You may have heard the oft-repeated statistic that the average person’s attention span has dropped to eight seconds… on par with a goldfish.
And, if you’re like me, you may have days where you feel like eight seconds sounds like a win. I kid… but there are days when my focus isn’t as good as I would like it to be. And today was one of those days… which set me on a quest to find ways to improve my attention span.
As I read up on focusing exercises, I discovered three of my favorite recommendations for writers came up quite a bit.
- Meditate regularly.
- Get more exercise.
- Write down the thoughts that pop into your head and threaten to distract you while you’re working. (I thought I invented that one, but apparently it’s pretty popular!)
A few other ideas came up that I hadn’t encountered before — at least not in terms of improving attention span — and I thought I would share them with you.
Read a Book Slowly
Or anything that’s longer than what you normally read. The Economist and The New Yorker publish long-form articles. So do GQ and Vanity Fair. Depending on your tastes and your interests, you should be able to find an appealing option or two. The key is to settle in and give yourself time to read.
The act of reading something that explores complex concepts or that has a complex plot — and allowing yourself to do it slowly and without pressure — will help you focus better during your workday, and improve your attention span overall.
For me, this is a huge win. Any excuse to curl up with a good book!
Be More Curious
Your attention and focus wander when your mind isn’t actively engaged.
If you’re curious about something, it’s far easier to focus on it. When you sit down to work, think of two or three questions you hope to answer for your readers. Or if you’re doing research, think about two or three questions you’d like to answer for yourself.
However you approach it, if you can engage your curiosity while you’re working, you’ll find it easier to stay focused longer, which will improve your attention span.
Work in Manageable Chunks
The idea of working in chunks of time is hardly new. But there’s a lot of conflicting advice about how to do it.
Some people say you should use the Pomodoro method and work for 25-minute blocks with five-minute breaks in between. Other folks say you need to give yourself long, uninterrupted blocks of time to work.
What I’ve found is that behavioral scientists suggest it’s most helpful to start with a chunk of time that’s manageable for you, and then gradually increase it. This will improve your attention span over time.
If 20 minutes feels like a stretch, but not too much of a stretch, set a timer, work for that amount of time, and then take a five to 10 minute break. Then next week, aim for 25 minutes. If 20 minutes sounds easy, shoot for 30 minutes. If it sounds too hard, start with 15. You get the idea…
Here’s the key for me with this practice — set a timer for your breaks too. And rather than stay at your computer, walk away. Better yet, go outside. But don’t start a different task that also requires attention.
Having a good attention span and the ability to focus is so helpful when your to-do list is a bit longer than you’d like it to be. Give these exercises a try and see if they help with your focus. And share your own focusing tips in the comments. I’d love to hear them.
New on the Site
Businesses use blog posts for a lot of things. To grow their list… to attract more traffic to their website… to build their reputation and credibility. But a blog can be a hard thing for a busy company to maintain… unless they have a relationship with a writer who gets how to write blogs. That could be you! And that’s what our current Practice Assignment is all about. Try your hand at writing a blog post, using this fictional brief… there’s even a chance that you’ll get a professional review. You can find the details here.
Feedback can be hard to take, but it’s so worthwhile. It will help you be a better writer… and it will help you make improvements faster. Even more than that, when you learn to accept feedback graciously and apply it well, it can even mean you make more money. Suzanna Fitzgerald explains in her newest Reality Blog.
There’s a lot of content on the internet, and it’s a sure bet, whatever topic you’re writing about has been written about before. But using a few techniques, you can make what you write stand out. Learn seven different ways you can add more depth to your content and make it more memorable, too.
Mark Your Calendar
Tomorrow (2/24): There are lots of ways to set goals and even more ways to pursue them. But one of the keys for most people is to set goals that force you to stretch yourself. Join me for a conversation with Suzanna Fitzgerald that’s all about setting big goals… and how to go about tackling them. Access instructions are right here.
March 3: Our next Monthly Member Update is coming up. During this webinar, we’ll look at how to write better email subject lines, whether you’re writing them for clients or to clients. We’ll also review top content added to the site, we’ll take a sneak peek at what’s coming up, and we’ll finish up with a live Q&A. Details will be posted soon.
March 10: If you join in the Practice Assignment I mentioned above, you can submit your assignment and it might be chosen for a professional live review, which is scheduled for March 10. Even if your entry isn’t selected for review, this is still a great way to hone your blog-writing skills. More details will be posted soon.
Around the Web
The stats in this article surprised me… in a survey, more than half of small to medium-sized businesses reported not having an SEO strategy. That’s actually good news for us writers.
A while back, Google more or less said that guest posting won’t help you increase your search engine rankings. Neil Patel takes a deep dive into whether or not that’s true.
If you’ve got a blog and you’re thinking about dabbling in paid advertising to get more traffic, Darren Rowse has some basic tips to help you get started.
And then a few more tips to help you build good habits for better focus and other benefits.
That’s all for now. Make it a great week.
