“We can actually focus our minds in a way that changes the structure and function of the brain throughout our lives. . . . [B]eing aware of the present moment without grasping onto judgments offers a powerful path toward both compassion and inner well-being. This is what science verifies and what has been taught over thousands of years of practice.”
- Daniel Siegel, The Mindful Brain

Constant distraction in our lives has become accepted and almost even fashionable. Just do one thing? How boring, how indulgent. Multitasking is cool; it shows we’re needed, active, popular, skilled. But imagine driving without being on the telephone, eating, or putting on makeup. Imagine enjoying the sensory experience of walking through a city without talking on the phone? Then we would be engaged in the moment and entertained by our surroundings: by the faces of the passersby, by the colors and shapes of the trees, by the architecture. What might it feel like to work without the interruption of emails? To listen to someone else without already thinking about our response?

Here are five practices that can be useful tools in reducing distraction or frenetic activity and cultivating focus and concentration. They are surprisingly easy to implement and, almost before you know it, can become positive addictions.

1: Appreciate Impermanence
I saw a cartoon in a recent New Yorker magazine in which two people were finishing their dinners at a Chinese restaurant and had just opened their fortune cookies. One fortune read, “You are going to die.”
If you let this fact sink in — that life is short, and we all die — it can actually act as a powerful motivating force to help maintain focus and priorities. Everything changes and is impermanent, so are we fully present and making the most of this fleeting moment? Are we fully aware of what we are doing? Appreciating impermanence clarifies priorities, and it helps us identify any frenetic, shallow and ineffective activities we’re being distracted by. We see clearly the things that exhaust us and distract us from experiencing the blessing and opportunity of each particular day.

2: Clarify Aspirations and Create Next Steps
Make two lists. Title the first one “Aspirations, Plans, and Projects.” Title the column next to this “Next Steps,” and list concrete action steps toward implementation of each aspiration, plan, or project. What is the very first action required toward completing each item, and the step after that and the one after that? In the popular book Getting Things Done, productivity improvement expert David Allen describes the relief that people experience just by listing “next steps” in relation to incomplete projects. The act of identifying clear actions can have a freeing effect and make you feel that you’re making progress (sometimes when mired in setbacks and resistance, project management minutiae, or office politics, this is not so easy to believe). It can be daunting having many projects hanging over your head, so this helps clarify the actions needed to move each project toward completion.

3: Retrain Pavlov’s Dog
We react to email and phone calls the way Pavlov’s dog reacted to a bell: we come running at once, tongues wagging. Instead, when approaching the daily onrush of emails, phone calls, and other attention “grabbers,” try bringing a different kind of awareness and attention to these activities. Experiment with becoming aware of your breath as you begin to write an email. When the phone rings, use this as a time to pause – know that the person who is calling you is also breathing, right in that moment.

4: Savor Borrowed Time
Borrowed time is when we take a brief moment to do nothing; we just breathe and smell the sweetness of the air, think briefly about the task we just completed or are about to start; or listen to the birds flying, one’s heartbeat, or the conversations around us (without participating in them). These refreshing bits of time can be just a minute or two long, and they can happen many times throughout the day if we let them.

5: Create Your Own Toolkit for Reducing Stress
Experiment with beginning each day, or most days, with meditation practice. Explore routines and rituals to center and relax during the day. Just breathing deeply and from the diaphragm three or four times, several times a day, can be a great start. Commit to stopping: notice the warm power of the sun or the sound of the freezing rain; smile; drink a glass of water; close your eyes for a minute or two; stretch your arms and legs, giving your neck and shoulders or hands a mini-massage; or get up from your desk to chat with a colleague down the hall.