Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

by Chris Bailey

our brain receives eleven million “bits” of information in the form of sensory experiences each second.

But how many of these eleven million bits can our minds consciously process and focus on at once? Just forty of them. Not forty million or forty thousand, but forty.

after focusing on something, we can hold only a small amount of information in our short-term memory.

When it comes to holding information in our temporary memory, though, the magic number of which our brain is capable shrinks from forty to four.

In this context the number four refers to unique chunks of information. For example, if you can find a way to connect a few of the names into such chunks—such as visualizing a few friends who have the same names as the ones on the list—you’ll be able to process them more deeply and remember more.

Our lives are generally structured around the fact that we’re able to hold, at most, seven pieces of unique information in our short-term memory.

“Attentional space” is the term I use to describe the amount of mental capacity we have available to focus on and process things in the moment.

When we choose what to pay attention to, that information occupies our short-term memory, and our attentional space ensures it’s kept active so we can continue to work with it.

Given that this space is so small and can hold only a few things at once, it’s essential we manage it well. Even when we’re daydreaming and focusing on nothing in particular, we fill our attentional space.

Just as you don’t have sufficient attentional space to both text and drive, you can’t text while you read—either of these two tasks alone requires too much focus to fit comfortably in your attentional space.

Becoming aware of what you’re thinking about is one of the best practices for managing your attention. The more you notice what’s occupying your attentional space, the faster you can get back on track

you’re essentially spending half of your time and attention on what’s not in front of you, lost in the past or calculating the future. That’s a lot of time and attention to waste.

This is essentially what mindfulness is—noticing what your mind is full of: what you’re thinking, feeling, and perceiving at any given moment.

Simply noticing what is occupying our attentional space has been shown to make us more productive.

We perform significantly better on every task when we’re aware that our mind is wandering.

Habitual tasks like cutting your nails, doing the laundry, archiving emails you’ve already read, and grocery shopping don’t require nearly as much attention as more complex tasks.

Habits take up very little attentional space, because they take little thought once we get going with them.

Our attentional space can process even more when we’re working on unrelated tasks. Take sorting and putting away the laundry while talking on the phone, for example.

Unlike habitual tasks, we aren’t able to fit two complex activities into our attentional space at the same time.

At best, we can do one small, habitual task plus one other activity that requires most of our attention. Two examples: listening to a podcast or audiobook while doing maintenance tasks, or playing a simple, repetitive video game on a phone while listening to an audiobook.

Your most productive tasks—the ones that enable you to accomplish significantly more for every minute you dedicate to them—fall into this category. The more time and attention you spend on these tasks, the more productive you become.

Having some attentional space to spare during complex tasks allows you to do two things:

It leaves room to reflect on the best approach to completing the task, so you can work smarter and avoid autopilot mode.

Leaving some space also enables you to work with a greater awareness of where you should be directing your attention in the first place.

Intention enables us to prioritize so we don’t overload our attentional space.

At any one time, your attentional space should hold at most two key things that you are processing: what you intend to accomplish and what you’re currently doing.

The best way to avoid this overload is to be more selective with what you permit into your attentional space.

On the drive home, shut off the radio, which will enable you to process the day and also remember your intention to pick up bread.

Simplifying our attentional space lets us maintain enough room to work and live intentionally throughout the day.

The state of your attentional space determines the state of your life. When your attentional space is overwhelmed, you, in turn, feel overwhelmed. When your attentional space is clear, you also feel clear. The tidier you keep your attentional space, the more clearly you think.

An unfortunate truth is that the brain is not built to do knowledge work—it’s wired for survival and reproduction. We have evolved to crave things that provide us with a surge of dopamine, which reinforces habits and behaviors that have historically aided our chances at survival.

Our brains also reward us for poorly managing our attention, because for our early ancestors, seeking novel threats in the environment aided their chance of survival.

The devices we own—our TV, tablet, computer, and smartphone included—are infinitely more stimulating than the other productive and meaningful things we could be focusing on, and so with fewer predators to worry about, we naturally focus on our electronics instead.

productivity means accomplishing what we intend to.

Productivity is not about cramming more into our days but about doing the right thing in each moment.

For starters, letting your attentional space overflow affects your memory. You may have noticed that when you watch TV or a movie with your phone by your side, you recall much less of what you’ve seen.

When we make our attentional space juggle too many tasks, we fail to notice and remember the details of our most important work.

We also accumulate less knowledge, which, when we do knowledge work for a living, sets us back in the long run.

Constantly shifting our attentional spotlight to focus on one thing and then another and then another not only prevents the formation of memories but also undermines our productivity.

On top of the obvious productivity toll of continually interrupting ourselves, we’re also not that good at shifting our attention.

It’s having that divided attention, where part of your brain is thinking about those other ongoing projects that you have.

This is what makes it so difficult to devote yourself to what you’re supposed to be doing in the present.”

Switching becomes easier only once we finish a task—especially when time pressure, like a deadline, motivates us to get the task done. “By contrast,” Leroy explains, “if you work on something and you don’t really have to rush, but you get it done, your brain can keep thinking about ‘What else should I have done?’

One study found that when we continually switch between tasks, our work takes 50 percent longer, compared with doing one task from start to completion.

If you’re working on a pressure- or deadline-free project, consider taking a break before starting something else so more of that attentional residue can dissipate. As far as your productivity is concerned, the best time to take a break is after you’ve finished a big task.

Intention is the bouncer of your attentional space—it lets in the productive objects of attention and keeps the distractions out. Few things will benefit your overall quality of life more than focusing with intention.

you’ll need to do several things: set intentions more often, modify your environment to be less distracting, overcome the mental resistance you have to certain tasks, eliminate distractions before they derail you, and clear the distractions inside your own head.

There are numerous ways to measure the quality of your attention,

Hyperfocus is many things at once: it’s deliberate, undistracted, and quick to refocus, and it leads us to become completely immersed in our work.

Since hyperfocus is so much more productive, you can slow down a bit and still accomplish an incredible amount in a short period of time.