4 Ways to Focus: Rec. Reading v20
We recognize that habit-building and good mental health can’t be isolated to just one corner of the internet. Myrth is our favorite tool, but it’s not our only tool. In our regular Recommended Reading series, we’ll share links to articles, books, and other tools that we think you’ll find helpful in your journey.
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The world is full of distractions on the best of days, and when you find yourself working in unusual circumstances, it can be extra hard to sit down and get your work done. Some of the interruptions can’t be helped--if you have small kids who need supervising while you work from home, or if an emergency happens and you need to quickly shift gears to fix it--but some of the distractions are taking up too much space.
1. Quit It With The Multitasking, Already
We always appreciate how the Mayo Clinic is willing to tell it like it is. In this helpful article, they explain why multitasking is actually making it harder for you to focus.
In reality, multitasking is a myth. At best, research shows that your mind can only switch rapidly between tasks. Instead of trying to do two things at once, look for ways to maintain focus on the task at hand.
Instead, the Mayo Clinic recommends several strategies for reducing the mental clutter you’re carrying around and suggests you can train your brain to focus more intently. More on that in a moment.
2. Train Your Focus Muscle
This article on Medium, about why we’re all so distracted and how to fix it, has a great, three-step action plan for helping to improve your ability to focus for extended periods of time. We especially liked step two: clearing to neutral.
When you finish a meal at home, you wash the dishes and clean the table and tops, right? (right?) You’re already familiar with the concept of clearing to neutral. It’s time to start applying it everywhere. When you’re done with your computer, close all the apps and browser and shut down. If you’re leaving the office, spend 5 minutes throwing everything unnecessary away and give your desk a clean. But also clear to neutral during the day.
Resetting to a neutral state after you finish a task is a great way to remove distractions that might linger from earlier work so that you can focus on the task at hand.
3. Explore Deep Focus Work
We’ve mentioned Cal Newport’s work around here before, but his book Deep Work is particularly relevant here.
A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories—from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air—and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored.
Give yourself the space and time to settle into a rhythm of deep, intense work, and you’ll often find the focus follows naturally--especially after you get over the initial withdrawal period where you desperately want to reach for your phone every few minutes.
4. Embrace Boredom
Dr Sandi Mann, a psychologist from the University of Central Lancashire, talked with the BBC’s Science Focus Magazine about boredom. She explained that letting yourself be bored is, counterintuitively, a way to combat boredom and the constant urge to look for new, entertaining distractions.
What is boredom? It’s a search for neural stimulation. When that search is not satisfied, we call it boredom. How can we stop being bored? The paradox is that we need to introduce more boredom into our lives in order to become less bored. I’m passionate about having a digital detox. Swim. Go for a walk without music. If you’re on a train, look out of the window. When I commute to work, I don’t have the radio on. I let my mind wander. When I get in my head is often brimming with ideas.
In other words: if you want to get into a focused groove, remove enough distractions that you have no alternative but to be a little bored for a while. A bored brain will come up with ways to entertain itself, and that’s fodder for good ideas. We also recommend the book Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi
Have you implemented any tips or tricks to help yourself focus lately? Drop a comment in the box below and share your best strategies.
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