Authored by NLI Staff These days, our beleaguered brains could use some help. So weve collected our most insightful reads on how you can stay focused day to day.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” type=”legacy”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”true” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_sizes_top=”” border_sizes_bottom=”” border_sizes_left=”” border_sizes_right=”” type=”1_1″ first=”true”][fusion_text]Current events, controversies, crises, a global pandemic—it all weighs on us. And the daily cocktail of uncertainty taxes our cognitive abilities to the point of exhaustion.
With everything going on, it’s important to remember that we can choose how we respond to uncertainty. What’s more we can respond in such a way as to remain effective, despite the headwinds.
Accordingly, we’ve compiled three of our most insightful and important reads to help you and your team remain focused and resilient.
While 2020 has hardly been a predictable year, our brains react to threat in predictable ways.
Research has shown that our brains—and, in turn, bodies—react to perceived threats according to their legitimacy and immediacy. For example, consider the difference between seeing a hurricane warning on the news, and seeing the hurricane out your window. The more threat we experience, the fewer resources we have to commit to actually thinking.
Knowing this, there are practical measures to manage our mindset in order to remain alert, yet focused. At NLI, we call these measures buffers. Buffers are anchored in the science of social threat and reward, an area of research defined in NLI’s SCARF Model®. Buffers can help us mitigate threats and manage our mindset day to day.
To explore the science of threat more fully, and understand what you can do to mitigate it, check out our recent blog post.
Massive global events like pandemics, wars, and economic crises can understandably make it hard to concentrate Your mind fixates on the endless stream of unsettling news instead of your work and studies Uncertainty and fear creep in, eroding your ability to focus. How can you stay mentally engaged when the world feels like it’s in turmoil?
While you can’t fully tune out major world events, you can take back control over your mindset and daily habits. Implementing certain lifestyle practices and adjustments can help you concentrate better amid the chaos. Here are 9 research-backed tips for maintaining focus and productivity even when things feel out of your control:
1. Evaluate Your Sleep Habits
Stress and anxiety from current events can disrupt your sleep. Without adequate rest, your brain lacks the downtime it needs to recharge. This foggy mental state makes concentrating incredibly difficult.
Aim for 7-8 hours per night of quality sleep. Go to bed and wake up at consistent times. Limit exposure to screens before bed. Create a relaxing pre-sleep routine like reading. Your ability to focus depends heavily on getting sufficient sleep.
2. Work in Bursts
When anxious thoughts intrude, stay laser-focused feels impossible. You constantly get sidetracked. Breaking work into short, intense bursts can sharpen your concentration.
Set a timer for 25-30 minutes. Avoid distractions and focus solely on your task. When the timer goes off, take a 5 minute break before your next “burst.” This structure minimizes mental fatigue.
3. Create Boundaries
Set boundaries around consuming news. Constantly monitoring the latest disturbing updates makes functioning normally impossible.
Check news at specific times, not 24/7 Put away smartphones and social media during work and family time Limit conversations about crises. Boundaries prevent endless anxiety loops so you can focus.
4. Establish a Morning Routine
Start each day on a calm, consistent note with a thoughtful morning routine. This could include:
- Meditation or prayer
- Journaling
- Exercising
- Making breakfast
This habit centers you before work chaos sets in. It also improves wellbeing during turbulent times.
5. Experiment with Focus Tools
Try tools to improve concentration like
- Noise-cancelling headphones to minimize distractions
- Apps that block social media and limit phone use
- Nature sounds or music while working to promote calm
- Fidget toys for restless hands while studying
See what focus aids help you zone in and try different combinations.
6. Take Time for Yourself
Carving out time for self-care is essential. Engage in hobbies that soothe your mind like gardening, reading, crafting, playing music, and spending time outdoors. Move your body through walking, stretching, dance. Don’t neglect your needs.
7. Find Community
Connect with supportive people who energize you, especially those facing similar challenges. Share strategies that help you cope. Feelings of isolation exacerbate stress. Finding community fosters resilience.
8. Be Proactive
Channel anxious energy into positive actions, big or small. Get involved with a cause. Check on neighbors who may need assistance. Write to elected officials. Support local businesses. Taking purposeful steps creates a sense of empowerment.
9. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation helps calm the mind’s anxieties and distractions. Start with 5 minutes per day. Focus on your breath while letting thoughts and feelings pass without judgment. Over time, incorporate mindful pauses into your day. This boosts focus.
Staying Grounded in Tumultuous Times
Global events can jolt us out of our sense of normalcy. Concentrating becomes tremendously difficult. While turmoil feels out of your control, you have power over your daily habits and mindset.
Make adequate rest, mindfulness, self-care, and routine your priorities. Limit consumption of upsetting news. Seek community support. Take purposeful actions. With these practices, you can maintain focus and continue moving forward even during the most challenging times.
Honor Your Cognitive Capacity
We all can only do so much. Just as a sponge can only soak up so much water, and a computer can only process so much information, our brains have finite holding power.
Research from NLI can help organizations understand these limits of our mind—a concept known as cognitive capacity—and work within them for successful problem-solving, optimal learning, and effective communication.
Designing your people strategies around this core science can alleviate the demand on people’s brains, while maximizing their efficiency and avoiding burnout.
To dive deeper into the science of cognitive capacity, check out our recent blog post on the science of cognitive capacity, or this post with helpful tips to manage your own.
Things are moving fast, and don’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. Use these strategies to adapt your brain, your team, and your organization to the new normal.
Be Optimistic and Realistic
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary leadership, like that exhibited by Vice Admiral James Stockdale when he spent seven years as a prisoner of war in one of North Vietnam’s most brutal camps during the Vietnam war.
His mindset and leadership style, later popularized by Jim Collins in Good to Great, demanded striking a paradoxical balance between realism and optimism; acknowledging the peril of the circumstances while maintaining the belief that things will get better.
This mindset allowed Stockdale to take steps to make his, and other people’s, situations a little better, by taking steps to reduce the overall pain of the experience, often in subtle ways.
Read more about Stockdale’s extraordinary story, and how you can develop his adaptive mindset in our blog post or our article in ATD.
