Why is it Hard to Focus? Understanding the Science Behind Concentration

Many of us might have faced difficulty with concentration when it comes to tasks involving deep focus. This problem seriously affects self-controlled works that have no deadline, and those tasks might not be affected much that have an external deadline. Since those self-controlled tasks are not time-bound, they can be delayed. In today’s digital world, there are so many distractions that we are overloaded with tons of information daily in a short span. Many of us have probably been in circumstances where we unintentionally spent hours scrolling aimlessly or watching quick videos on social media until realizing that we were actually working on something else. It may be the notifications that make us spend so much time with our phones, or it may be some other internal triggering factor to check the phone.

The famous monk Dhandapani once stated that concentration is a skill that can be learned. if someone has never been taught how to focus, they are likely to struggle with it. Concentration is something where we put our awareness on one thing at a time. Normally, the human brain is designed to find distractions in the first place, as the brain seeks novelty or reward. The brain constantly looks for the easiest way to complete tasks with minimal effort. When deep work gets challenging, the brain pushes back by making the task feel boring or frustrating, encouraging a switch to something easier and rewarding. Some people generally have good attention control and good concentration due to genetic or environmental factors or through various practices during their childhood.

Let’s understand the pattern of how our brain focuses and how it gets distracted. When the brain initially engages in a task, it goes into an episode of deep focus. As time passes, mental fatigue sets in due to cognitive overload (the brain is processing too much information at once, exceeding its working memory capacity). Then, focus breaks down. The brain shifts into a state of wandering before getting pulled into distractions. If distractions are avoided, the mind enters true boredom where no external stimulations are present. This is where a mental reset happens, allowing focus to rebuild. But when the brain enters the stage of distraction, especially digital ones, it provides instant gratification (making them feel rewarding) and conditions the brain to seek more and more instant rewards. If distractions continue, the brain struggles to re-enter deep focus mode, making it something unnatural.

The Multitasking Myth: Why Task-Switching Destroys Focus

Many people believe multitasking enhances productivity. But it actually hinders deep work. When we switch tasks frequently, the brain carries residue of previous activities. That means it splits attention and reduces mental clarity. Frequent multitasking trains the brain to stay in a shallow focus mode, making deep concentration something very difficult. In reality, shifting focus between multiple tasks actually increases cognitive overload and decreases efficiency.

One important way to overcome distractions and prolong the focus duration is to set the brain to tolerate boredom, which means setting the brain to embrace low stimulation. How can this help…? As mentioned above, after a couple of deep focuses, the brain will wander and seek new stimulation and find distraction as the outgoing task no longer keeps the dopamine level high enough to sustain focus. This results in mental fatigue and leads to boredom, signaling the need for a break or shift in activity. For most people, this break is actually making the situation worse if it is not used wisely. Because the mind looks for new stimulations during this gap, like scrolling through phone or listening to fast-beat, energetic songs that keeps the brain engaged as it is rewarding. Ideally, this makes the brain difficult to come back to the task and regain focus. Studies suggest that after a distraction, it takes about 23 minutes to regain focus. The more frequently we get distracted, the harder it becomes to re-enter a productive stage.

Thus, the only way to reduce distraction time and restore focus is to employ strategies to manage the brain’s desire for novelty and reward. The best method to effortlessly regain attention is to enjoy boredom. This actually refers to low-stimulation, low-dopamine activities, such as simply observing random thoughts or thinking nothing, slow walking, staring at the wall, or listening to the ticking of a clock. Since these activities don’t trigger the reward cycle, it’s easier to regain attention and focus after a pause, something which highly stimulating activities find very difficult.

However, it takes some initial work to get the brain to enjoy low-stimulation activities. In a TEDx talk by Chris Bailey, he shared an interesting way of training the brain to tolerate boredom and reduce overstimulation. He put himself in a one month boredom challenge to reset attention span by engaging in slow, repetitive tasks that normally wouldn’t feel interesting for example; counting the zero’s of pi, reading terms and conditions, watching the clock and many more. By deliberately choosing boring, low-stimulation activities, he forced his brain to slow down and regain control over focus.

How do these low-stimulation, no-dopamine activities help in attention control and regaining focus…?

1) Engaging in non-rewarding activities teaches the brain to function without constant high-reward inputs.

2) Forcing attention on slow tasks strengthens the prefrontal cortex, which controls concentration.

3) When the brain learns to engage with stillness, it stops craving frequent shifts in focus.

Once the brain gets comfortable with low-stimulation tasks, focusing on real work becomes easier, especially work that is not time-bound.

Thanks for reading!