How to stop distractions every 5 minutes and focus on important tasks

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

An excerpt from a book by a productivity specialist who has tried concentration techniques on himself and chose the most effective ones.

Hyperfocus is the ability to devote your time and attention to a single issue or project. In Hyperfocus: How I Learned to Do More with Less Time, Chris Bailey explains how many things you need to plan for the day to get things done successfully, how to choose the most important tasks from a list of tasks, and eliminate any distractions.

Hyperfocus implies many things at the same time: it is a conscious state, when we are not distracted, quickly restore concentration and completely immerse ourselves in work.

We are publishing an excerpt from Chapter 3, The Power of Hyperfocus, which explains how to enter the hyper focus state and choose the right focus to focus on.

Four stages of hyper focus

At any given moment, you are focused either on the external environment, or on the thoughts in your head, or on both at the same time. If you are only concerned with the external environment, it means that you are living in autopilot mode. You enter this state while waiting for a traffic light or endlessly switching between the same applications on your smartphone. If you are occupied only with your own thoughts, then you are immersed in dreams. This can happen if you decide to walk without your phone, are thinking about something in the shower, or go for a run.

To enter into a state of hyper focus, you need to connect to your own thoughts and to the external environment and consciously direct all this to the solution of one problem.

In this respect, hyper focus precedes the state that Mihai Csikszentmihalyi calls “flow” - when we are completely immersed in our business and time flies much faster. As Csikszentmihalyi explains in his book Flow, in this state, "everything else seems to be irrelevant to us." This is another reason why it is absolutely imperative to focus on just one thing: the chances of entering flow states grow exponentially when multiple objects are not competing for our limited attention. Hyperfocus is the process that brings us into the flow.

How to enter the hyper focus state

According to scientific research, when we concentrate, we go through four stages. We are focused (and productive) at first. Then, if we ourselves do not switch to something else and if they do not interfere with us, thoughts begin to disperse. In the third stage, we notice that we are thinking about extraneous things. It can take a long time until this moment, especially if we do not have the habit of regularly checking what fills the space of attention. (On average, we notice that we think about extraneous things, about five times an hour.) And in the fourth stage, we return to the original object of attention.

The four stages of hyper focus are based on this diagram.

To enter the hyper focus state, you must:

1. Choose a productive or meaningful object of attention.
2. Eliminate as many external and internal distractions as possible.
3. Focus on the chosen object of attention.
4. Constantly return to this object and focus on it again.

Making a decision on what we plan to focus on is the most important step, because the more productive and meaningful the task, the more productive and meaningful your actions become. For example, if you decide to focus on training a new employee, automating a repetitive action, or brainstorming a new product launch, you will be infinitely more productive than working in autopilot mode.

The same idea applies in the home circle: the more meaningful the object of your attention, the more meaningful your whole life. We reap the benefits of hyper focus by forming very simple intentions - for example, to fully immerse ourselves in a conversation with a loved one or to enjoy a family dinner as much as possible. We learn more, remember more and analyze our actions better. As a result, our lives take on more meaning.

The first absolutely necessary step to hyper focus is intention, which must precede attention.

The next step is to eliminate as many internal and external distractions as possible. There is a simple reason why we fall prey to them: at some point, distractions become more attractive objects of attention than things we really need to do. This is true both at work and at home. Alerts of new letters that appear in the corner of a computer monitor usually seduce us more than the work we are doing in another window, and the TV behind the interlocutor's back in the pub becomes more attractive than the actual conversation.

Distractions are much easier to deal with in advance - by the time they appear, it is often too late to defend your intentions against them. Interference needs to be neutralized too - including arbitrary (and sometimes embarrassing) memories and thoughts that pop into our heads as we try to focus, mental resistance to unattractive tasks (such as filing a tax return or cleaning the garage), and simply the urge to think about different things. things when we would like to focus on one.

Thirdly, hyper focus becomes possible when we concentrate on a selected object of attention for a predetermined period of time. This means that we have a plan to immerse ourselves in work for a certain period of time, which is both convenient and possible for us. The more carefully we work on the first two stages, the better and more confidently we will cope with the task at this stage.

Finally, fourthly, hyperfocus is needed in order to return attention to the original object when the mind begins to wander. I will repeat this statement more than once, because it is among the most important ideas of this book: according to research, our thoughts scatter to the sides 47% of the time. In other words, if we are awake for 18 hours, then during only eight of them we are immersed in current tasks. It is normal for thoughts to drift off to the side, but it is important to bring them back in order to spend time and attention on the objects that are in front of us.

In addition, it takes 22 minutes to return to the current task after being interrupted or interrupted. And if we ourselves are distracted or interrupted, then it takes us already 29 minutes to return to work on the original task.

The more often we evaluate what exactly occupies the space of attention, the sooner we can get back on track.

But don't worry too much about this for now - we'll discuss it in detail later.

The idea of hyper focus can be summarized in one sentence: as you work, keep your attention on one important and complex object.

Choosing what to focus on

Attention without intention is a waste of energy. Attention must always be preceded by intention - moreover, they are perfectly combined. Once you have formulated your intention, you can decide how to spend your time; by focusing on the task, we are able to cope with it effectively. The best way to be more productive is to choose what you want to achieve before you start.

When forming intentions, it is important to remember that not all work tasks are created equal. Some make it possible to achieve an incredible amount of every minute spent. This includes goals such as planning the main tasks you want to accomplish during the day, training a new employee who joined the team a month ago, and working on a book that you have been writing for several years. These tasks fall into the “necessary” and “focused” categories, which we discussed in Chapter 1. It’s easy to relate work in these sectors to unnecessary and distracting activities such as attending useless meetings, reading social media feeds, and constantly checking email. see which is more productive. If you do not choose which sectors to spend time on, the autopilot mode is activated.

This does not mean that you cannot somehow get out of the situation, operating in the autopilot mode. By responding to all the work tasks that come in, you can keep most of them under control and remain productive enough not to lose your job. But the autopilot does not allow much progress in work. I suspect you are not being paid for the fact that you, as a mail sorter, send letters, conversations and messages in messengers in the right directions as they come. We sometimes have to do this, as well as react to incoming unforeseen requests. But whenever possible, you should actively choose what you want to spend time and attention on.

After researching attention and intention over the years, I've developed several daily exercises that help you set a goal. Here are three of my favorite exercises.

1. The rule of three

If you are already familiar with my texts, this section can probably be skipped diagonally. If not, let me introduce the Rule of Three. Start your day by choosing three tasks that you want to complete by the evening.

We need a to-do list to detail the upcoming actions, and these three intentions need to be directed to the most important tasks.

I've done this every morning since I heard about this rule years ago from Jay Dee Meier, Microsoft's director of digital transformation. The rule looks deceivingly simple. Determining everything at the beginning of the day

three main tasks for you, you achieve several goals. You decide what's important and what's not important now - the constraints imposed by the rule show what matters most to you. In addition, the rule gives you some flexibility during the day. If it is packed with meetings, this may determine their volume and content, and a free day can be devoted to more important and less urgent matters. If unforeseen circumstances and projects arise, it will be possible to revise the order of new and existing plans. Since the three tasks fit well into the attention space, you can remember your original intentions with relative ease.

Be sure to keep your top three tasks in view - I jot them down on a big whiteboard in my office or, if I'm away, above the to-do list for the day that OneNote syncs between my gadgets. You might find it helpful to set three tasks for the week, and also choose three daily non-work tasks, such as not thinking about work during dinner, going to the gym in the evening, or collecting receipts for your tax return.

2. Tasks with maximum impact

The second rule of thumb in determining intentions, which helps me a lot, is deciding which things on my to-do list have the greatest impact.

If you are used to making a to-do list (and I highly recommend it, and I'll tell you below how it can be useful), think for a second about the consequences of each of them, both short-term and long-term. The top challenges on this list are those that will lead to the most significant positive outcomes.

What will change in the world - or in your work and life if you take the time to complete each of the points? What task, like a dropped domino in a long row, will set off a chain reaction and ultimately lead to an impressive result?

Another way to assess the situation: when deciding what to do, think not only about the immediate consequences of your actions, but also about the influence of the second and third order. For example, you decide whether to order the Anthill cake for dessert. The immediate consequence of this decision is the pleasure of eating the sweet. But the consequences of the second and third order can be very sad - for example, you will then feel terrible, or gain weight, or break the prescribed diet.

This is a powerful idea worth learning well, especially since many important tasks are often not the ones that seem most urgent and productive at a given moment. For example, writing a handbook for new hires might not seem as rewarding as responding to a dozen emails, but a handbook will shorten the onboarding time of new hires, make them feel welcome, and increase productivity. This means that this is a task with maximum consequences. These tasks can be automating a repetitive process that annoys you, assigning roles in an ongoing project, or preparing a program that allows employees to share knowledge.

If you have a lot of to-do lists, ask yourself which ones will lead to the most important consequences?

This exercise works well when combined with four groups of cases. Once you place them in the necessary, purposeful, distracting and unimportant sectors, ask yourself: which of the necessary and purposeful activities can set off a chain reaction?

3. The hourly signal to awareness

Defining three intentions for the day and prioritizing the tasks with the most important consequences is a great way to get focused every day and every week. But are you sure that you are acting consciously at every moment of time?

When it comes to productivity, these moments are paramount - it’s useless to set goals and formulate goals if you don’t do anything to implement them during the day. My favorite way to control that I'm sticking to my goals is to check as often as possible what is taking up my attention space. This lets me know if I'm focusing on important things that have serious consequences, or if I'm slipping into autopilot mode. To do this, I use the hourly awareness signal.

One of the key ideas of Hyperfocus is not to reproach yourself too much if you do notice that your thoughts are wandering somewhere. This is inevitable, so consider these moments as an opportunity to assess how you are feeling and chart a path to your next challenge. Research has shown that we are more likely to notice that we’re distracted when we reward ourselves for it.

Even if you eliminate one or two distractions or formulate one or two tasks for the day, your results will already be better than most.

If we are in any way similar, the hourly signal to awareness will show that you are usually not engaged in anything important or with long-term consequences. This is normal - and even expected.

The important thing is that you can regularly check what is currently taking up the space of your attention. Set up an hourly signal on your phone, watch, or other device - and it's the most productive hindrance of your day.

When the hourly chime sounds, ask yourself:

• Was your mind occupied with extraneous thoughts when the signal for awareness sounded?
• Are you on autopilot or are you busy with a perceived task? (Over time, as the situation with awareness improves, this will give a lot of reasons to feel satisfied.)
• Are you immersed in productive activities? If so, how much time did you spend focusing on it? (If this has been a solid amount of time, don't let the signal for awareness knock you off course - keep working!)
• Which of the tasks you might be working on now has the greatest positive impact? Are you working on it?
• How full is your attention space? If it's already overcrowded, do you have additional attention resources?
• Are there any distractions getting in the way of your hyper focus?

You don't have to answer all of these questions - pick three or two that you find most helpful and will allow you to focus on the important things again. If you answer them every hour, the quality of attention will increase in all three areas: you will be able to focus better because you will notice distractions on the horizon and prevent their influence; You will more often notice that thoughts have gone to the side, and you will be able to focus again; Over time, you will spend most of your day doing focused work.

When you first start practicing this, you may find that you often go into autopilot mode, get distracted and waste time on insignificant and misleading things. It's OK! At such times, you need to change the trajectory of your thoughts and move on to a more productive task, dealing with the distractions that got in your way. If you find yourself regularly distracted by the same things, make a plan to deal with the problem. (We'll deal with this in the next chapter.)

Pick one business day this week and try setting the hourly signal. It can be annoying at first, but over time, you will develop a valuable new habit. If you don't like the idea of a cue, try other external stimuli that will make you see what is taking up your attention space. I no longer use the hourly signal to mindfulness, although it was the most effective method for me at first. Now I consider the space of attention several times at predetermined moments: every time I go to the toilet, when I go to get water or tea, or when the phone rings. (I answer after a few rings, realizing what's on my mind.)

Chris Bailey is a Canadian writer and creator of the A Life of Productivity project. After graduating from university, he devoted a whole year to studying productivity. During this time, Chris talked to dozens of experts, read many scientific articles and set up several experiments on himself in order to understand how you can get the most out of your capabilities. Every day Chris wrote a report on what he had learned in his blog. In Hyperfocus: How I Learned To Do More With Less Time, he shares techniques and exercises he has tried himself.