How to Increase Your Attention Span

• Are you aware of the length of your attention span?
• Is it too short?
• Do you wish to improve your attention span?

We all have errands to run, tasks to complete, and chores to carry out. Often, these are tasks and chores that we do not really want to do, but we have to.

The problem is that most of these tasks and chores take too much time to run, and we have difficulty sustaining our focus. Since the attention span is short, we lose attention and interest, or the mind is ‘hijacked’ by other matters.

• Does your attention easily wander away?
• How long is your attention span?
• Can you measure it in seconds or minutes?

Attention span is too short

If you had enough willpower and self-discipline and could focus your mind, most things would have taken much less time and would have been carried out more efficiently.

There are a lot of distracting factors that take your attention away and make you forget what you have set out to do. These distracting factors shorten your attention span.

No matter how interested you might be in completing a certain task, something will always pull your attention away. This will waste your time and energy and prevent you from completing the task on time or at all.

Let’s take one example: writing a letter and finding out what happens. The same distracting factors would be present in almost every situation.

You sit in front of your computer or with a pen and paper, ready to start writing. You think about how to begin your letter and then start writing. However, this does not last long.

• Do you suddenly feel an urge to check your email? If you check your email, you might find something interesting and start reading it instead of focusing on the letter you are writing.
• The phone rings, you answer it and start a conversation.
• You stop writing to check your Facebook or Twitter account.
• You might hear someone gossiping, your curiosity arises, and you listen to him or her.
• Sometimes, after writing a few sentences you might get bored and play a video game.

These are just a few examples of distracting factors that ‘hijack’ your attention, shorten your attention span, and prevent you from completing anything efficiently and on time.

To change this, you need to learn how to increase your attention span.

Short Attention Span Has Become the Standard

In this age of the Internet, email, cell phones, Facebook and other social media, the attention span is getting shorter.

• People are becoming less patient than even a few years back.
• There is so much load of too much information, which the mind cannot handle.
• People multitask and scan data, not going deeply into anything.

This leads to short attention span.

This short attention span affects every action and area of life. People are stopping to live here and now. They live in a sort of virtual world, and this affects everything they do.

In an article, titled ‘Kids, Tech and Those Shrinking Attention Spans’ by Diana Graber, posted on www.huffingtonpost.com, she wrote:

“We hear it all the time — increased exposure to technology is rewiring our kids’ brains, making it tougher to reach and teach them. A Pew Internet survey of nearly 2,500 teachers finds that 87% believe new technologies are creating an “easily distracted generation with short attention spans” and 64% say today’s digital technologies “do more to distract students than to help them academically.”

Ty Kiisel wrote, in an article posted on forbes.com, titled, ‘Is Social Media Shortening Our Attention Span?’:

“It’s probably unfair to blame social media specifically, but I think it’s safe to say that the 24/7 media barrage of soundbites we face every day could be taking its toll.”

“Twitter users need to make their point in 140 characters or less, USA Today, Fox News and others have shortened stories to be quickly digested and even media outlets like CNN rely on the pretty faces of their news anchors to keep our attention. As a result any substantive conversation lasting over five minutes is met with glazed eyes and shuffling feet.

How to Increase the Attention Span?

There are various things you can do to improve your attention span. However, the basic, and most important are three things, about which I have written extensively at my website:

1. Willpower
2. Self-discipline
3. Concentration

Simple Ways to Improve the Attention Span

Do you want to take the first steps toward increasing the time you can focus on one thing without getting distracted? Implement the following simple tips in your everyday life:

1. Reading an article from start to finish – When surfing the Internet, try to finish reading one complete article from start to finish at least once a day. Do not just scan the article with your eyes or read a few words and then move on. Strive to read every word despite a lack of patience, a lack of time, or laziness.

2. Talking – When talking with people, strive to listen to them, without interrupting them or moving to another topic. Curb your impatience and lack of interest, and try to be a good listener.

This will help you become patient and increase your ability to master your mind and your attention in other areas of life.

3. Writing full sentences – When replying to friends on any social media, write at least three full sentences in your reply. Do not be laconic. Express yourself a little more. This requires more attention and more patience.

4. Messages you receive – Don’t respond immediately to every message your receive on your phone. They can wait a little if you are working, reading, or doing anything important.

5. Commuting – When traveling by bus or train, keep your phone in your pocket or purse. Take 10-20 minutes to observe the people around you, look out the window, or engage in conversation with someone sitting near you.

6. Focusing on your actions – Several times a day, try to focus your complete attention on what you are doing at the moment, without looking at the screen of your phone, thinking of other matters, or letting your attention get distracted.

For example, when eating, focus on eating, when reading, focus on reading, and when you dress focus on the act of dressing. This also relates to work. When working focus on your work, not on other matters.

Focus and Don’t Give up

The mind is easily distracted, and therefore, you need to learn to keep it under control.

There will be many distractions, but that’s natural. Keep striving, and gradually, your attention span will increase.

To improve the attention span you need to work on it. It does not happen without striving to improve it.

There is no magic or instant way to improve the attention span, only constant striving.

As said earlier, better willpower, self-discipline and concentration, help improve your attention span in a big way.

There is no necessity of going deeply into these topics here, since you can learn about them here, at this website. I have also written books with advice, guidance and exercises to develop these most important skills.

Resources for Increasing the Attention Span

How to Focus Your Mind
Build up Strong Willpower and Self-Discipline
Focus Builder: A 6-Lesson Journey to Mental Clarity