Boosting Attention, Focus & Concentration:
Our Mental Health App Can Help
I have yet to meet a single person who doesn’t have some kind of issues with attention, focus, or concentration. Whether we are facing challenges with distraction, procrastination, or avoiding difficult work, these issues can negatively impact our productivity, relationships, and wellbeing.
Maybe we find ourselves talking to friends instead of doing work. Or maybe we get caught checking a text on our phones when we should be paying attention in the middle of a conversation. There are so many potential distractions competing for our attention: our smartphones, our email, our to-do list, other people’s demands on us, our work obligations, the list goes on.
The more information competing for our attention, the more our stress and overwhelm increases, and our focus gets even worse. This deepening spiral of focus and stress affects most of us, decreasing our productivity and happiness. It's also important to understand that attention, focus, and concentration are actually all a bit different, and how to improve each of them.
Growing up with ADHD, I consider myself an expert in helping people to focus after learning how to improve my own challenges with attention. As a therapist and peak performance coach, I help my clients to build their focus and concentration, and implement strategies for decreasing the challenges they experience with their focus.
In synergy with this work, our mental health app, Recess, helps individuals to increase their focus in the moment and build increased concentration over time. By implementing cutting-edge bilateral stimulation technology paired with an understanding of how to improve focus on a biological level, we can improve our attention, focus and concentration. But first, it's important to understand the differences between attention, focus, and concentration and how they impact our productivity and wellbeing.
While it's common to use these terms interchangeably, they are actually all different aspects of our awareness. Understanding the differences helps us to understand how to harness our mind most effectively, and how to diminish the negative impacts of procrastination and distraction.
To begin, imagine we’ve walked into a room with 5 TVs on the wall in front of us.
Attention determines where we are pointing our awareness. Are we looking at the TV on the far left? The far right? The middle? Where we point our attention determines what we see. If one of the TVs is on, or the volume is louder, our attention is likely to be drawn to wherever there is the most activity. Or, perhaps a TV is playing a show we really enjoy, we’re likely to rest our attention there.
Focus determines how much or little we are taking in through our awareness. Are we looking at all the TVs at once? Just one? Two or three? It's just like how zoomed in a microscope or telescope are. If one TV is on, our focus is likely to narrow. If they are all on, our focus may widen. If a TV show is playing we really enjoy, it will likely narrow our focus as well. If we don’t like any of the shows, we may have trouble focusing at all.
Concentration determines how long we stay aware of something. Do we stay focused on one TV for a long time? Do we move back and forth between a bunch of different shows quickly? Do I only move when there is a commercial? The more we concentrate on one TV show, the more detail we pick out. The more we scan back and forth, the less detail we will have. If a TV show is playing we really enjoy, we are more likely to concentrate for longer. If nothing catches our fancy, we may find it hard to concentrate.
So, attention, focus, and concentration are actually all different, but they all play a role in our awareness. Two of the main factors that influence our awareness are the amount of information we are taking in, and the intensity (emotionality) of that information.
There are a number of ways we can improve our focus, attention, and concentration. We will start with some easy tips and tricks, and end with some interventions that require more effort, energy, and commitment, but have a greater impact.
Here are a few tangible actions we can take to boost our attention, focus, and concentration:
One of the best ways to improve our focus is to eliminate distractions. This means turning off our phone, closing unnecessary tabs on our computer, finding a quiet place to work or study, and picking a time that will minimize interruptions for an extended period. The less information we need to process, the better our focus. We especially want to be wary of things that are more exciting or interesting - those create the biggest distractions.
When there’s too much to do, it can be helpful to prioritize tasks. This may mean identifying the most important tasks and focusing on those first, or maybe the most difficult or easiest, or maybe the most exciting, depending on the situation. Each person can play to their strengths, and building momentum is always helpful, so it's ok to start with small things first if it helps build to bigger things.
Scheduling specific blocks of time for specific tasks can help reduce lost energy and focus. Schedule with awareness towards energy and capacity, past patterns of success, and in tandem with the chosen method of prioritization of the tasks. If it's scheduled, try to stay committed to that schedule.
It's important to take breaks throughout the day, even if it's just for a few minutes. Getting up and moving around, or taking a few deep breaths, can help to refresh our minds and improve our focus. Sometimes it's helpful to schedule breaks, and sometimes taking impromptu breaks can be more helpful to recharge when it's most needed.
Studies have shown that sleep is essential for improved attention and concentration and enhanced memory retention. All the tools in the world won’t hack through a bad night’s sleep or insufficient sleep. Get plenty of sleep (6-8 hours depending on the person), and practice sleep hygiene to get the most out of the hours spent sleeping.
Studies have shown that exercise improves focus and attention, as well as mood, better than most cognitive tools. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise most days of the week.
Any of these tools will be helpful in improving focus, attention, and concentration, and they are all fairly simple to implement. Try each to see what works best.
Here are some more tools that may have some immediate benefit, but when practiced over time can make a long term, sustainable impact on concentration, attention, and focus.
In addition to the earlier tools, these practices are scientifically proven to enhance attention, focus, and concentration. While they take practice and long term commitment, they will help increase all three aspects of awareness sustainably over time.
Meditation is a great way to train our minds to focus and concentrate. There are many different types of meditation, each person has to find what type works best and practice it regularly.
Yoga is another great way to improve focus and concentration. Yoga combines physical postures with breathing exercises and meditation, which can help to calm the mind and improve focus. This combination put together has been shown to be extremely helpful for many people.
Our favorite at Recess, bilateral stimulation is a technique that uses alternating stimulation of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This can help to improve focus and concentration by increasing communication between the two hemispheres. There are a number of different ways to do bilateral stimulation, including using eye movement exercises, tapping, or listening to music.
By using our app for just 10 minutes a day, our results show an increase in attention, focus, and concentration with consistent use. We help users to achieve Flow state, and one of the essential components of flow is awareness and its three key components: attention, focus, and concentration.
Whether it would be helpful to implement a strategy to improve attention, focus, and concentration in the short term, or there’s benefit to implementing a strategy that will create a sustainable increase in awareness over time, we all have the ability to improve our attention, focus, and concentration. Don’t let procrastination or distractions win!
For those willing to take a deeper dive and improve their attention, focus, and concentration over time, check out our mental health app Recess, and watch as the improvements grow.
