Focus and Peak Performance - - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and Vani Bhardwaj

Focus is a key concept of cognitive psychology, referring to one’s ability to concentrate and sustain attention on a target stimulus for any period of time. It plays a vital role in performing most of the tasks on an everyday basis; allowing us to be precise, improve results, reduce errors, come up with innovative and divergent methods of performing the same task.Focus helps us perform at the maximum of our ability (i.e., peak performance).

What are some barriers to focus?

Identifying barriers to focus is essential to understand where we lose our focus.

·         Distractions:the biggest causes of dwindling focus; be it your emails, Facebook, colleagues, or family members, all of them can impact your focus.

·         Distressing or intrusive thoughts that are occupying your mind might force you to focus on them or getting rid of them.

·         Procrastination is a big contributor to making an individual unfocused.

·         Being uncertain about the purpose of what one is doing, being unable to start, or lack of motivation or interest are also some factors that contribute to lack of or decreased focus.

How do we maximize focus and improve performance?

·         Identify when and why you lose focus. Understanding what factors hold you back from putting your complete mental effort on the task at hand will help in addressing it.

·         Setting realistic goals helps with motivation.

·         Elimination of distractions, for example, switching off mobile notifications, removes disturbances.

·         Avoid multi-tasking; it focuses your brain to switch your focus back and forth very quickly from one task to the other,making it impossible to sustain attention.

·         Recognizing your peak focus time in the day and scheduling your most demanding task at the time helps you in being your most productive self.

·         Adopt a lifestyle that allows you to engage in healthy habits; this means exercise regularly, eat healthier, practice mindfulness and get adequate sleep.

·         Most importantly, take regular breaks and give your brain a rest!

Focus allows us to reach our peak performance but remember, it is a process that requires practice and effort and is a long but worthy one. Ensuring alertness and agility in your mindset and eliminating distractions will help you improve your focus.

References:

(2013). Various Barriers That Prevent You from Focusing and How to Tackle Each One. Psych2go.

CogniFit. (n.d.). Focused Attention. Cognitive ability-Neuropsychology. CogniFit. 

Patel, N. (2016). 7 Brain hacks to Improve your Focus at Work. Forbes.