Welcome to The Curiosity Chronicle, a weekly newsletter where I provide actionable ideas to help you build a high-performing, healthy, wealthy life.
Today at a Glance:
Albert Einstein devoted three years of his life to deep focus on the specific task of generalizing his theory of relativity. He didn't work on ten things during this period—he directed all of his precious attention to the one thing that really mattered.
Attention Residue is the scientific concept that there is a cognitive switching cost to shifting your attention from one task to another. When your attention is shifted, there is a "residue" that remains with the prior task and impairs your cognitive performance on the new task.
To fight back, here are 4 strategies you can implement today: (1) Create a boot up sequence, (2) Schedule focus blocks, (3) Take a walk, and (4) Leverage Parkinson's Law.
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Attention Residue: The Productivity Killer
Photo by Stefan Cosma
Albert Einstein was already an accomplished mathematician by the time he arrived at the ETH Institute in Switzerland in 1912. He had published many works, held professorships, and started to gain notoriety in his field.
But few would know anything about him if not for the 3-year period from 1912-1915.
It was during this time that he formulated his theory of general relativity, which is widely considered to be the greatest scientific achievement of the 20th century.
Albert Einstein devoted three years of his life to deep focus on the specific task of generalizing his theory of relativity to account for a pesky little thing called gravity.
Best-selling author Cal Newport once wrote, "We are most productive when we focus on a very small number of projects on which we can devote a large amount of attention."
Einstein followed this principle: He didn't work on ten things during this period—he directed all of his precious attention to the one thing that really mattered.
Formulating a world-changing math theory is probably a bit out of reach for most of us—but this principle on focused attention is one that we can all strive to apply to reach our individual potential.
Well, here's a harsh truth: Your attention is more divided than ever...but there is something you can do about it.
The Science of Attention Residue
The concept of "attention residue" was first identified by University of Washington business professor Dr. Sophie Leroy in 2009.
In the original paper, Dr. Leroy defines attention residue as, "the persistence of cognitive activity about a Task A even though one stopped working on Task A and currently performs a Task B."
In other words, there is a cognitive switching cost to shifting your attention from one task to another. When your attention is shifted, there is a "residue" that remains with the prior task and impairs your cognitive performance on the new task.
You may think your attention has fully shifted to the new task, but your brain has a lag.
That lag has become even more prominent in the modern digital world, where you carry (and wear) multiple devices and tools that constantly pull on your attention with their notifications, beeps, and alluring lights.
It's easy to find examples of this effect in your own life:
You have back-to-back meetings and find yourself still thinking about the prior meeting in the current one.
An email notification pops up and completely derails your focus on the current task.
You check your phone under your desk during a lecture and find yourself unable to refocus on the professor's words.
You’re having a conversation with a friend or partner but find your mind racing on the work email you just received rather than listening to what they’re saying.
The research further indicates it doesn't seem to matter whether the task switch is “macro” (i.e. moving from one major task to the next) or “micro” (i.e. pausing one major task for a quick check on some minor task).
Stopping to quickly check your email or messages is just as bad as jumping between one major project and another.
As Cal Newport concluded, “If, like most, you rarely go more than 10–15 minutes without a just check, you have effectively put yourself in a persistent state of self-imposed cognitive handicap. The flip side, of course, is to imagine the relative cognitive enhancement that would follow by minimizing this effect.”
Attention residue is derailing your productivity—leading you to spend more time working to generate lower quality and quantity of output.
We've all felt the pain—here's how we can fight back...
4 Strategies to Reclaim Your Attention
I have experimented with several tactical strategies for managing attention residue that have been highly effective in my life.
Four strategies you can implement today:
1. Create a Boot Up Sequence
Having a consistent routine to "get in the zone" is extremely helpful.
Your personal boot up sequence is a series of actions that prime your mind and body for deep focus work.
For me, this involves the following:
Cold brew coffee, black
Classical music on noise-cancelling headphones
Sitting in a bright, well-lit environment
Importantly, I can generally create those conditions whether I'm at home or on the road, which means I can get myself into a focused state no matter where I am.
Create your own boot up sequence and your attention performance will improve.
2. Schedule Focus Blocks
This is the most fundamental strategy for fighting back against attention residue: Block time on your calendar for sprints of focused energy.
Download a simple focus app for your computer (I like Flow) and use it to set a timer for a focus block length. The app will restrict any apps you want from being opened during your block. I typically restrict texts, email, Slack, and Twitter, as those are my biggest time wasters and notification drivers.
If you're prone to checking your phone (like I am!), put it in another room so that you physically can't see or touch it.
You’ll build your focus muscle progressively:
Start with 30 minutes, once per day.
Work your way up to one hour, two to three times per day by the end of the first month.
From there, extend the periods to two hours (my personal maximum) or four hours (an ambitious target) as your focus muscle strengthens.
It may mean reconfiguring your calendar a bit, but since most people do their best work early (before most daily calls start) or late (after most daily calls end), it should be doable.
3. Take a Walk
Attention residue is at its worst when we're forced into back-to-back meetings.
For some reason, we've decided that all meetings should be 30 minutes long (and then we fill 5-10 minutes of the call with silly banter about the weather).
Whenever possible, create open windows of at least 5 minutes between higher value tasks.
Schedule 25-minute calls or note upfront the desire to be efficient (say you want to give people their time back so that it's about helping them!). Block those windows on your calendar.
During these windows, do one of the following:
Take a walk without your phone. No checking email!
Take a breath. Close your eyes and breathe deeply in a box format (4 seconds in, 4 second hold, 4 seconds out, 4 second hold). Do 10 "reps" of that, focusing on the breath.
The walk or breathing exercise serves as a reset button for your brain. Use it regularly.
4. Leverage Parkinson's Law
Parkinson's Law is the idea that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
Have all day to process email and you end up emailing for the entire day. Have 30 minutes to process email and you crank through your entire inbox in a flash.
To use this to your advantage, pick a few time-constrained windows during the day when you will deeply focus on the task of processing email or messages (those notifications that prompt the "just checks" that are so damning to your attention).
In addition to improving your attention while focusing on other tasks, this change will improve the quality of your email and message responses, since you'll actually be focused on them, rather than trying to balance them against some other task.
The Life Changing Magic of Attention
Attention residue is a silent killer of your work quality and efficiency. Understanding it—and taking the steps to fight back—will have an immediate positive impact on your work and life.
We may never formulate our own theory of general relativity, but we can all achieve up to our potential by leveraging the power of attention.
It's time we all discover the life changing magic of attention.
I'd love to hear from you:
When have you noticed attention residue negatively impacting your work?
How do you plan to implement the above steps to reclaim your attention?
What other strategies have you used that have worked for you?
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