Scattered Focus is when you are trying to switch between tasks at a time, trying to multitask. Directed Focus means focusing on just one thing at a time.How to Avoid Scattered Focus?<ol><li>Remove all distractions</li><li>Use the Pomodoro technique and Take frequent breaks</li><li>Get proper sleep, Stay hydrated, and exercise</li><li>Start improving concentration even for as less as 5 minutes a day</li><li>Make a daily routine </li></ol>Our brain is extremely bad at switching between tasks. Concentration is like a muscle, the more you train it, the more it improves.

Why you can't Focus - And How to Fix that

<figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*JzzFmDXEk8E-EyZ-9jjx9w" width="680" height="453"><figcaption class="gl gm fi fg fh gn go be b bf bg cc" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Image by <a class="dx gp" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1209823" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">Free-Photos</a> from <a class="dx gp" href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1209823" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">Pixabay</a></figcaption></figure>The ability to focus is almost like a superpower, and the individuals who can focus get so much more done. There are many areas where you can benefit from better concentration, for example, school, work, while studying or doing a hobby. If you can focus, you can get your desired results faster. But what are the things that are holding us back from focusing, and is it possible to target these areas to improve your focus?<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">Scattered vs directed focus</h1>We have two types of focus: scattered focus and directed focus. Scattered focus is when we distribute our attention widely. This is typically seen in multitaskers, who are trying to juggle several activities at the same time — checking their phone while watching television and at the same time cooking dinner. Scattered focus can also be when someone is doing one activity, but thinking about something else at the same time. They’re never entirely focused on the activity they’re doing because their mind is somewhere else.When you divide your attention towards many different things, it comes at a cost. The problem is that the brain is extremely bad at switching between tasks. When you switch from one task to another, it’s not an instant switch. Your mind needs to load the context of what you were doing into your working memory before you get fully into the task again. If you’re constantly shifting your attention between tasks, you’re forcing your brain to load and reload the context all the time. A lot of energy is wasted, simply switching between tasks and trying to get back into it. This is leaving you exhausted without getting much done.Directed focus, on the other hand, is achieved by directing your attention to a single task, and ignoring everything else. This is your aim, and it’s how high-performers direct their focus. They focus on one thing at a time, very intensely while ignoring any other stimuli.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">How to avoid scattered focus?</h1>You should remove all distractions and stimuli that can potentially interfere with your ability to focus on your one task. When you start a task, you can imagine that you’re able to direct all your focus on that task. But, let’s say your partner enters the room while you’re studying, and tells you that dinner will be ready in an hour. Even if you were very concentrated and that interaction lasted just a few seconds, your attention is now divided. Dinner will now be on your mind, and your focus is not as good as it was before. After the disturbance, it takes some time to regain your focus, and you’ll waste some valuable mental energy.The number one enemy of focus is usually carried around by most of us, all the time. It’s our phone. The phone is the best anti-focus machine there is. It’s doing whatever it can to steal your attention. It rings. It vibrates. And it makes sounds whenever there’s a notification. This is all it takes to take your mind off the thing you were working on. Even when you’re phone is on silent, you’re very likely to take a quick look at it whenever you’re bored, also dividing your attention.This means that whenever you want to fully concentrate on something, you should put your phone away and in a location where you can’t easily reach for it and let it disturb you. The phone is not the only thing that can disturb you, but it’s the most typical offender. If you have other things in your environment that disturb you, it’s essential to think of ways that you may eliminate or avoid these distractions.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">Physiology</h1>Your physiology can affect your ability to focus. If you want your mind to function optimally, you need to take care of your body. Sleeping well, exercising, hydrating and nutrition are all essential factors.If you’re sleeping under seven hours per day, it negatively affects your concentration. Getting between seven to nine hours of sleep leads to a better ability to perform cognitively demanding tasks.Exercise also affects your ability to focus and should be done daily. You don’t necessarily need to practice for hours. A brisk walk for 20–30 minutes, and preferably in nature, can do wonders. This activity improves your ability to focus on difficult tasks.Hydration and nutrition are crucial for performance. Not drinking enough water or eating food that makes you tired is detrimental for your ability to focus. If you want to improve your ability to focus, it’s essential to take care of your body.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">How to build your focus?</h1>Concentration is a skill that can be improved like any other skill. You can train your focus as you would do for a sport. The more you focus, the better you get at it. When you start, you may be able to concentrate for only five minutes. But when you do that day after day, you’ll improve and increase the amount you can focus at a time, and you’ll be able to concentrate for longer periods. If you can’t concentrate for hours at a time now, you can get there by building up the focus muscle gradually over time.The best way to build this skill is to have a specific block of time every day that you dedicate to focus intensely on just one task. In this way, you can make concentration a habit. Instead of waiting for the time when the planets are perfectly aligned, and you feel motivated to do something, it is better to just have a specific time every day when you know you’ll concentrate on one thing for as long you can.The best time to focus is in the morning, about an hour after we wake up. That’s when we are fully awake, and our minds are not yet occupied with other things. To focus in the afternoon is often more difficult, as we have been thinking about many other things during the day and spent energy in many different directions.If you try to direct your attention to a cognitively hard task, such as studying, it’s often difficult to be fully focused. Your mind will be occupied with many other things. If you want to focus during the afternoon, it’s therefore essential to un-stimulate your brain first. This can be done by taking a proper break, where you don’t stimulate your mind.Scattered and directed focus both require energy, and they’re using energy from the same limited pool of accessible energy. When this pool is depleted, which usually happens at some point of the day, it’s tough to focus on cognitively demanding tasks. To be able to do these tasks later in the day, it’s essential to first replenish your energy supply.This is best done by completely tuning out, for example, by going for a walk in nature, meditating or taking a nap. Activities such as checking your social media or watching television are not great for refueling your energy levels, as these activities still require you to pay attention. This means you’re using up some off the energy you’re trying to refill. If you’re still stimulating your brain and using your mind, you can’t recharge it. Giving your brain a break is the best solution.Taking breaks is also essential for continuing to have directed focus. This is an activity that requires a lot of energy. It can, therefore, be beneficial to take a break for 15 minutes every hour or so. A small snack can also help you stay focused at this point. In those 15 minutes, it’s essential that you totally relax, it’s not for doing other stimulating tasks. Going for a short walk can be a good activity.Using the Pomodoro technique is an excellent way to increase your capacity to focus. You can set a timer for 25 minutes, where you concentrate on just one task. Then you take a five-minute break. You keep doing this for as long as you can regain full focus. At this point, it’s usually time for a longer break. Over time you can extend the period you focus, to say 45–60 minutes and then take a 5–15-minute break. The exact number of minutes isn’t that important. The crucial point is that you pick an amount of time that you’re able to maintain your focus.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">Take Home Message</h1><UL><LI>There are two types of focus: scattered and directed focus. Scattered focus is trying to do many things at the same time, and is very inefficient. Directed focus means focusing on one specific task at a time.</LI><LI>The best way to avoid scattered focus is to avoid distractions. Every time you get distracted, it takes time and energy to get back into what you were doing.</LI><LI>Take care of your body. By sleeping well, exercising, hydrating and eating well, it becomes a lot easier to stay focused.</LI><LI>Concentration is a skill. It can be trained and improved like any other skill.</LI><LI>Make focus a daily habit. Create a block every day where you stay focused.</LI><LI>Un-stimulate your brain. Go for a walk or take a nap to restore your energy levels.</LI><LI>Take regular breaks, to be able to refocus and stay focused for longer.</LI></UL>Thanks for reading, sharing and following! :)If you liked this article, you may also enjoy:

You have a limited stock of energy, utilize it the right way and see the benefits. Focus on one thing and be the best at it, rather than focusing on a lot of things and never really achieving them.

The ability to focus is almost like a superpower, and the individuals who can focus get so much more done. There are many areas where you can benefit from better concentration, for example, school…

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Productivity

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Personal Development

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Health

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Time Management

The ability to focus is almost like a superpower, and the individuals who can focus get so much more done. There are many areas where you can benefit from better concentration, for example, school, work, while studying or doing a hobby. If you can focus, you can get your desired results faster. But what are the things that are holding us back from focusing, and is it possible to target these areas to improve your focus?

We have two types of focu s: scattered focus and directed focus. Scattered focus is when we distribute our attention widely. This is typically seen in multitaskers, who are trying to juggle several activities at the same time — checking their phone while watching television and at the same time cooking dinner. Scattered focus can also be when someone is doing one activity, but thinking about something else at the same time. They’re never entirely focused on the activity they’re doing because their mind is somewhere else.

When you divide your attention towards many different things, it comes at a cost. The problem is that the brain is extremely bad at switching between tasks. When you switch from one task to another, it’s not an instant switch. Your mind needs to load the context of what you were doing into your working memory before you get fully into the task again. If you’re constantly shifting your attention between tasks, you’re forcing your brain to load and reload the context all the time. A lot of energy is wasted, simply switching between tasks and trying to get back into it. This is leaving you exhausted without getting much done.

Directed focus, on the other hand, is achieved by directing your attention to a single task, and ignoring everything else. This is your aim, and it’s how high-performers direct their focus. They focus on one thing at a time, very intensely while ignoring any other stimuli.

You should remove all distractions and stimuli that can potentially interfere with your ability to focus on your one task. When you start a task, you can imagine that you’re able to direct all your focus on that task. But, let’s say your partner enters the room while you’re studying, and tells you that dinner will be ready in an hour. Even if you were very concentrated and that interaction lasted just a few seconds, your attention is now divided. Dinner will now be on your mind, and your focus is not as good as it was before. After the disturbance, it takes some time to regain your focus, and you’ll waste some valuable mental energy.

The number one enemy of focus is usually carried around by most of us, all the time. It’s our phone. The phone is the best anti-focus machine there is. It’s doing whatever it can to steal your attention. It rings. It vibrates. And it makes sounds whenever there’s a notification. This is all it takes to take your mind off the thing you were working on. Even when you’re phone is on silent, you’re very likely to take a quick look at it whenever you’re bored, also dividing your attention.

This means that whenever you want to fully concentrate on something, you should put your phone away and in a location where you can’t easily reach for it and let it disturb you. The phone is not the only thing that can disturb you, but it’s the most typical offender. If you have other things in your environment that disturb you, it’s essential to think of ways that you may eliminate or avoid these distractions.

Your physiology can affect your ability to focus. If you want your mind to function optimally, you need to take care of your body. Sleeping well, exercising, hydrating and nutrition are all essential factors.

If you’re sleeping under seven hours per day, it negatively affects your concentration. Getting between seven to nine hours of sleep leads to a better ability to perform cognitively demanding tasks.

Exercise also affects your ability to focus and should be done daily. You don’t necessarily need to practice for hours. A brisk walk for 20–30 minutes, and preferably in nature, can do wonders. This activity improves your ability to focus on difficult tasks.

Hydration and nutrition are crucial for performance. Not drinking enough water or eating food that makes you tired is detrimental for your ability to focus. If you want to improve your ability to focus, it’s essential to take care of your body.

Concentration is a skill that can be improved like any other skill. You can train your focus as you would do for a sport. The more you focus, the better you get at it. When you start, you may be able to concentrate for only five minutes. But when you do that day after day, you’ll improve and increase the amount you can focus at a time, and you’ll be able to concentrate for longer periods. If you can’t concentrate for hours at a time now, you can get there by building up the focus muscle gradually over time.

The best way to build this skill is to have a specific block of time every day that you dedicate to focus intensely on just one task. In this way, you can make concentration a habit. Instead of waiting for the time when the planets are perfectly aligned, and you feel motivated to do something, it is better to just have a specific time every day when you know you’ll concentrate on one thing for as long you can.

The best time to focus is in the morning, about an hour after we wake up. That’s when we are fully awake, and our minds are not yet occupied with other things. To focus in the afternoon is often more difficult, as we have been thinking about many other things during the day and spent energy in many different directions.

If you try to direct your attention to a cognitively hard task, such as studying, it’s often difficult to be fully focused. Your mind will be occupied with many other things. If you want to focus during the afternoon, it’s therefore essential to un-stimulate your brain first. This can be done by taking a proper break, where you don’t stimulate your mind.

Scattered and directed focus both require energy, and they’re using energy from the same limited pool of accessible energy. When this pool is depleted, which usually happens at some point of the day, it’s tough to focus on cognitively demanding tasks. To be able to do these tasks later in the day, it’s essential to first replenish your energy supply.

This is best done by completely tuning out, for example, by going for a walk in nature, meditating or taking a nap. Activities such as checking your social media or watching television are not great for refueling your energy levels, as these activities still require you to pay attention. This means you’re using up some off the energy you’re trying to refill. If you’re still stimulating your brain and using your mind, you can’t recharge it. Giving your brain a break is the best solution.

Taking breaks is also essential for continuing to have directed focus. This is an activity that requires a lot of energy. It can, therefore, be beneficial to take a break for 15 minutes every hour or so. A small snack can also help you stay focused at this point. In those 15 minutes, it’s essential that you totally relax, it’s not for doing other stimulating tasks. Going for a short walk can be a good activity.

Using the Pomodoro technique is an excellent way to increase your capacity to focus. You can set a timer for 25 minutes, where you concentrate on just one task. Then you take a five-minute break. You keep doing this for as long as you can regain full focus. At this point, it’s usually time for a longer break. Over time you can extend the period you focus, to say 45–60 minutes and then take a 5–15-minute break. The exact number of minutes isn’t that important. The crucial point is that you pick an amount of time that you’re able to maintain your focus.

<ul><li>There are two types of focus: scattered and directed focus. Scattered focus is trying to do many things at the same time, and is very inefficient. Directed focus means focusing on one specific task at a time. </li><li>The best way to avoid scattered focus is to avoid distractions. Every time you get distracted, it takes time and energy to get back into what you were doing. </li><li>Take care of your body. By sleeping well, exercising, hydrating and eating well, it becomes a lot easier to stay focused. </li><li>Concentration is a skill. It can be trained and improved like any other skill. </li><li>Make focus a daily habit. Create a block every day where you stay focused. </li><li>Un-stimulate your brain. Go for a walk or take a nap to restore your energy levels. </li><li>Take regular breaks, to be able to refocus and stay focused for longer. </li> </ul>

Thanks for reading, sharing and following! :)

If you liked this article, you may also enjoy:

How to Fix Your Focus

Why you can't Focus - And How to Fix that

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