It has been demonstrated that attention spans are shrinking. People are constantly inundated with short videos, bite-size content, and endless stimuli that prevent them from really focusing on one thing at a time. Even corporate training materials have moved toward digestible content. Though not necessarily a bad thing, it highlights the necessity for companies to accommodate workers who are easily distracted. Similarly, as you tailor your marketing messages for your target audience, you must also modify your communication methods to suit their attention span.

Five tips and tricks to improve your attention span

A single person alone cannot change the trend. However, you can take steps to protect your mind and even improve your attention span if you worry that it is waning. Here are five actionable hacks to help you focus.

Eliminate distractions

You are the product of your environment. It’s perfectly natural to check a notification when your phone pings or an email pops up in your inbox. Unfortunately, these messages and other distractions can prevent you from accomplishing meaningful work.

To address this, invest in focus time. Close your email app, put away your phone, and turn off your notifications. Or simply set “Let Hubgets manage my interruptions” status when you use our team communication and collaboration platform. The only thing in front of you should be work. You might be surprised by how much you get done when your phone is across the room in your bag.

It’s unrealistic to expect yourself to focus for eight hours a day—especially if you’re frequently interrupted by meetings, calls, and questions. Instead, set aside one-hour blocks of time for deep work. After an hour, take a break and catch up on what you missed.

Get into a routine

Building your attention span takes time and practice. Establish a routine by dedicating the same time each day or the same duration to focus on a specific task. For example, you can set your deep work at 9 am each morning until your brain gets used to settling into a task without distractions.

You can do this in your personal life too. You can set a timer to read for 20 minutes each evening for a month. Next month, you can increase the timer to 30 minutes each night. Eventually, you will be able to sit and read for an hour without even thinking about it.

Know your triggers

One of the best ways to keep your focus is to know what disturbs it. Some people might get lost in their email messages or ping-pong on chat, while others love taking a break with TikTok videos or IG reels. Identify your kryptonite.

From there, you can take steps to overcome your distractions. If people are your triggers, talk to them. Share your goals to grow your attention span with your coworkers and ask them to hold you accountable. This is a nice way of telling them to leave you alone. This communication will also help your team understand why it takes you longer to respond during your focus time.

Stop multitasking

Multi-tasking doesn’t work. Attempting to perform multiple tasks at once means you’re essentially not giving full attention to any single task. Instead, you bounce from one project to another throughout the day. Not only will this hurt your attention span, but it will also exhaust you and stress you out.

Fortunately, you also don’t have to focus on one singular task throughout the day. Consider working on two or three major projects during your focus time and then smaller tasks in between. A strong attention span is only partly measured by how long you can focus on something. It’s also determined by how well you can focus on one task when you would rather be doing anything else.

Reward yourself

Everyone needs motivation to stay focused. Sometimes, you’ll have to concentrate on challenging tasks, even when you’d prefer to be doing anything else. When this happens, give yourself an extra incentive for getting the task done.

For many people, their reward is gaining access to their phones after the task is complete or the focus period ends. Even a 10-minute break is a significant reward when you’re building back your attention span.

Be patient

You can’t expect to grow your attention span overnight. Your brain is a muscle that needs to be trained. On certain days, focusing comes more naturally than on others.

At times, an engaging project might captivate your attention for hours, while on other days, distractions like cat videos or vacation daydreaming might win out. Don’t punish yourself for getting distracted and try to focus again tomorrow.

As you turn these straightforward productivity hacks into habits, focusing will gradually become easier. Eventually, you’ll achieve an attention span that you can take pride in. Good luck and focus on!