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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The writer is author of ‘Think Big’, an associate professor at the London School of Economics and founding director of The Inclusion Initiative
If you are tired of never-ending notifications, a packed inbox and a to-do list that seems to have a life of its own, you might want to contemplate a showdown with your unruly attention span.
In the world of psychology, this quest is called “attentional control” — the art of channelling your mental resources fully into specific tasks. Attentional control is not just a neat party trick. It is a superpower that can level up your wellbeing and turbocharge your productivity.
But where should you begin?
Having tried some hacks, it is clear to me that mastering attention control, not time management, is the key to liberating more hours in my day. I would estimate this experiment has freed up four hours for me every day.
My battle against distraction began with focused research: meticulously scrutinising my working day to identify time-sucking culprits.
These can include pointless meetings, spending too long preparing unimportant documents, and the attention we waste on things we cannot control, such as moaning about the weather and analysing what other people think of us. Before you allocate one neuron of attention to a task, ask two questions. Do you care about the outcome? And can you control the outcome? If you answer no to either you should redirect your attention back to your priorities and learn to say “no”.
If you apply these two simple rules, you will find yourself politely stepping out of meetings and trusting your colleagues to deal with the things you care less about. You will delegate more. You will make fast decisions on anything that is low stakes, preserving your attention for the bigger problems. You will shorten meetings: 30-minutes become 25, 20 or even 15. Meetings of an hour or more need to be strictly reserved for top priorities.
Elon Musk supposedly orchestrates his day in five-minute intervals, an extreme scheduling tactic but one that will probably reveal too much time wasted on email and other messaging tools. By habitually refreshing your inbox you are undermining your ability to concentrate on complex or more important tasks. This results in reduced cognitive performance and an increased likelihood of errors. Frequent email checkers also exhibit higher stress levels.
Instead, establish a single channel of communication. Get disciplined. Check messages only during designated time blocks, avoiding the moments you are most productive. You may want to avoid checking in the morning so as not to interrupt a routine you have cultivated to set you up for a successful day. I agree with the philosophy that every email deserves an answer — but perhaps not at the lightning speed some people expect. Most things can wait. You could even consider asking people to designate a speed at which they need a response. I ignore those who demand an immediate response for trivial matters and politely decline things that do not align with my priorities.
Now you are free to focus on your most critical tasks. If you do not know what these are, make a ranked list of the things you do in terms of importance and simply choose the top three to five.
To keep my attention on my priorities, I experimented with dividing my work week into themed days. I designated Mondays for one-on-one meetings and Tuesdays to writing and research. Allotting set periods to specific tasks minimised the likelihood of multitasking and task-switching, which improved my attention and cognitive focus. My mood was also better and calmer.
Keeping attention on priorities is still difficult. You can experiment with the various tactics touted to improve and restore attention to figure out what works best for you. To block out endless potential distractions, you could practice a daily habit of meditation, for example. There is evidence that doing so improves attention, emotion regulation, impulsivity, and work-related morale. Or you could offload cognitive demands and stay focused by carrying a notebook to jot down any ideas that enter your mind to distract you. I prefer taking a leisurely walk, when my focus drifts to something that is not a priority, to reboot my attention.
There is evidence the human brain has a limited capacity for making decisions and the quality of decisions deteriorates with the number made. By simplifying choices such as what to wear or eat, you can conserve decision-making capacity for more important and complex matters.
Remember, your attention is finite. Having the capacity to choose what you pay attention to will free up time for more important things. Just try not to get waylaid by a new distraction: the regret of not being disciplined with your attention sooner.
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