How to maintain long - term focus on work and study?

Readers often ask me: Why can some people focus on work and study for several hours? How do they achieve this? Are there any methods to cultivate such "concentration"?

Many people may think that those who achieve success rely on extraordinary concentration. They can fully immerse themselves in what they are doing, working and studying for seven or eight hours a day without distraction, wandering thoughts, or slackness...

However, I want to tell you that this view is actually incorrect.

In fact, it is both unrealistic and unnecessary to require a person to focus on work and study for several hours every day. This is just a long - standing misunderstanding of "focus".

In today's article, I will analyze in detail the principle and cause of this misunderstanding, and share with you what kind of focus is useful and how to cultivate this effective "focus".

I. The Misunderstanding of Focus

Why is the idea of "continuously investing several hours in work and study" a misunderstanding of focus? There are mainly three reasons:

1. It is extremely difficult to achieve.
2. Even if it is achieved, its effect is very limited.
3. Finally, it will bring negative impacts and harm to health.

Let's start with the first point.

I've mentioned in many previous articles that the brain has two main operating modes: DMN (Default Mode Network) and CEN (Central Executive Network). Which one is the normal state? It's the former. After all, its name is the "default mode".

Research has found that about 50% of our waking time in a day is spent "daydreaming" (i.e., activating the DMN). During the rest of the time, we constantly switch our attention between different tasks, continuously activating the CEN.

Therefore, it is very difficult to focus on the same task for several consecutive hours, which is equivalent to keeping the CEN of the brain stably active for several consecutive hours.

Furthermore, more in - depth research has found that when we focus on a task, "mind - wandering" is the norm, and "never wandering" is abnormal.

Neuroscientist Michael Halassa's research shows that when we concentrate our attention on one thing, what does the activity of the neural network look like? It suppresses other input signals so that our consciousness can distinguish noise from the main subject in a large amount of information.

However, the problem is that the noise suppressed by the brain may be important, hiding information crucial to our survival.

Therefore, the brain has added a double - insurance: "scanning" these "noises" all the time to ensure that no important information is missed.

Neuroscientist Fiebelkorn found that this "scanning" occurs about 4 times per second.

That is to say, our attention is not continuously and constantly focused on one thing, but presents a waveform, constantly fluctuating between strong and weak at a frequency of about 4 times per second.

When it reaches the trough, the "attention valve" of the brain will loosen. If there is a relatively important signal at this time, it may attract our attention, resulting in a "distraction".

As you can see, it is almost impossible to work whole - heartedly for several hours without any external or internal interference during such a high - frequency attention scanning process.

II. The Limited Effect of Prolonged Focus

Even if you can suppress these "scans" and keep your attention firmly focused on the task at hand for several hours, it is actually unnecessary.

Why? Because the actual effect brought by "focus" decreases rapidly as time increases.

We know what the brain likes most: new things. When we start a new task, its freshness is the strongest, and thus its attractiveness to the brain is also the strongest. So, the brain will consider it important and be willing to invest more resources to process it.

But after we have worked on it for a while, we will become more familiar with it. Its freshness drops sharply, and its attractiveness to the brain also drops sharply.

This leads to two results: On the one hand, we will enter a state of "unsaturated attention" when dealing with this task. Specifically, the brain will think that this task is not that important. Therefore, it will try to squeeze out a part of the attention resources to "scan" other possible external or internal information to avoid missing something. This makes our "attention valve" more likely to loosen, making us more prone to distraction and mind - wandering. On the other hand, the brain's vigilance and reaction to it will decrease. The direct manifestation is that you will seem a bit absent - minded, prone to making mistakes, easily fatigued, unable to remember the content you've read several times, and feel that your mind is in a blur...

If you often have such feelings, don't worry. This is a normal phenomenon.

So, there is a psychological term called "refreshing". It means that when something becomes so familiar that we take it for granted, we have to make some changes to it to reignite the brain's freshness towards it.

A simple example is: If you stick a few sticky notes on your desk to remind yourself of something, but after a long time, you will become "blind" to these sticky notes and won't notice them at all. To change this state, you have to move them to a new place to arouse your attention again.

Another example is: Many people like to play games. But even in games, if you always fight monsters and level up in the same place in the same way, you will soon get bored. The reason is the same.

Similarly, once you have worked on a task for a long time, you will easily lose interest in it, become inefficient, and be in a low - energy state. At this time, you have to initiate a "refreshing" to resume a high - energy state.

In this case, if you don't refresh but force yourself to keep going, the result will definitely be unsatisfactory.

So, how to refresh? We'll talk about it later.

III. The Negative Impacts of Long - term Focused Work

Finally, let's briefly talk about why long - term focused work has negative impacts.

The reason is simple: In most cases, when we work and study, we are basically sitting. And long - term sitting has been regarded by many studies as the most harmful daily bad habit to physical and mental health, increasing the risk of many diseases.

Here are some examples: A Norwegian research group surveyed data from more than 36,000 people and conducted an average follow - up study of more than 5.8 years. They found that when the daily continuous sitting time exceeds 9.5 hours, the mortality rate increases significantly. (Ulf Ekelund et al., 2019) A 2021 study found that approximately 1.6% of hypertension, 2.2% of bladder cancer, 2.8% of breast cancer, 2.8% of endometrial cancer, 2.9% of colorectal cancer, 4.5% of type 2 diabetes, 5.0% of coronary heart disease, 5.0% of stroke, 6.9% of gastric cancer, 7.2% of depression, 7.2% of esophageal cancer, 7.2% of kidney cancer, and 8.1% of Alzheimer's disease globally can be attributed to lack of exercise, that is, long - term sitting. (Katzmarzyk et al., 2021) A 2018 study focused on the relationship between long - term sitting and cognitive ability. The results showed that long - term sitting reduces the brain's cognitive ability. The reason is that long - term sitting is not conducive to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular circulation, which significantly reduces the brain's thinking and cognitive ability. (Bakrania et al., 2018) Physiologist Audrey Bergouignan's research found that long - term sitting can lead to muscle atrophy, mitochondrial loss, fat accumulation, insulin resistance... All of these will increase the probability of obesity and diabetes. Another example I mentioned in a previous article is that long - term sitting can cause partial brain areas to be short of oxygen. Although this lack of oxygen may be temporary, it will almost inevitably cause minor damage to the nervous system. In the long run, this accumulated damage may cause irreversible consequences, such as making neurons more likely to die or destroying neural connections due to long - term lack of oxygen.

So, how long is considered long - term sitting? Although there is no clear definition, many guidelines recommend that it should not exceed 90 minutes at most, that is, you must get up and move for a few minutes every one and a half hours to change your body state. It is best to get up and move every 30 - 45 minutes.

Therefore, in any case, sitting still and focusing on work for several hours in a row may cause more harm to your body than good.

IV. The Correct and Effective Way of Focus

After talking so much, you must be wondering: What is the more correct and effective "focus"? How to achieve this truly effective focus?

I've divided it into 5 parts, which together form this "focus" system for your reference.

1. Sprint Mode

What is a sprint? Simply put, it is to work in small amounts but multiple times. Instead of aiming to work for a long time at once, divide your work into multiple tasks. Concentrate on one task during a "sprint phase", then take a break, switch modes, and continue working.

Many people use the "Pomodoro Technique" for sprints, that is, setting 25 minutes as a "Pomodoro" and taking a 5 - minute break after 25 minutes of work. This method can be a reference. However, I personally don't recommend fixing the time too mechanically. Instead, it is advisable to set the time according to the specific requirements of the work. The time can be long or short and does not need to be fixed, aiming to complete a specific task, preferably between 15 and 45 minutes.

The advantage of this is that it avoids the interruption of thoughts caused by overly mechanical fixed - time arrangements and allows you to fully control the rhythm of your work and study. Over time, you will experience a stronger sense of initiative and control.

For example, when I write an article, I may first set the task of "finding an appropriate example for this theory", which may take 20 minutes. Then I'll take a break, and set the next task of "detailing the specific steps of this method", which may take 30 minutes, and then take another break... And so on. Another example is when you are making a planning scheme. You can set tasks like: finding a case in the same industry (Task 1), collecting relevant data of this case (Task 2), conducting a brief analysis of this case (Task 3)... Each task should be controlled within 15 - 45 minutes, and take a break after completion. The tasks are set by yourself. You can set the tasks for the next sprint phase during the break. It is best to complete a specific result to give yourself a sense of completion. During the break, it is best to get up and move your body. You can let your mind go blank, or go for a walk, look at different things to "clear" the residual tasks from the brain's background, so as to ensure that there won't be too much junk information accumulated in the background and keep your brain refreshed.

2. Alternating Activities

As mentioned before, the best work mode is in "sprint phases", with each sprint lasting about 15 - 45 minutes, followed by getting up to move and rest, which can maximize the avoidance of the harm of long - term sitting. However, this method cannot solve the problem of "unsaturated attention". So we need the second step: alternating activities. That is, after every 3 - 4 sprint phases, switch to a new project and continue sprinting. The greater the difference between the new project and the old one, the better. It is best to be completely different. For example: processing data and writing an article, learning a language and learning mathematics, doing question banks and writing a plan... This can not only maximize the "refreshing" but also activate different brain regions, enabling the brain to operate at its best. Generally, setting two projects is sufficient. If the working time is long, you can consider three projects, but it is not recommended to have more. The time for each project can also be long or short. For example, if you have three projects and Project 1 is the most important, you may switch every 3 - 4 sprints; Projects 2 and 3 are less important, so you can switch every 2 sprints. And so on. Similarly, when reading and studying, it is best to alternate between multiple different projects instead of continuously reading the same book or learning the same content, so as to maximize the learning effect.

3. Active Rest

Let's call the transition between each sprint a "short break". It may just involve moving your body, shifting your attention, and relaxing your brain, lasting about a few minutes. Then, after several sprints, it is best to take a longer - term "long break". What kind of long break is good? I know what you're thinking, so I want to emphasize that you should avoid "passively receiving information" during the break. Such as scrolling through your phone, reading the news feed, chatting, watching TV shows, etc. This kind of passive information - receiving break is easy to overdo and can easily disrupt your work state and make you slack. A better way to rest is to engage in activities that require some thinking but are not overly strenuous, which is active rest. For example: organizing your notes and files; immersively watching a documentary; writing a diary; archiving and writing reviews for the books and movies you've watched; etc. You can also watch some knowledge - based videos and record your thoughts while watching; read a few articles that interest you to give your brain some interesting inspiration; read a few pages of books in different fields to let your brain acquire new knowledge points... Don't worry about "will constantly using your brain make it fatigued?" In fact, constantly using your brain will make it more sensitive and powerful. What makes the brain fatigued is only long - term over - exertion and spending a lot of energy on mechanical, repetitive, and monotonous things. As long as you avoid these two points, there won't be any problem. The time for each "long break" can be similar to that of a sprint phase. I personally recommend 20 - 30 minutes. This can not only let your brain relax but also won't take too much time and affect your work state.

4. Training for Flow

Some people may have questions: Doesn't the flow theory tell us to maintain the flow state for as long as possible? Won't these repeated sprints and breaks disrupt the rhythm of the flow? In fact, what we should train is never the ability to "maintain a longer flow state" but the ability to "enter the flow state anytime and anywhere". You can understand it this way: An effective flow state is actually like a process of beating monsters and passing levels. It consists of one level after another, constantly requiring you to mobilize your skills, think, and use your strength to pass. So, the key is that you need to be able to enter the state and start the flow as soon as you begin a "sprint". A simple and effective way is to set some ritualistic behaviors to help you start the flow. For example, if you make yourself a cup of tea, take a sip, and then start working whole - heartedly. Over time, "making a cup of tea and taking a sip" will become an "action cue". When you repeat this action, it is like sending a signal to your brain: I'm going to start working attentively now. Another way is to consciously train your attention in daily life so that you are less likely to be disturbed by external or internal factors. Specifically, choose a relatively less - busy time to go out, go outdoors, find a place where you won't disturb others and won't be disturbed, and stay quietly for 10 - 20 minutes. Try to focus your attention on your senses, carefully feel what you see, hear, smell, and sense, and immerse yourself in this quiet atmosphere, trying not to think too much. This is a deliberate training of attention. Once you get used to this state, you will be more likely to focus your attention on the things in front of you and enter a state of concentration and flow more easily.

5. Avoiding Disturbances

The last point is very simple and intuitive: When you are focusing on work, try to avoid disturbances. If possible, it is best to go to a place where you won't be easily disturbed by others. You can have appropriate white noise as a background, mute your phone, don't check messages, don't listen to music, and definitely don't scroll through the news feed. If your work doesn't require an immediate response to messages, you can collect the messages and reply to them during the short breaks or long breaks to avoid interrupting your focused state. Of course, this depends on your work and study environment. Maybe not everyone has such conditions. We can only hope that things will gradually improve.

I hope today's article can give you some inspiration.