“Focus like a laser, not a flashlight.” – Michael Jordan

What would it be like to focus better than you have ever focused? Having a laser focus could make your life more efficient, effective and exhilarating.

Your Window of Focus

What is a window of focus? What would enhancing your window of focus entail?

Somewhere between being over focused and being unfocused is your window of focus. This is the place where your ability to concentrate and execute are at their very peak. We all have different sized windows of focus but there is always room for improvement.

In today’s hurried lifestyle we are fragmented in multiple directions with multiple purposes. We suffer from distraction and exhaustion that creates a divided attention and overload, which ultimately breaks or shuts down our ability to function at our best.

Being Over Focused

What creates an over focus and why is this not ideal? Something called the “switch-cost effect” ¹ occurs when we are in multitask mode, which is most of the time these days. An example would be when we are focused on work and we get a text and then we have to switch our focus. This happens over and over in modern living, under a variety of different scenarios.

The cost of the switch is the time and effort needed to refocus on what we were doing before the switch. This takes extra energy to refocus and get back to where we were before the divided attention took over. We may not even be able to get all the way back to where we were. We may have lost some of the focus we had before the switch. You may even walk into a room for something and forget what you were looking for.

The conscious mind has been called “single-minded” because it works best when only one task has our attention. In today’s world, this single-minded approach rarely happens.

Think about how many times per day you are doing only one task. You may be surprised how seldom this is the case. Our busyness puts us in multitask mode most of the time.

The cost of switching our focus constantly is that we are increasingly more fragmented and our performance is negatively affected. More importantly, switching our focus decreases our window of focus over time and this creates many of the issues we see today.

Could all this switching of our focus be creating a society that is more susceptible to attention deficits? Are we as humans conditioning ourselves to be less focused? Could our hyper-focus be contributing to a more hyper-active population?

Social Media and Focus

The instant gratification of social media and smartphones has been recognized as shortening our attention spans. The more we become addicted to the dopamine hit of instant gratification, supplied by social media and technology, the further we are drifting away from our ideal window of focus.

The most salient effect of constantly using social media is that it may eventually result in changing the way our brains will or will not function in the future. The neuroplasticity being programmed is not to our advantage but rather contraindicated in terms of improving our focus. Social media is also conducive to the problem of being unfocused.

Being Unfocused

Outside your window of focus you may also become unfocused. Obviously, we all need some respite from being over focused but being unfocused can detract from your ability to function in multiple ways. Being unable to focus has several drawbacks. Consider these: "poor decisions, careless mistakes and loss of short-term memory". And, how much do these self-induced errors of focus add to our feelings of anxiety and depression?

Multitasking and social media have put enormous pressure on your window of focus. What skills do you need to enhance this window?

Enhancing Your Window of Focus

To enhance your ability to focus you will need to eliminate distraction as much as possible. This means not giving in to all the dopamine hits that come your way. Your resistance to instant gratification will have an immediate impact on maintaining your desired focus.

A significant positive approach would be to reduce multitasking as much as possible. It does not work anyway, due to the cost of switching. Try to get back to your “single-mindedness” and focus on one task at a time. Mindfulness and meditation can assist your efforts to stay in the “now”. We only have the now anyway! These approaches will help you declutter the chaos of being bombarded with new information.

Get some quality sleep to maintain alertness. Your ability to focus is affected by your state of alertness. When you are exhausted every aspect of your potential is compromised by your flashlight instead of your laser.

Stay in-the-moment. The past is done and the future is not guaranteed. Take breaks to rejuvenate your physical and mental energy. Connect with nature when possible. By getting out of your head you activate all of your other senses and this can also renew your energy and your spirit.

All these suggestions have one thing in common. You will be training your brain to your agenda and not having your focus dictated to you through impulse. Through due diligence your window of focus will become laser sharp. You will transform your awareness from extrospection to introspection, which will enhance your capacity to take in what assists and not just what persists.

References

^{1- Hari, J. (2022). Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention. Crown Publishing Group, New York, New York.}