Everybody seems to be writing lately about how the online world have shortened our attention span. The amount of information that we process daily is forcing us to switch context rapidly. You have probably experienced plenty of that yourself.

I have recently read in an article that one of the new expressions in the Swedish language (I am studying Swedish) is “popcorn brain”. You would say that someone has a popcorn brain if they switch focus way too often. The type of person that watches tv with the phone in their hand, switching their attention between the two and keeping track of various pop up notifications as well. I found that hilarious that Swedish felt the need to describe a person in this way but I actually agree with this. This expression is super useful. Sometimes I have popcorn brain myself.

A few years back I really struggled to focus for long periods of time. Focusing even for 30 minutes at a time seemed like a challenge. At the time I worked as a technical lead in software engineering and I had to deal with a lot of context switching, so that made things far worse.

But more recently, the last 3 years, I work as a software engineer consultant so my job requires me to focus on code for 1-2 hours at a time.

It wasn’t easy to re-develop that ability which I seemed to have lost somewhere along the way so I thought of sharing my journey with you.

Those are the few things that really helped me regain my focus ability:

Walking

I started to do walks almost every day. Not walking to the shops or the market and rushing. Slow walks in the park. Walking helps me process things slowly and steadily. It helps me digest information so that I can focus on the next thing. I cannot emphasise how helpful walking is for me. It slows everything down.

When you find yourself jumping in between half finished tasks is time to have a break and walk for a bit. You will quickly find a healthy rhythm to continue your tasks.

Yoga

For the past 6 months yoga has been a great support for me. I wrote a post a couple of days ago about how I got into a good yoga routine, so if you are curious check it out here: Give Yourself Time With Yoga .

Even when I go through stressful times, yoga helps me pause, helps me reset. I focus on my body for 20 minutes and the turning wheels, the rush, they are forced to stop. I can then put things into perspective and ask myself what is the best way for me to continue my day and get done all the things I need to do. Many times, just by stopping and doing yoga for a few minutes, I give myself a chance to re-prioritise and I discover that I don’t actually need to do everything at once. Yoga releases the immense pressure that I sometimes put on myself without realising and it helps me re-balance not only physically but also mentally.

Golf

Playing golf requires a lot of concentration, a lot of focus on technique. Practicing golf is like practicing how to focus. It determines you to be patient with yourself and think about what your doing. Walking, focusing, walking, focusing. It’s an amazing way to train your mind into focus.

Before I have an important decision to make or an interview, even if I don’t have time for playing golf, I at least go to the driving range. This helps me put my thoughts in order.

The more I play golf, the more I feel like my focus extends and my patience grows. It challenges my mind as well as my body.

Reading

When you read a book with no distractions and no pop up notifications you brain is fully engaged on the story or the content. The longer stretches you manage to read, the more you are training your brain to focus. Books also pushes you to use your voice and your imagination when you process the information. You are not just passively absorbing some information.

I have been reading a lot lately and I noticed that I am able to focus more and more on the tasks at hand. Quite often I listen to books, that also pushes me into a good focus mode, I get very absorbed into audio books or podcasts.

I hope those tips are going to help you extend your ability to focus in case you are struggling with that and if you have other techniques you are using for this please share them with me in the comments section!