Lack of Focus? Here’s What You Need To Know From a Neuroscience Point Of View
Discover what you can do to keep your focus and achieve your goals
There’s a recurring topic among my family, friends, and colleagues, one that I must address in today’s article: lack of focus.
Did you know that your lack of focus could be a symptom of something else happening inside you?
If you want to know what the human science that explains the human brain has to say about it and how you can overcome it, this article is for you.
>> But first, I have a question:
How would you evaluate your capacity to focus on what needs to be done? Let me know in the comments section.
As I’ve shown you in my previous 2 posts, the question is not IF you will change, but rather HOW will you change during the course of your life.
One of the things scientific studies show us that is changing is the ability to focus: it has been decreasing year after year, especially in the last 3 years when the most recent pandemic crisis started, making the world stop since 2020.
And here one must wonder: WHY is this happening? And HOW can we still keep our focus, maintain control of our lives, and achieve our life’s goals?
Before we proceed, I need to clarify something: when lack of focus is a psychiatric disturbance, the answer to the previous question is a bit different, since you might suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
There is, however, a misconception about ADHD: people usually think that someone with this disorder cannot focus on anything, but this is not true: there are cases like that, but they are not the majority. Take my cousin, for instance: she is hyperactive, and yet she is laser-focused on what she loves — she simply can’t focus on anything else that has no interest to her.
However, ADHD is a neuropsychiatric disorder that involves a series of brain dysfunctions and cerebral circuits such as lack of focus (among many others). But that’s not what I’m going to talk about in today’s article, because talking about psychiatric disorders is very sensitive, and demands a more in-depth approach.
Outside these situations, when we talk about people who do not have any of these disorders but still have difficulty focusing on what needs to be done, we need to start by asking:
“What is Focus?”
Focus is a word used by several different sciences, as you know. But in terms of psychology, we are talking about “Focus” in the Human Brain and in Human Behavior.
If you take a deep dive into scientific studies about Focus, you’ll learn there are different types of Focus — which would take me more than one article to explain, and it’s not our goal today. To make today’s article a light reading, let’s consider Focus as being your Perception.
In fact, when you are actively aware of your perception, you are focusing. For instance, your eyes have a perception of what you are seeing. When you acquire an active consciousness of that perception, you are focusing.
Simply put: Focus is when you dedicate your cognitive energy (a concept used by psychologist Barry Kaufman). It’s when you choose to put your ‘mind spotlights’ on one stimulus.
For instance: your ‘mind spotlights’ are now with my words while you read this article. You are present in this moment, conscious of your perception of my words, and there for you are focusing. This type of focus is called in science “Continuous Attention” — it’s deliberate attention that you chose to have. Actually, it’s one of the two things that we, as human beings, have in our conscient control.
You probably have already noticed this, but in case you haven’t, there are 2 things you are effectively aware of, and you can control: your human behavior and your focus — you control (and are aware of) what you do, and you control (and are aware of) what you put your continuous attention on.
By now you might be wondering: “Sally, can we control our thoughts?” The answer is Yes and No.
In reality, what we control is our Focus: you can focus on these exact words you’re reading right now and think about their meaning — and in this sense, you do have control over your thoughts. However, there are characteristics in our human behavior that are not under our conscious control. A perfect example of that is what we call “associative memory.”
To give you an example: have you ever found yourself walking in the street and had someone passing by you using the same perfume your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend used? What happened next? A swirl of memories and emotions (and thoughts about those memories and emotions) came down on you, right? You didn’t choose to do that, and in that sense, you didn’t have any control.
Bottom line: you can’t control your thoughts; what you can do is control where you focus your attention: in what memory, thought, emotions. In neuroscience, this is called internal focus: the focus you put on what happens inside your mind.
That’s why Buddhist monks teach the importance of meditation, which is nothing more than the practice of not getting caught in any thought, memory, or emotion: just let them pass by and observe them as if you were watching cars passing in the street down below your window, while you choose to focus on your breathing. This is actually a great practice. I strongly recommend it.
Of course, there is also an external focus: it’s the focus you keep putting in these words I’m writing, to think about what you’re learning right now.
Your Focus is directly related to the energy you actively dedicate to something, and focusing is something that spends energy.
In science, we have the term “Cognitive Load” — simply put, it uses energy from our cognitions. ‘Focus’ is a cognition; it’s a technical term; ‘memory’ is also a cognition, and ‘making decisions’ is a cognition. When we use our cognitions, those cognitions consume our energy. The load used may be higher or lower, and one of the things that need more cognitive load is what you are doing right now: dedicate your continuous attention to reading this article.
Have you noticed you can’t keep your continuous attention on something for 4 or 5 hours in a row into reading texts with real content such as this one? That’s because you need a very high cognitive load, your brain gets tired, and you end up getting distracted by anything around you (your cute puppy, your phone, your tv, the noises in the street,… etc.)
But to understand this, you need to understand another type of attention that our brain possesses: alternating attention.
Continuous attention is you reading this article till the end, non-stop. Alternating attention is when you jump from here into your Instagram or TikTok, and then to something else because you got distracted by your phone’s notifications (by the way, I strongly recommend you block those, to make sure your brain can focus on what is truly important in your life).
Continuous attention is a conscious choice, has a high cognitive load, and therefore is hard to keep. Alternating attention, on the other hand, is very primitive in our brains, because in our ancestral surroundings, when we were gatherers and hunters, that type of attention was primordial to save our life if a predator was nearby.
Moreover, alternating attention produces a sense of reward in our brains: it’s motivational and pleasurable, and that’s why when you receive a notification on your phone, you desire to check what it is: that desire is your “reward system,” what in science is called dopaminergic system. You have other cerebral circuits involved in that pleasure sensation that many people feel when they keep jumping their attention from one place to another.
Social media algorithms have the mission to keep you in the social network you’re in (being that YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or any other). They investigate what grabs your attention, and one of the things that grab human attention the most is new things happening.
If you are an entrepreneur, social media algorithms are key factors to take into consideration for your business's online presence as a creator, but you still need to learn how to use them to your advantage without affecting your continuous attention and capacity to focus as a consumer. If this is something that interests you, let me know in the comments below and I’ll create a more in-depth article about social media and neuromarketing.
‘New things happening’ grab human attention because, in our ancestral times, something new in our peripherical vision could mean a threat to our survival, so we have very primitive mechanisms inside of us that make our brains search for news when they come up, to check what it is. It’s what we call curiosity :)
To sum it up, I’m sure you have already pinpointed the contradiction and the problem this brings to today’s life:
> we have continuous attention (the one you are using now); it’s hard to maintain, has a high cognitive load, and gets us tired; it’s an active and conscious choice;
> and we have the alternating attention, when you jump from one place to another, changing your focus from one thing to another. This one is not as hard, on the contrary: it’s motivating and rewarding and generates pleasure.
Between the two of them, the one who wins in today’s society is — you guessed it — the alternating attention, because we live in an era where we have stimuli everywhere calling for us.
By the way, are you reading this article on your cellphone? If you are, chances are you have already left a few times to check out a notification if someone liked your photo on one of your social media networks. By doing so, you just lost your focus.
One of the villains we have today is the cellphone because it has a series of mechanisms that call for your alternating attention, giving small doses of gratification to your brain, and thus keeping the vicious cycle.
What you need to understand is that lack of focus is being cultivated in today’s lives, because everything you repeat, everything you standardize in your life in a repetitive way, becomes a habit, and your brain starts doing that automatically.
Let me ask you another question: how many times during your day do you actually use your continuous attention?
That’s rare nowadays because most stimuli demand alternating attention, even at work: you probably use WhatsApp for business purposes, among other apps, and in that sense, even work is a recruiter of your alternating attention.
The bottom line is, we are getting more and more accustomed to not using our continuous attention. Social media makes this even more radical: you just keep scrolling and scrolling to see more photos, more videos, etc., etc., and the fact that you are making this every single day is creating a habit in your brain, instructing your brain to have difficulties in focusing in just one thing from start to finish.
Continuous attention is hard in itself, it requires energy, and it’s a choice. When you stop using it and focus on alternating attention, you are creating the path for an ‘atrophy’ of your continuous attention. That’s the big villain, with cellphones and social media as champions of what harms your continuous attention.
It’s important for you to understand that the lack of attention and focus that you experience to do things, might have something to do with other causes, but your lifestyle is probably one of the roots of the problem, increasing your probability of procrastinating.
Think about it: the very first things you do in the first hours of your day since you wake up will determine how your body and brain will function until you go to sleep (remember, they’re one). During the day, you want to be focused, productive and creative, and when you go to sleep, you want to be tired and with a true desire to sleep. But few people know that what they are doing in the first hours of the day will determine how their biology will function during that day and night.
You Are Your Habits!
And there’s the conflict: you want to focus, but your alternating attention is continuously being demanded and you probably have a poor sleep quality alongside a not-so-healthy lifestyle… and that creates anxiety.
One of the best ways to train your continuous attention is by reading every day! (which is good news for you because if you are here, you love to read) :) Just make sure you turn off your cellphone, pc, tv, etc. But there are other things to take into consideration:
Be aware of the foods you eat.
Most people don’t know that their food intake affects our focus and has a massive role in how our brains and bodies will function during the day! Depending on what you are eating, there might be processes in your brain that create a lack of focus, difficulty in concentration, and even memorization. Breakfast is particularly key in this, but everything else you eat during the day will play a role too.
This means you need the knowledge to understand what are the best foods for you to nourish your brain, and not just keep intaking calories and caffeine as most people do. Remember: a well-nourished brain has a higher capacity to focus and be productive.
Be aware of your sleep.
Another very important thing is the quality and duration of your sleep. And here I want to tell you something personal: nowadays, you will find tons of ‘success mindset inspiration’ out there telling you to “work while they sleep and study while they relax,” but know this: if you don’t relax and if you don’t have a high-quality sleep, you will NOT be able to work nor study. Your brain will simply NOT FOCUS! Nor even function in a healthy way to begin with. There is no way you can learn or be productive without a good night's sleep — and do yourself a favor: don’t take sleeping pills. Over time they will overload your liver and bring other health problems.
Keep in mind that a good night’s sleep is mandatory. Lack of quality sleep will open the doors to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Depression, and Anxiety, just to name a few.
In case you suffer from insomnia, I will be publishing an article to help you with this. In the meantime, I recommend you use a good app. I personally use Better Sleep*. You can use a combination of nature sounds, meditation, and bedtime stories, to ease your mind into sleeping mode.
(*Disclosure: If you know me by now, you know I never recommend anything I don’t personally use, like, and trust. This is a paid partnership; all my followers get a discount when clicking my referral link).
To get BetterSleep with a discount, click the link below ⬇️
So, what to do in the first hours of the day — particularly in the first 30 minutes — to make sure your brain is productive during the time it should be productive, and to make sure it will relax and have a good night's sleep when the night comes waking up the next day full of energy?
This article is already too long and has a heavy load on your continuous attention, so I’ll be addressing this in my upcoming posts. — Please note I won’t be talking about things you find on blogs by so-called gurus, or posted by social media influencers who know nothing about mental health; everything I’m sharing is based on scientific research.
On that note, I invite you to hit the subscribe button next to my Bio (it’s free) to ensure you don’t miss out on my next articles.
* UPDATE: Article published in the meantime. You’ll find a direct link at the end of this post.
Takeaways…
To take control of your life, FOCUS is key, but to have focus you need to train your continuous attention and learn to say NO to every stimulus that triggers your alternating attention — this includes social media.
There's nothing wrong with social media, it’s a tool when used the right way (especially if you are an entrepreneur). The problem is the way you are probably using it right now.
Having focus is NOT making several things at a time; FOCUS is the capacity to say NO to everything that is not the task you have in front of you. That is ‘focus’. If you are trying to do several tasks at the same time, you won’t be able to do anything with excellency, and you will suffer from anxiety about never completing your tasks (which in turn triggers all kinds of other problems in your brain and body).
To train your continuous attention and focus: be aware of what you eat and of your sleep quality, read for one hour every day without distractions, meditate, and get rid of your cellphone for a few hours — you will probably feel anxiety because you are already dependent, but you will also feel freedom.
Be Present — a lesson by Neuroscience, but already taught by Buddhism for thousands of years. Be present with your spouse, your kids, your family, and your friends. When watching a movie or series, stay dedicated to it, and switch off your phone. When taking care of your business, stay dedicated to it in the time frame you have created to do just that.
Have a good night's sleep — when it’s time to sleep, shut down all worries: just sleep, tomorrow will be another day. Use a good app to help you if needed.
The more relaxed and present you are, the more focused you will be, and the more happier and fulfilled your life will become.
🧠 Join my VIP List to access Exclusive Content. To learn more and subscribe, click here (it’s free).
Yours truly, Sally. _