How to improve your focus for 2022

While many writing bloggers are currently addressing burning issues like best new year's resolutions, I'm taking a slightly different tack. I’m writing about how to increase your focus when the entire world apparently wants you to be at the gym.

Why? Simple. People who are good at focusing get more done in less time. In other words, you’ll be able to take more time off during future holidays if you accomplish more during those times when you’re working.

Moreover, our society desperately needs better focus right now. With Facebook, Twitter and email constantly distracting us, and the threat of COVID news thrumming in the background, we’ve lost the ability the concentrate. And most of our workplaces don’t help with their constant interruptions. A study of tech workers by the University of California at Irvine found that participants could work on a project for only 11 minutes before being interrupted. Worse, it took these workers 25 minutes to regain their focus after each interruption. You can read about the study in a fascinating New York Times article by Clive Thompson.

If you want to improve your focus, here are five steps you can take:

1-Turn off your technology as much as possible. I now choose to keep my email shut off for most of the day. Wow! What a change this action has made to my life. I feel less stressed and less distracted. (I used to collect my email manually, which meant I had to monitor my own collection habits, which veered towards the obsessive — as in, collecting every six minutes — whenever I became tired or bored. ) Now I try to collect email no more than several times a day. This makes me way more effective.

I’ve also stopped checking Facebook. (Haven’t totally shut down my account because I want to be in touch with family members if necessary.) And I restrict my Twitter activity to 10 minutes per day, at the end of my day. Also, I now lock my cellphone in my desk. A 2017 study in The Journal of the Association of Consumer Research found that even if your phone is powered off, and even if you’re successfully ignoring it, its mere existence reduces your cognitive capacity. Yikes!

2-Aggressively manage expectations around your communications habits. Many clients tell me that their bosses expect them to be 100% available all the time. With a little probing, I usually find out that they have put this expectation on themselves. Instead of assuming you need to be available 24/7, ask your boss to set some priorities for you. Also, remind them that if they want you to write, you need uninterrupted time to do that task. Negotiate some writing windows (start with a minimum of 30 minutes) when you aren’t going to be responsible for checking your email or responding to phone calls or texts. And if you’re self-employed, then carve out these times for yourself. You’re your own boss now; don’t be an unrealistic one!

3-Keep your workplace uncluttered. Clutter competes for our attention, increases stress and decreases performance. If you don’t have time to organize your desk right now, sweep the top of it into a box and organize it later. I have a big wire basket into which I place all my papers for filing and sorting, which I do once a week.

4-Take more breaks and go outside more. Many people feel guilty about taking breaks, but these breaks are so important for writers, I don’t think we should call them breaks. We should call them ‘planning sessions’ or ‘recovery periods.’ It’s the downtime and the time off that allows us to engage the creative parts of our brains so necessary for writing. Better yet, to make the most of this downtime, get outside, into nature. Head to the nearest park where you can see plants and trees. This greenery (even if it's covered in snow!) is nurturing.

5-Set priorities about what you want to achieve. Many of my clients complain that when they try to write, all hell breaks loose and they just don’t have the time. I get it! But the way around this problem is to write before all hell breaks loose. I like to write for 5 to 30 minutes every morning, before you do anything else. Always do the important before the urgent. The critical nature of the urgent work will be enough to keep you focused on it in the afternoon when your attention is more likely to flag. Give your mornings to the important work — your own goals and objectives, the tasks that are going to make your life better or help your career — when you have the most energy and attention.

All work and no play makes for very dull writers. So, I am NOT suggesting you do nothing but work. Instead, I’m saying that when you work, improve your focus so you can make that work as productive as possible. That adjustment will leave you with more time for the fun things in life.

This post first appeared on The Publication Coach blog.