How to Increase Focus to Maximize Performance

We all have those days...days where focus seems impossible and productivity is at an all time low. Chris Bailey, author of the book Hyperfocus, walks us through some of his insights into taking charge of our attention to achieve a greater sense of purpose and productivity.

? Train yourself to enjoy hyperfocus more. Try to give your undivided attention to the task at hand. Don't multitask and avoid opening social media accounts, eliminating all possible distractions.

?Meta-awareness and intentional focus are key to managing your attention. Your brain picks up about eleven MILLION bits of information every second, but only 40 pieces of information can be consciously processed at one time. That's narrowed down even further to only seven bits of information retained in your short-term memory. Meta-awareness refers to your ability to step outside of your own thoughts and become aware of what you're thinking. Set an alarm for once an hour and when it goes off, check in with our attentional space to see where you focus was at that time. This will help guide the information retained in your short-term memory.

? Achieve hyperfocus by ridding your environment of distractions. Rather than trying to resist distractions (think phone notifications, email notifications, etc.), scrutinize your environment ahead of time and identify anything that could be stimulating or appealing. Then remove it!

? While hyperfocus is a powerful tool, its counterpart is scatterfocus. Scatterfocus helps you plan and think creatively. While hyperfocus helps you tend to tasks in the present, scatterfocus addresses the future. There are three specific types of thinking with scatterfocus: capture mode, problem-crunching mode, and habitual mode. Capture mode involves sitting down with a pen and paper and writing down all the thoughts that turn up. By making note of these thoughts, you tie up important loose ends and can free your mind to more important matters. Problem-crunching mode involves holding a single issue in your mind and letting your thoughts circle it, searching for new angles, ideas, and solutions. Habitual mode comes into play when you perform a simple, repetitive task, like washing dishes...engaging part of your brains but still leaving ample space for reflection.

?Scatterfocus can help connect the dots between seemingly unrelated bits of information and lead to novel ideas and creative breakthroughs due to something called the Zeigarnik Effect. The Zeigarnik Effect is the ability of your mind to work away at a problem in the background of your mind when you leave a problem unresolved. If you encounter a relevant piece of information, your brain has the ability to unconsciously slot it into the equation. Write down your current unresolved issues and review it frequently. You'd be surprised at the new solutions that may come up!

By comingling scatterfocus and hyperfocus, you can reset your brain and figure out new solutions to incomplete thoughts you have. Try utilizing these tactics and see your focus turn around!