Improving Concentration Skills

You're in the middle of an important task when, suddenly, anxiety strikes. These intrusive thoughts aren't just annoying—they're the gateway to distraction. But what you need to know is that you don't have to be held hostage by your own mind. In my research for my book, Indistractable, I found a great mindfulness technique called "Leaves on a Stream." It helps with managing the internal triggers that so often derail our focus. This is how you do it:  Imagine you're seated beside a gently flowing stream. Place each thought in your mind on a leaf. Let each leaf float down the stream, swirling away. Watch your thoughts drift by without judgment. Here's why it works:  Most of us try to fight off unwanted thoughts, which paradoxically makes them stronger. Instead, this technique teaches us to acknowledge our thoughts without getting entangled in them. Next time you feel pulled toward distraction, try visualizing your thoughts as leaves on a stream, drifting away. You might be surprised at how much easier it becomes to stay on task. For more focus tips like this, subscribe to my free weekly newsletter (link in bio).

Leaders waste more energy on divided focus than any other activity. I learned this the hard way in the SEAL Teams. During a training evolution, I was juggling radio communications, coordinating multiple teams, and making split-second calls. And I wasn’t doing any of it well. My commanding officer pulled me aside: "Mac, you're everywhere and nowhere. Focus or you'll miss the critical moment." He was right. I was spread so thin I couldn't see the patterns emerging right in front of me. This isn't just a military problem. I see it daily with my executive clients: → Scanning emails during strategy discussions → Mentally rehearsing a presentation while their team shares crucial updates → Attention bouncing between five urgent problems, solving none completely The cost isn't just productivity. Your leadership presence evaporates. Your team's trust erodes. In high-performance environments, attention isn't just a resource. It's your competitive advantage. When you focus fully: → You notice micro-expressions that signal team tension → You spot connections between seemingly unrelated data points → You make decisions from clarity rather than reaction Most leaders know this. Few practice it consistently. The difference isn't knowledge, it's discipline. The solution isn't complicated: 1. Practice intentional monotasking. Whatever deserves your attention deserves your FULL attention. 2. Create attention boundaries. Block time for deep work with zero notifications. 3. Build a daily mindfulness practice. Even 5 minutes trains your focus muscle. 4. Batch-process inputs. Schedule specific times for email and updates rather than letting them hijack your entire day. In my 17+ years as a SEAL, the leaders I trusted most weren't just the smartest or toughest. They were the ones who could maintain complete presence amidst chaos. They showed up fully. Their attention wasn't divided. Their focus created a gravity that pulled teams together. What deserves your full attention today? ——— Follow me (Jon Macaskill ) for leadership insights, wellness tools, and real stories about humans being good humans. And feel free to repost if someone in your life needs to hear this. 📩 Subscribe to my newsletter here → https://lnkd.in/g9ZFxDJG You'll get FREE access to my 21-Day Mindfulness & Meditation Course with real, actionable strategies.

Stop chasing productivity hacks. Here's a neuroscience-based framework that actually works: 1. Morning Brain Optimization ↳ No phones first hour ↳ Cold plunge activation ↳ Strategic hydration Why: Your brain is most plastic in the AM 2. Focus Enhancement ↳ Pomodoro Method (25/5) ↳ Task chunking ↳ Binaural beats Why: Maximizes attention span 3. Energy Management ↳ Strategic caffeine timing ↳ L-theanine pairing ↳ Quality sleep Why: Sustains peak performance 4. Distraction Control ↳ Airplane mode blocks ↳ Self-interruption awareness ↳ Environment design Why: Protects mental bandwidth 5. Recovery Protocol ↳ Strategic breaks (no screens) ↳ Tummo breathing ↳ Daily walks Why: Prevents cognitive fatigue 6. Mental Clarity ↳ Daily meditation ↳ Exercise blocks ↳ Focused to-do lists Why: Sharpens decision-making The Science Behind It: 1. Rest Optimization ↳ 90-minute work cycles ↳ Regular movement breaks ↳ Afternoon reset periods 2. Focus Enhancement ↳ Timed work blocks ↳ Distraction elimination ↳ Environmental control 3. Cognitive Performance ↳ Supplement stacking ↳ Physical activation ↳ Mental recovery Remember: • Productivity isn't about doing more • It's about optimal brain function • Recovery is as important as work Start with one change: Pick the easiest protocol Master it for one week Then add another Which technique will you implement first? ------------------------------------------------- Follow me Dan Murray-Serter 🧠 for more on habits and leadership. ♻️ Repost this if you think it can help someone in your network! 🖐️ P.S Join my newsletter The Science Of Success where I break down stories and studies of success to teach you how to turn it from probability to predictability here: https://lnkd.in/ecuRJtrr

“I can’t stop trying to problem solve a pressing work issue and it’s stopping me sleeping and resting on my weekend. Help!” ☝️literally what I wrote into ChatGPT at 12:08am on Sunday. Boundaries are really important to me - but like a lot of founders, business owners, leaders and just humans in the working world, I’m not always as good as I want to be at maintaining those boundaries when work challenges feel all consuming. Saturday night (and Sunday morning) was one of those moments for me - where my brain kept going round and round trying to solve a problem before I could give myself permission to rest. Finally I tried ChatGPT - and I thought the advice I got back was so good, it’s worth sharing! I hope that if you’re reading this, you’re having a good time at work - and if you’re not, I hope this helps a little. Remember to be kind to yourself and take the rest you deserve ❤️ ——— ChatGPT’s tips 👇 It sounds like your brain is in overdrive, trying to brute-force a solution when what you really need is rest. Here are a few tactics that might help you shift gears: 1. Externalize the Problem • Write It Down: Do a full brain dump in a notebook or a document. Write down everything you’re thinking, the stakes, possible solutions—just get it out of your head. • Set a Future Time to Revisit It: Literally schedule a block in your calendar to work on it. This reassures your brain that you will come back to it, just not right now. 2. Close the Loop on “Unfinished Business” Your brain is stuck in Zeigarnik Effect mode—it keeps looping on unresolved tasks. Try this: • Answer this prompt: “If I had to stop thinking about this until Monday, what’s the one thing I need to capture to make sure I don’t lose progress?” • Tell yourself: “Resting is part of solving this problem. If I can’t rest, I can’t be at my best to tackle it.” 3. Interrupt the Thought Spiral If your brain keeps going back to the issue, disrupt the pattern: • Physically move—do something with your hands, like cooking, stretching, or taking a walk. • Consume something totally different—watch a funny show, read a novel, or listen to music that makes you feel good. • Use a mantra: “This problem will still be here on Monday, and I’ll be better at solving it when I’m rested.” 4. Sleep Hack for an Overactive Brain If it’s keeping you up at night: • Try the “Cognitive Shuffle”: Think of random, unrelated words (e.g., “apple, staircase, velvet, ocean”). This forces your brain out of problem-solving mode. • Use a guided meditation or sleep story—something boring that keeps your brain occupied but not stressed. • Journal before bed: Write down a “release note”—acknowledge the problem and consciously decide to let it go for the night. This kind of thing happens a lot to high-performers (your brain is used to running at full speed). The trick is recognizing that rest is a strategic advantage, not a luxury. Try one or two of these and let me know what works!

The silent productivity killer you've never heard of... Attention Residue (and 3 strategies to fight back): The concept of "attention residue" was identified by Dr. Sophie Leroy in 2009. The idea is simple: There is a cognitive cost to shifting your attention from one task to another. When our attention is shifted, a "residue" remains and impairs our performance on the new task. 1. Create a Boot Up Sequence Your boot up sequence is a series of actions that prime you for deep focus work. For me, this involves cold brew, classical music, and sitting in a bright, well-lit environment. Create your own sequence and your attention performance will improve. 2. Create Focus Work Blocks Block time on your calendar for sprints of focused energy. Set a timer for a 45-90 minute window, close everything except the task at hand, and focus on one thing. It works wonders. 3. Take a Breather Whenever possible, create open windows of 5-15 minutes between higher value tasks. Schedule 25-minute calls. Block the windows on your calendar. During them, take a walk or close your eyes and breathe. 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. Enjoy this? Share it with your network and follow me Sahil Bloom for more in future. Join 800,000+ others who receive these insights in their inbox: https://lnkd.in/esGsF85Q

Get your attention span back. Let’s face it – our attention span is cooked. Never-ending social media feeds. Tons of open tabs. Constant information inflow – at least as long as we are awake. Incoming messages via at minimum five channels. And a hallelujah for multitasking 24/7. Focus and concentration have become two of the most underrated skills in our digital world. I visited a masterclass on “how your brain works” last week. Here are five things that I took as “worth a trial”: 👉 Train your attention span like a muscle Start with 5 minutes of deep focus. When your mind drifts – notice it, and come back. Each time you succeed, increase the time. 👉 Turn down your phone(s) Set limits, charge it outside your bedroom, go grayscale. Buy an old-fashioned alarm clock. No social media before sleep. No social media first thing in the morning. 👉 Be bored and be ok with it Give your brain moments of boredom. Walk without headphones. Eat without watching. Each time you resist the urge to fill space, you rebuild your baseline for focus. 👉 Stop “thinking in circles” Write down everything that’s pulling at your attention – e.g., unfinished tasks, messages, random to-dos. Then: do it, schedule it, or let it go. Get things out of your system. 👉 Caring for yourself means stopping to care for everything Ignore topics that drain your energy. Unfollow what distracts. Abandon what doesn’t move you forward. How do you protect your focus when everything around you is designed to distract you?

Your sharpest decisions aren’t made at the desk. They’re made at night, when your brain files memories, connects dots, and locks in what you’ve learned. In fact, sleep is the unsung Chief Operating Officer of your memory department, quietly sorting, indexing, and cross-referencing the day’s information so you can make sharp decisions tomorrow. And yet, many of us often treat it like an inconvenience. The result? 😵💫 You wake foggy 📱 You keep misplacing your phone 🙄 Your team roll their eyes when you repeat the same anecdote for the fifth time 🥛 You forget the milk your partner asked you to grab on the way home 📄 You miss a key detail in a board paper you read just yesterday Here’s the science-backed truth: If you want to remember more, you have to sleep smarter. • Prioritise 7–9 hours. Not “when I can,” but every night. The science says around 8 hours is best for most people. • Build a sleep-conducive environment. A peaceful sleep haven, free of distractions, with comfortable bedding and a slightly cool temperature  • Keep consistent patterns. Your brain loves rhythm; irregular schedules interfere with your body clock. • Wind down deliberately. Pre-sleep rituals like deep breathing, meditation, a warm bath or shower to quieten your mind and set the stage for deep, restorative rest. • Respect the timing. If your 5am workout steals your REM sleep, it’s stealing memory too. If your memory falters, so does your clarity, your judgment, and your leadership. 👉 In my years at the intersection of biology, neuroscience and performance, I’ve never seen a leader sharpen their memory without first sharpening their sleep. You wouldn’t under-fuel your body and expect peak performance. So why under-sleep your brain? #ExecutivePerformance #CEOMindset #PeakLeadership

How a high achiever stopped burning out & 10x’d their productivity When Anna (not her real name) came to me, she was frustrated. ❌ She was working 12+ hours a day. ❌ She was constantly switching between tasks. ❌ She was running on caffeine and sleeping 5 hours a night. She thought this was what high achievers do. But despite all her effort, she wasn’t getting the results she wanted. Her thinking felt slow. Her creativity was gone. She was exhausted. When we broke it down, the answer was simple: She was working against her own brain. So, we rewired her approach to work—aligning it with how the brain actually functions. 🧠 Here’s What Changed Everything for Her: 1️⃣ She worked in sprints, not marathons ↳ The prefrontal cortex—the brain’s problem-solving center—can only focus for 45-60 minutes before it needs a reset. ↳ Anna used to force herself through 4-hour deep work blocks, but her brain was tapping out after one hour. ⏩ Action: We switched her to 50-minute deep work sprints + real 10-minute breaks. Within a week, she felt sharper and got more done in less time. 2️⃣ She stopped multitasking & focused on one thing at a time ↳ Anna thought she was being productive by juggling emails, Slack, and deep work all at once. ↳ But the brain is SEQUENTIAL—it can only focus on one task at a time. ↳ Exception: Writing notes while learning actually improves retention. ⏩ Action: She started single-tasking everything (no Slack during deep work!). Her focus and execution skyrocketed. 3️⃣ She prioritized sleep as a non-negotiable ↳ Before, Anna treated sleep like an afterthought—"I’ll rest when I finish this project." ↳ But the brain is METABOLICALLY HUNGRY—sleep is the only way to fully recharge cognitive power. ↳ Within two weeks of 7-8 hours of sleep per night, she said: “I can think so much clearer. I feel like my brain is finally working at full speed again.” ⏩ Action: Sleep became a business priority, not a luxury. 4️⃣ She balanced her neurochemicals to stay motivated ↳ Low serotonin = no happiness ↳ Low dopamine = no motivation ↳ Too much adrenaline = chronic stress & decision fatigue ↳ Before, Anna lived on caffeine and pressure. ⏩ Action: She started getting outside, moving daily, and celebrating small wins (a dopamine boost). Her energy and motivation transformed. The Result? ✅ More done in 6 hours than she used to in 12 ✅ No more brain fog or exhaustion ✅ Finally felt in control of her work & energy She didn’t need to push harder. She needed to work with her brain, not against it. Stop forcing productivity. Start using neuroscience to your advantage. Which of these hacks do you need to implement today? Drop a comment below! 👇 ----------------------- 🚨 Only 6 spots. Applications are OPEN for the Elite Mind Accelerator. 🔗 Apply now: https://dorotakosiorek(dot)com/accelerator-sign-up/

🧠 Attention spans are shrinking in a world designed to distract us... Every ping, notification, or scroll is designed to capture your focus—and with it, your time and energy. I used to struggle with this myself. I’d start my day with good intentions, only to feel scattered by the endless distractions around me. But over time, I realized something important: your attention is a muscle. Like any muscle, it grows stronger with consistent practice. Improving your attention span isn’t just about getting more done—it’s about reclaiming your ability to engage deeply with the things that matter most. it doesn’t require overhauling your life—it’s about small, intentional steps. Here are 5 simple practices that have worked for me: 1. Adopt "Curiosity Mapping" When your mind starts to wander, use it as an opportunity to get curious about the task at hand. Ask yourself: - Why is this important? - What don’t I understand yet? - How could I look at this differently? This reframes focus as an exploration, turning boring tasks into mentally engaging challenges. 2. Prioritize single-tasking over multitasking I used to think juggling multiple tasks made me productive, but the truth is, it only left me drained. Now, I focus on one task at a time, and the difference in quality (and peace of mind) is incredible. 3. Create a “Focus Trigger” Playlist Instead of random music, I curate a specific playlist to act as my brain's cue for deep work. Over time, hearing those songs will signal your mind to shift into a focused state 4. Use mindfulness practices to train your brain I was initially skeptical about meditation, but even just 5 minutes of mindful breathing helps me reset and stay present. It’s like a mental workout that strengthens my focus over time. I use a mixture of Calm and Headspace. 5. Break large tasks into smaller, manageable pieces Big projects used to overwhelm me and made me procrastinate until the last minute. This all changed when I started breaking them into smaller steps. If I have a keynote presentation coming up, I spend 5 minutes just outlining and then come back to this task later in the week, which makes the whole presentation much easier to write. Each little win builds momentum and keeps me moving forward. In this short video, I talked about how mindfulness helped me increase my attention span, focus on my goals, and produce my best work. Which strategies have you tried? Let me know in the comments ⬇️ How I can help: I work with ambitious professionals and global organizations to maximize wellbeing and productivity. If you are interested to learn more, get in touch via DM. Check out my YouTube channel for your weekly dose of productivity and personal growth insights. 🔔 Enjoy this post? Follow me Laurie Wang for more ♻️ Repost to share with your network #productivity #successmindset #learninganddevelopment

Writing Solves 30% of the Problem (Backed by Psychology) We live in a world full of noise - external and internal. Notifications, expectations, and most of all: overthinking. But here’s something simple I discovered — and it works almost like magic: Writing down your problem solves 30% of it. Not metaphorically. Not hypothetically. Actually. --- Let’s talk science for a second. According to research from UCLA, labeling and expressing emotions reduces activity in the amygdala, the part of your brain that triggers stress and fear. Writing forces your brain to shift from chaos to clarity, from fight-or-flight to reflection and control. A Harvard Business Review study found that people who reflect (via writing) perform 23% better in problem-solving tasks compared to those who don’t. So yes, writing isn’t passive. It’s your brain’s debugging tool. --- Here’s how I approach problems now (and you can too) Over the years, I developed a 4-step system I use whenever I feel stuck. It’s simple, it’s human, and it works. --- Step 1: Write the problem down. Literally. Forget typing. Use a pen if you can. Describe the issue. How you feel about it. Even just doing this has helped me feel 30% lighter, instantly. Why? Because your brain offloads the emotional baggage onto the page. You stop rehearsing pain and start diagnosing it. --- Step 2: Ask Why, Whom, How, and When Think like an investigator: Why is this happening? Whom is it affecting? How did it start? When did it become a problem? This creates perspective - and that kills the illusion of helplessness. --- Step 3: Be your own best friend Now imagine your closest friend had this exact problem. What advice would you give them? You’d probably be more calm, kind, and objective, right? That’s because self-compassion is hard, but third-person thinking is powerful. So list out all the advice you’d give to someone else. That’s your potential solution bank. --- Step 4: Try solutions from light to tough Start with the least risky or easiest one. Then, if that doesn’t work, take a bolder path — the tougher solution. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s momentum. If nothing works, there’s one last, beautiful option most people forget: --- Ask for help. We’re wired for connection. The world still functions — not because everyone has it together — but because we lean on each other. Help isn’t a weakness. It’s a strategy. --- The end result? You’ll not only solve the problem, You’ll analyze better next time. You’ll be better prepared. And you’ll trust yourself more. --- Final Thought Every major breakthrough in my life began with a blank page. When you write your problems, you don’t just describe them - you disarm them. Next time your mind feels like a storm? Grab a pen. You’re already 30% closer to clarity.