Fight Distractions and Find Focus [Finding Mindfulness Part 3]

As I write this post I’m finishing up the book Reconnected by Carlos Whittaker. It’s oh so serendipitous that I’d planned to write about distractions and finding focus and his book popped into my feed. I immediately bought it!

The extremely brief overview of the book is that he decided to go seven weeks without his phone or any devices after realizing he was spending about 7hrs a day or two full days(!) a week on his phone. The book isn’t anti phone or technology, and neither am I, but it’s about our relationship with it and how when tethered to and constantly distracted by the phone we are missing out on the most sacred relationships available to us - those with self, others, and the world in front of us.

The previous post in this Finding Mindfulness series is all about change and how our brains hate and resist it. The tips and learnings from there are relevant here as we dive into how to fight distractions, find focus, and protect one of your most precious resources: your attention. From my perspective these are all things Carlos was experiencing and discovered throughout his experiment in ‘Reconnected’.

With information constantly streaming at you, an answer to every question at your fingertips, and the constant buzzing, dinging, and pinging all around attention and focus can feel impossible.

The ability to sustain your attention is a superpower.

Device creators, app designers, marketing folks, and the chatter in your head are vying for your attention and taking calculated measures to claim it. We are in an attention economy and yours is a commodity.

Mindfulness allows you to train your brain to notice that your attention has drifted, return to the present moment, and intentionally direct your attention. With commitment and practice, you also strengthen the networks in the brain that allow you to sustain your attention.

You can use mindfulness to harness your superpower to discern, direct, and sustain your attention.

Let’s begin by taking a step back to look more deeply at what causes our lack of focus and difficulty with concentration. There are many angles but I’m going to focus on two because I see them as deeply intertwined.

First, information overload and the exponential increase in data coming at us on a daily basis.

And second, digital addiction and disruption with devices, apps, and programs being intentionally designed for our attention.

The ability to sustain your attention is more important than ever because like with change, the flood of information and technology isn’t going anywhere. And don’t get me wrong, there are many benefits and brilliant uses of all of our information, data, and devices. Our brains just haven’t caught up with how to manage it. Distractions are all around and it’s up to us to decide what we choose to focus our attention on.

I challenge you to read through the remainder of this post without being distracted by whatever and whoever else is coming and pinging at you.

Information Overload

Information is coming at us faster than ever and our brains aren’t and can’t evolve fast enough to keep up with it. It’s no wonder that attention is always being diverted and you don’t know what to pay attention to.

According to IBM 90% of the world’s data has been generated in the last two years.

On a daily basis there are over 300 billion emails sent, 5 billion Youtube videos watched, and 8.5 billion Google searches done.

That’s insane when you consider that the internet has really only been readily available and accessible for about 25 years and the first iPhone was released in 2007.

When I started working at Google in 2003 there were ~55 billion searches for the entire year, today that’s done in less than a week.

We are consuming and creating data and information at incredible speed.

Because of this, the gap is growing between the amount of information available to us and our ability to process it. When there’s too much information and it’s coming from multiple channels overwhelm sets in and compromises the ability make decisions, focus, problem solve, and do deep work.

It’s also challenging to truly go deep. This results in skimming, scanning for information, and acting reactively with band-aid fixes rather than addressing the root of issues and seeing a broad perspective of options.

We’re drowning in information and data.

This has a severe impact on the workplace and schools as well as personal relationships and lives.

And don’t get me wrong, I love information. I am a first line profile in Human Design after all. The key for me, and all of us, is discernment and conscious choice of what I pay attention to and how I direct my focus.

Unless you train your brain to know what to pay attention to it’s so easy to be distracted and overwhelmed by 15 things popping at you at once.

Sitting at my computer with 47 tabs and 8 PDF documents open doesn’t help. I too am a work in progress!

Some might tell you that multitasking is the answer. I’m sorry to say that it’s not.

Research shows that the brain can’t handle multiple tasks simultaneously, it must switch back and forth between them. That switching takes energy and leads to exhaustion, burnout, and lower overall performance. It’s more costly and less productive to multi-task than to learn how to focus and single-task efficiently.

Since the flood of data isn’t slowing down and there are many useful tools, apps, and programs that can support us in work and life, how can all of this information overload be managed and overcome?

One solution, attention control.

Attention control is the mental strength and discipline to ignore distraction, get your brain out of default mode and wandering, and consciously direct your attention and sustain concentration.

I love the following from my Institute for Organizational Science and Mindfulness coursework because it pinpoints the critical areas, especially related to business, that benefit from attention control:

“It takes attention control to engage in cognitively demanding, deep work. We need concentration to master complicated information, problem-solve, and produce better results in less time.”

I won’t sugarcoat it, this is hard especially when you’re likely not trying to improve your attention control in a vacuum. It takes commitment, probably some boundaries, and self-exploration.

I have the big Beats headphones to attempt to reduce external noises and distractions but they only go so far! Mindfulness, awareness, and re-training my brain is what’s actually tipped the scale for my attention control.

Mindfulness allows you to gain control of your attention in the moment and train it in your brain.

It begins with noticing and having the awareness that you’ve become distracted, returning to the present moment, and intentionally directing your attention.

It’s a practice to be repeated over and over. Start small and give yourself a lot of grace!

Attention control is also useful in combating Digital Addiction and Disruption, the second culprit in our distraction and lack of focus.

Digital Addiction and Disruption

Did you know that phones, apps, and programs are being intentionally designed to hold your attention and addict you?

The creators are fighting for your precious attention. It’s a measure of success. As a result they’re intentionally designing the experience, the interface, and the actions to produce the same chemicals and activations in the brain as drug or gambling addiction.

In short, they’re being manipulative to maximize your consumption and how much time you spend on the screen. All the dings, pings, buzzes and notifications are seeking your attention and disrupting you from the task in front of you.

If you want, watch this Tristan Harris talk. He’s been referred to as ‘the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience’, it’s a fascinating little dive if you want more! [later, not now!]

It’s no wonder you might reach for your phone the moment you start to feel boredom creep in or you’re feeling down. It’s a crutch, a soothing mechanism, and a hit of feel good chemicals.

Phones are the perfectly designed device to keep you distracted and your focus scattered - whether you’re staring at the screen, it’s in your pocket, or it’s buzzing and beeping at you.

There have been studies at University of Texas at Austin and University of Arkansas showing that cognitive performance on tasks and mental recall with phones simply in proximity, for example on the desk next to you and powered off, was significantly lower than if the phone was in another room.

Because we do so much on our phone and it’s an integral part of life our brain is monitoring it subconsciously, even if it’s trying to not think about it.

If you’re like me this might give you a WTF moment.

With disruption comes losing the present moment and the noticing of your experience and feelings. You miss out on the small things in life, the potential for wonder and creativity, and connection to what’s right in front of you.

Using mindfulness practices to return to the present moment and become more aware of when you’re distracted allows you to overcome and train your brain to direct and sustain your attention. It’s a toolkit to support you when you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the pulls on your attention, your focus is flitting from one thing to another, or you’re sucked down a social media rabbit hole and you no longer want that to be the case.

If you find yourself distracted easily and overwhelmed by all the inputs coming at you starting small with simple in the moment or short mindfulness practices is helpful. The following two practices are useful both at home and in the workplace - especially if you have a constant flood of things vying for your attention.

Overtime as you build your focus muscle you may notice that you’re distracted less often or it’s quicker to notice and pull yourself back.

Not Now

One very quick mindfulness practice is the simple phrase ‘Not Now’. It’s quickly becoming a go-to for me.

Pause
Notice you’ve been distracted and something is pulling at your attention
Say to yourself ‘not now’
Refocus your attention

This brings awareness and acknowledges the distraction but takes control by kindly and intentionally choosing to refocus your attention to the task at hand or whatever is most important in that moment.

Focused Attention

Practicing Focused Attention begins with choosing an anchor point on which to focus your attention, breath or a sound for example, inevitably becoming distracted, noticing the loss of focus, and then chasing to return your attention.

These four steps repeated over and over help to build and train your attention control. Each time you get distracted and bring your attention back you’re training your attention superpower.

Select an anchor point and direct your attention to it - your breath, a body part, a sound around you
Become distracted
Notice that you’re distracted from the focus
Direct your attention back to your anchor point

You can practice this for one minute or 10 minutes and beyond. It can be both a formal or informal practice as described in Part one of the series, Myths of Mindfulness. Also, it’s a way to regulate and calm your nervous system in moments of stress or overwhelm.

The ability to control what you pay attention to and how you pay attention to it is one of the most beneficial mental skills. This is powerful and empowering. It's relevant across all aspects of life supporting work performance, relationships, and personal well-being.

When you’re present and mindfully aware your brain is taking in and open to much more. This is how the smallest of everyday moments can become magnificent. With your face constantly in your phone or your attention bouncing between you name it, email, slack, text messages, etc., you are missing out on life right in front of you and the sacred relationship with self and others.

If you want even more ideas of simple, practical, and accessible mindfulness make sure you grab the new Simple Mindfulness guide. It’s free and includes ten practices that can each be done in less than five minutes.

Download SImple Mindfulness

If you’re eager to dive into more of how mindfulness and Pause can support you, or your team, let’s connect.

Find Your Pause. Find Mindfulness.

PS: If you haven’t read the first two in this Finding Mindfulness series you can catch up now: Myths of Mindfulness & Why the heck is change so hard? And installment four is coming up!