by Alexandra Gojowy

How do you lose your focus? Easy: You take a cute cat video, a delicious recipe for healthy brownies and a list of ten unbelievable facts, none of which you’ll remember.

Small distractions in everyday life have a big effect on our ability to concentrate. Those of us who work in an office find it even harder to stay focused. Our colleague has an important question, the kettle is boiling, our inbox is filling up, all while we’re waiting for an important phone call. Studies have shown that half of employees cannot stay focused for more than 15 minutes at a time before their work is interrupted. These studies revealed, for example, that emails are opened after only six seconds on average. This is disastrous, because it is not just our attention span that suffers from permanent distractions, but also our productivity. Once we’re distracted, it takes at least 15 minutes to get back into the workflow. However, there is also good news: the ability to concentrate is something we can develop! With a little patience and the right strategies for effective time management.

Generation goldfish?

In mid-2015, the results of a Microsoft study caused an international stir. The study focused on a highly competitive commodity: our attention in the digital age. And it is a scarce resource, because every internet user is confronted with up to 10,000 advertising messages every day alone. Sounds like an unrealistic number? That’s because most of these messages are absorbed unconsciously. So-called “banner blindness” is already a well-known problem among advertisers. Small wonder, then, that tech giants like Microsoft are interested in learning how to prepare information in ways that really make it memorable. It’s a mammoth task, because our brains literally switch off as a result of the daily overload of stimuli. According to the study, our attention span is shorter than eight seconds, which is less than that of a goldfish. The constant distraction also makes our trains of thought less coherent and frequently interrupted.

On the other hand, our brain is a true chameleon and can certainly adapt to growing demands. Thus, we unconsciously learn new strategies to cope with the increased flood of information.

Chameleon, not goldfish

Today, marketing experts are no longer convinced by the results of the study. They highlight the fact that the human brain can find it difficult to concentrate on a task, but it depends very much on the task itself. If a task is perceived as boring, the person is more easily distracted or even seeks distraction. Everyone knows how boring it is to create Excel spreadsheets or perform other tedious tasks that we like to interrupt with a short YouTube video or by checking our Instagram feed. The desktop version of WhatsApp is just as unhelpful for keeping our concentration levels high as the Slack channel with our favourite colleagues. What the study doesn’t take into account, however: People who spend a lot of time with digital media are better able to absorb relevant information and filter through large amounts of data more quickly. “Thanks to the many ways of consuming media, we have developed the ability to absorb and process more information in less time,” explains social scientist Tina Bauer.

However, there are also tasks that demand our full concentration over long periods of time. Whether it’s a master’s thesis, a research project or a tricky assignment, some challenges can only be solved by really immersing ourselves into them. Not to mention how fulfilling it can be to really lose ourselves in what we are doing – like when we spent hours stacking blocks as a child. The question is, how do you regain this ability?

The first step is to become aware of which distractions affect you the most and try to avoid them. In the following section, we will show you some methods for getting your concentration back.

Set time blocks

In order to manage your time sensibly, it helps to set time blocks and, if possible, to mark them in your schedule. This way, colleagues know that you are not available for the next hour. Especially with creative tasks, such as copywriting or conceptual design, you should have the courage to make yourself unavailable – and communicate this openly to the team. Making important deadlines or intensive tasks transparent creates more understanding for productive withdrawal. You can also mute all messages and close your inbox. Those who have difficulties with their own discipline can even install website blockers for their browser, which block news websites or social media platforms for a desired period of time, for example.

Dare to monotask

Stacks of invoices, revision loops, planning after-work drinks, private messages and on top of that, the daily chores. Some days demand multi-tasking, and it’s quite tempting to give in. After all, we are trained to do as many things as possible at the same time. Men are still ridiculed these days for supposedly not being capable of multitasking. Even if that were true, we know from brain research that they should actually be admired for it, because doing too many tasks in parallel leads to stress, lowers productivity and wrecks our mood. Ask yourself what’s really important. Sometimes this means doing unpleasant tasks first in order to clear your head for other things. This also corresponds to David Allen’s “Getting Things Done (GTD)” method. It states that important tasks that can be done in a short time should be first on our to-do list. Especially those that make you uncomfortable, such as cancellations, criticism or last-minute deadline changes. It’s important to do one thing at a time and, above all, to schedule enough time for breaks.

Taking short breaks from work is definitely a good idea. However, breaks should be used as such and not for updating our social media feeds. Instead, you should get up, drink a glass of water, get some fresh air or chat with your colleagues. This technique is generally known as the Pomodoro workflow. (image: pomodoro-technique.png)

Take productive breaks

This method is about taking regular breaks. It is so successful because the fixed target of 25 minutes per session motivates you to concentrate fully on one task. After all, what’s 25 minutes? Afterwards, you can take a short break or even check your inbox. This way, you get more done in less time than if you try to divide your attention between several tasks or work for hours on end. The important thing with this method is to focus on only one task area per pomodoro. The planning phase before the actual work is at least as relevant as the work itself. If you find it difficult to filter out the most urgent tasks from the many small ones, you can fall back on a simple method: The Not-To-Do List!

Not-To-Do List

In order to start the day with more focus, it can be helpful to write a not-to-do list shortly after getting up. What sounds simple can suddenly create a lot of free time that you can then fill with more important things. What are the things you really don’t have to do? Which tasks can be done next week? Which can you delegate? Is your own pressure to perform perhaps getting in the way? It often seems easier to take on even more tasks than to refuse or delegate others! In case of doubt, delegating tasks can be just as important as postponing them. If parts of a task can be handed over to colleagues or other team members, then you can allow yourself to let go sometimes. Commitment is good, effective time management is better.

Whether goldfish or human – we need the ability to concentrate in order to carry out our daily tasks. And we are not powerless to external distractions. Organisation and planning may not sound particularly hip, but they are indispensable for having a structured working day. This way, we not only have the good feeling of having achieved something at the end of the day, but also enough time for other important things, such as a relaxing evening after work.