems inevitable.

Yet you may have heard that it is bad for you. I personally observe the latter to be true. In essence, multitasking is misleading, simply because the brain is not capable of processing multiple tasks at the same time. It is however efficient at switching quickly between them.

And simply because it is possible, doesn’t necessarily mean it is effective. In fact, the more tasks you try to do at once, the longer it will take you to complete your full task list, as opposed to you taking them on one at a time. Additionally, doing that for extended periods of time can get you a headache and raise your anxiety levels as the more tasks that are introduced the less efficient the brain function actually is.
###Train your focus
Think about any muscle in your body. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes and the better it performs. It is also much quicker to switch into gear and start working.

Just like a muscle, you can train your ability to focus - but it does rely on a certain level of dedication. And there are a few things you can try.
* Pomodoro timers - set a 25 minute timer, and a 5 minute timer. Sit down and focus on your work for 25 minutes, and then rest for 5. And repeat! That is all there is to it. Making focusing so doable, you end up getting in a groove without too much will power.
* Turning off notifications - limit your distractions. Notifications are intended to take away your attention for the sake of a product. Choose what notifications are important and disable the rest. 
* Limiting distractions - While notifications are a huge culprit, there are more things around you fishing for your attention. For example leaving empty mugs on your desk, waiting to be taken to the dishwasher. Or any desk clutter really. Anything that takes your attention and redirects it to an entirely different train of thought is distracting. So maintain your space in a condition that limits those distractions.
* Writing down a list and following through. To do lists are simple, yet incredibly effective tools. My advice is to only put down up to 6 tasks, and only take on more when your list is empty. This way you set up realistic goals for yourself, maintain a sense of accomplishment and get things done.

Just try and see what sticks. None of those methods is revolutionary. You have probably stumbled upon some of them on accident. But if you employ them as a daily tactic, the results will be visible and soon!
##Guard your attention

When it comes to the digital age, marketers purposefully attack your attention spam, aiming to redirect your focus into their product. So you need to be particularly aware of what you allow to interrupt you, and what you don’t. 

Learn to direct complete focus on the task at hand, before moving on to the next - the differentiation will help your performance immensely, and it will also provide you with additional peace of mind.