Focus Management vs Time Management

Do you feel like you haven’t got enough time to get everything done? Constantly juggling the hours and where you need to be, what you need to be doing and for how long. What do you do when the thing you’re supposed to do still doesn’t get done?  

Being time-poor can cause us to multi-task: Listening to a podcast or audio book while walking somewhere, talking on the phone while making a meal…. And so on.

We get caught in a cycle of flicking our attention between multiple things and never landing on one particular focus for very long. Distractions are abundant, ripping you away from the task at hand, which means it takes longer to do. Your time management goes down the toilet, which causes you to be time poor.

Because you’ve practised a thinking style that constantly moves focus from one thing to another, it makes focusing on one thing for a sustained period almost impossible.

There's no time management system on the planet that can compensate for poor focus management.

Focus management is about how you direct and maintain your mental focus towards a particular task or topic. Think about how you can listen to music or have a conversation when driving, but if you were driving along a road wedged between a mountain and a cliff you'd probably want to reserve all your focus for driving.  Focus management is about consciously choosing when to multi-task and when to focus on just one thing.

I love love love the feeling of going into The Lomi Room where I'll be shut away for an hour or so with a client and it’s the only thing for me to focus on in that moment. Even when it’s quiet and we’re not chatting I’ll be receiving guidance or thinking about homework you can do to enhance well-being or have a watchful eye to notice the subtle cues about whether the pressure I’m giving is the right amount. I’m not thinking about emails in my in-box or what to cook for dinner...

A word about multi-tasking: It's often mistakenly described as doing two things at once, whereas studies show that multi-tasking is actually rapidly transitioning focus between two tasks. It's like a mental version of ping-pong.

What it takes to be able to focus on “two things at once” takes a great deal of practice and skill – like when you see a person playing the tablas drums.  How they manage to play different beats with each hand is not by focusing on one side or the other, but by focusing on the playing as a whole - which often results in a far-away gaze to hold attention that way.

A friend once beautifully described the house-tidying equivalent of multi-tasking: The house is a mess, you move from room to room picking stuff up as you go but an hour later, you still don't have one complete room tidy and then you get tired. If you focused on one room at a time, you'd feel good when each room was "finished" which would give you a lift before moving to the next room. The task might not take less time, but mentally it's less painful.

Do you favour a multi-tasking or single focus approach?  It's worth checking whether a slight change in your approach could be beneficial.

Some benefits of single-focus:

• Makes it easier to notice how you're feeling.

• Improves the quality of what you produce.

• Enables you to get into "flow".

• Expands your sense of time and spaciousness.

• Gives you a break from distractions.

• Reduces the overall time it takes to get in and out of a meaty task.

• Will mentally give you a greater sense of control of your situation because you're choosing to not focus on everything at once.

Doing four papers during tertiary study, I noticed that trying to skip between the four subjects put me in a frenzy.  The time it took to find the right information and figure out my starting point was significant, and if I only had an hour or so, I'd then have to pack down.  By devoting a larger amount of time without interruptions, I am much more effective.

Here are some other things that help:

• If you can do a task completely offline, do it that way.

• Keep your phone beyond arms reach. If something really important needs your focus, put it on silent too.

• Turn off email notifications and close all apps that are unnecessary.

• When you've completed a task, take a mini break. If you find your attention tiring, take a mini-break. As your attention

• I give mental space by going for walks without listening to something and driving places in silence. I know – it’s radical, right?!

  
  

If you keep a weekly to-do list, try refining it down to only the highest priority and making each item result-based rather than activity-based.

Time management doesn’t hold a candle to focus management! It’s okay to just focus on one thing at a time: just driving or walking or gardening or doing a chore around the house without music or podcasts or other “noise” to distract you. I'm going to suggest something truly shocking: when you're in a queue, just wait (no phone checking etc).

Giving yourself a break from multi-focusing is time being with yourself and is really regenerative.

HERE'S THE SQUEEZE

Being able to focus on one task at a time is a thinking style that needs to be nurtured.  Think of it as being like a muscle that can either get stronger with use or weaken with inattention.  

Build your capacity to focus with some focus-strengthening activities.  Remember that 'ol meditation chestnut?!

If you’ve been spreading yourself thin, you might not realise how much your ability to focus on one thing has declined. If this is a struggle for you, start with smaller blocks then have a focus break, then return to a focused task. It takes some discipline but in time, it will get better!

Sending you a big hug and until next time...

Arohanui / much love to you,