Struggling to Stay Focused? Here’s Why
Whose fault is it
Sometimes when I’m trying to focus on a single task my mind can feel a bit like a pinball machine.
No matter how hard I try to keep my thoughts in focus there’s all these ideas wildly bouncing around and beating away at my limited attention.
Our brains can be fickle things and I’m sure every last one of us has experienced moments where we just can’t seem to hold on to an idea for more than a few seconds.
All of a sudden while you’re working on a project you start thinking about what you’re going to make for dinner or a conversation you had with a friend a few nights ago.
It’s frustrating. All we want to do is focus on what we’re working on and block out the rest.
So how come these unwanted thoughts keep coming into our heads?
When we hold information and manipulate it in our mind for any length of time we’re engaging what cognitive neuroscientists call Working Memory.
If you’ve ever had to remember a phone number between the time of hearing it and dialling, or remember driving instructions while you look for specific landmarks (“take the first right then go straight until you see the big yellow sign and then it’s the third building on the left…”) you’ve used your working memory.
In situations like these, not only do you need to keep certain bits of information fresh and ready in your mind, but you also need to work with them and put them into the context of the real world.
You can think of it as the brain’s search engine, or a blackboard where you temporarily store relevant information while you’re using it.
It’s not just for basic instructions, however. The last time you wrote a blog post or article, working memory is what allowed you to hold on to the information you absorbed during your research and then choose what fits best for your piece.
Our working memory can only hold a finite amount of information and is constantly bombarded by new thoughts and sensory experiences, all trying to distract you from the task at hand.
In other words,the greater the working memory capacity, the greater the ability to resist distractions and stay focused on the task at hand.
Working on our Memory can enhance our focus and make us more organized and productive.
Thanks for Reading
