Why It’s So Hard to Focus Right Now

On top of all the stressful things we are dealing with right now, a lot of us are experiencing a feeling of guilt because we are less motivated. We are having trouble getting everything done that we mean to do.  I’ve heard from friends and colleagues that they are finding it hard to focus right now. And it is causing them even more stress during this challenging time. I’ve felt that, too.

It turns out that part of the problem is how many NEW things we are trying to do.

Many of us are working from home, which might be new, or maybe we just didn’t do it as much previously.  We have kids at home who are usually in school. We can’t go to many of the restaurants and stores we’re used to going to, and we can’t even take our dogs to the dog park!  On top of all that, we are learning to work in new ways, like using videoconferencing for every meeting, and trying to adjust to all of the other technology related to working at home.

Add to that the constant barrage of new and important information we are taking in each day.  What are the latest government orders? How can we keep ourselves and our loved ones safe? And where in the heck are we going to get more toilet paper?

This adds up to a lot of new information we have to take in each day.  And it turns out that, at a chemical level, our brains can only deal with so much new information before they simply…stop paying attention.

Why we run out of focus

That’s right, we only have so much “focus juice” to go around even on a good day, and with all the NEW we are dealing with right now, it’s getting used up faster than usual.  What is “focus juice”? It turns out it’s just plain old sugar (glucose). And your brain is working harder and using more of it when it is processing new information than when it is working on familiar tasks.

I learned about this concept in a really excellent book I’ve been reading called Design for How People Learn by Julie Dirksen (here’s her website, which includes info about the book, if you’d like to check it out: https://usablelearning.com/). The book is about designing “learning experiences” based on what science tells us about how the brain works.  In the book, she discusses research showing that the brain uses more glucose when learning a new task than when it is performing a familiar task.

She suggests structuring learning so that students get a break from new information periodically, and they can think about or process things they already know. She compares this to a bicyclist getting a chance to coast once in a while, versus riding uphill the entire time. Her whimsical stick figure illustrations alone make it worth checking out the book!

If we compare working to learning, I think we can draw some connections between this information and the low motivation many of us are struggling with right now.  Lots of new information? Check. Few breaks from the NEW? Check. A feeling that the brain is just too tired to keep focusing? Check.

Here’s what you can do

There are lots of great books and articles out there about how to improve focus, but I think the key is to recognize that we are not just dealing with a typical lack of motivation right now.  There are real physiological reasons why even those of us who are usually very motivated may be struggling. Like so many other things in life, we will need to adjust to the temporary “new normal” and incorporate strategies to get ourselves past this particular challenge.

I started thinking about how I could use this new understanding, and here are some things I’m personally trying to battle the low motivation blues:

1. Complete my most important work each day before I look at the news
2. Give myself breaks – even more frequent breaks than I used to
3. Plan to do more familiar tasks later in the day
4. Forgive myself when I don’t get everything done, and make a plan to get it done after I’ve had a break

If you have other suggestions for staying motivated and focused during these challenging times, please share them in the comments!