Improve Focus

Dec 20, 2008 by Celastrus Shop

Much of our language of mental concentration, including the discussion of how to improve focus, is appropriately borrowed from optics. In the field of optics, a “focus”, sometimes also called an image point, is the point at which rays of light (or other radiation) converge in an optical system to produce a clear or distinct image of an object. Conceptually, this focus is a point, though physically there is a range to it, often called the blur circle. Simply put, an image will be in “focus” – meaning clearly defined and unblurred – if light rays from several directions converge in the image. If light is not well converged, the image will be blurred, or out of focus.

How apt, then, to use this language when discussing how to improve our own focus. We humans are an easily distracted species of beast. We spread ourselves thinly across a range of responsibilities and expectations. We have five exams to juggle and friends to remember, children to pick up from soccer practice or ballet, and, later, a small army of grandchildren whose birthdays (and even names, sometimes!) often seem to escape us. As the world gets more harried, these distractions get more numerous, and retaining focus on the task at hand becomes more and more difficult.

In the last decade or so, many North Americans have embraced a culture of multitasking in which being able to accomplish multiple tasks in the same space of time, whether at work or home, is seen as a measure of productivity and efficiency. The sad truth is that the ability to multitask is something of a fiction. Researchers in the field of attention and memory have been finding that trying to do two things (or more) at once actually decreases our productivity and makes us less effective as workers. According to Edward Hallowell, a research psychologist and the author of CrazyBusy, this is because our brains don’t perform two tasks simultaneously so much as switch back and forth between single tasks. This continuous task-switching has a detrimental effect on learning and the recall of short term memories.

So, how are we to improve our focus? There are several options, and the most effective will be your own combination of these. The first is through herbal supplements that have been clinically shown to improve brain functioning, including a marked improvement in moment-to-moment and sustained focus. The second major option is to improve focus by practice and training, like most other skills.

Distractions are the enemy of focus, so the more you can do to limit distractions, the easier you’ll be able to improve focus. Take a good look at your work environment and habits to figure out what you need to change: is your workspace piled with papers and junk that clutters your field of view? Organizing your physical space and eliminating distractions like these will do wonders to stretch your attention and hone your ability to focus on work or study. Also look at your daily work habits: do you tend to work on projects until completion, or are you interrupting yourself throughout the day to answer email, respond to social media, or make phone calls? If that’s your style, consider setting a specific time of day when you will answer email or make calls—the beginning of the workday, for instance– or take time between longer projects to attend to this aspect of work. If you stick to your schedule and don’t interrupt your study or work session to reply to emails, texts, tweets, etc., you’ll get those big projects done a lot faster!

On the other hand, you might be so used to doing multiple things at once that the prospect of shutting distractions is daunting in itself. Luckily, there are a number of ways you can build up your internal capacity for focus. First of all, pay attention to how you feel physically when you sit down to work; although focus is in many respects a mental activity, your ability to concentrate is impacted hugely by how you feel: whether you’re energized or tired, calm or stressed out. You can stack your mental deck in favor of improved focus by working on harder projects when you have lots of energy (for example, in the late morning after eating a good breakfast). Leave easier work for later when you might be more tired and yearning for a break. And on that topic, take breaks! When you sense your concentration slipping, it’s often a sign you need to get up and stretch, walk around, think about something else for five minutes. A short shift in the focus of your attention can actually help you bring a fresh energy to your work when you return.

There are also mental techniques to improve focus and manage your reaction to those distractions you can’t control. For instance, whenever you feel your mind wander away from studying or working, you could repeat a simple mantra like “Be here now” to remind yourself to stay in the present moment. Another similar technique is the “spider method”: if you hold a tuning fork to a spider’s web, the spider will investigate the vibration the first few times; yet after a while, it will learn to ignore the stimulus. Similarly, in this method when you notice a distraction, you acknowledge it and then go back to what you were doing, letting whatever stimulus caught your attention be “out there”, outside the circle of your focus.

These kinds of meditative exercises can help us simplify our lives and achieve the improved focus, concentration, and calm that we seek. Combined, an interior mental effort (augmented perhaps by herbal supplements) and better exterior habits and organization can noticeably improve focus and mental clarity.