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To be effective, our brain needs to both focus and 'de-focus' #improving concentration and focus harvard pdf


We all know that, to perform at work, and in any intellectual activity, it is important to have developed the ability to focus. Learning to focus on what we are doing, avoiding distractions, makes us more efficient and saves us a lot of time. However, to be effective, our brain needs to both focus and defocus, as explained in the article Your Brain Can Only Take So Much Focus, published a few weeks ago in Harvard Business Review. But we go in parts.

The importance of targeting

We live in times of infoxication; that is to say, intoxicated by an excess of information. In an article on the subject published in Lladó Comunicación, it is explained that it is “a phenomenon typical of digital life in which we are immersed: by living hyperconnected, the volume of information we receive far exceeds the capacity of our brain to manage it. As a consequence, there is an “overload in our system” that increases our stress level (Information Fatigue Syndrome) and decreases our cognitive faculties: it is more difficult for us to concentrate, be analytical (we read faster, but more superficial) and make decisions ( paralysis or hasty decisions), and our productivity is reduced. At the same time, we are accumulating frustration when we see that our “to-do list” is hopelessly thickening ».


The danger of overfocusing


Productivity experts recommend some useful practices to help us focus: make to-do lists, learn to prioritize, learn to manage time, learn to reduce stress (productivity's greatest enemy), etc. However, it must be taken into account that focusing excessively depletes the focusing circuits of our brain, which can deplete our energy, make us lose self-control, become more impulsive, less effective and collaborative.

Why you have to de-focus

Recent research shows that both focusing and defocusing is vital, as the brain functions optimally when it switches from one mode to another. Blurring makes it possible to update information in the brain, to access deep parts of ourselves, to increase our agility, as well as creativity and decision-making. 

How to defocus


According to the Harvard Business Review article, when we defocus (or stop concentrating), we set in motion a brain circuit called the “Default Mode Network” (DMN). Until now, it was thought that this circuit did not have any activity (that it did not "do anything") because it only starts when we stop focusing with effort. However, this is not the case. In reality, we are not resting: our brain activates old memories, goes back and forth between the past, the present and the future, and recombines ideas using all this new data, to which it did not have access before, to come up with creative solutions. for example. In fact, when we make any effort, we use 5% of the body's energy; On the other hand, and although it is surprising, when we are in “rest mode” this circuit uses 20% (the brain is doing anything but rest).

There are several simple and effective ways to activate this circuit throughout the day.

PCD is a type of mental wandering that, incorporated into our day-to-day lives, increases our creativity, helps us explore and connect ideas and feelings, recover memories and information that we thought were lost, strengthens our memory, improves empathy and revitalizes our brain.

 

Take naps

Yes, although defenestrated by some, the nap "updates" our brain: during sleep, the brain establishes associations and retrieves ideas that were in the recesses of memory.

 

Change activity, environment and even personality

Changing your intellectual activity for a few minutes or hours (the time depends on each person and situation), changing the environment, doing a playful activity and even changing your personality by playing someone else in order to adopt a different point of view will also help us to activate the DMN circuit.



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