The Focus School- Part 2

THE BRAIN & FOCUS 

The brain has two mental systems to handle our daily life and work, one voluntary (top-down mind) and automatic (bottom-up mind). 

The top-down mind refers to mental activity that’s voluntary, driven by our intentions and which imposes its goals on the subcortical machinery: it analyzes what it has been presented. This top-down system steals a lot of energy from us, and why we have resistances (hesitation, procrastination) to it. When we choose to concentrate on something (like reading), it’s the top-down mind we use. Your top-down mind is: 

• Slower 

• Energy-intensive 

• Voluntary 

• Handles solution-making and planning 

Bottom-up (the lower-brain neural machinery) has massive computing power, operating 90 % of all the process in our brain. It tries constantly to solve our problems and surprise us with solutions. It operates automatically: for example, after you learned how to ride a bike, you know longer actively think about it—the bottom-up system has taken over and your bike riding has become automatic. Bottom-up usually: 

• Operates automatically, and in milliseconds (always on) 

• Doesn’t require much energy 

• Executes habitual routines (built on what we already know) 

• Manages our mental models of the world 

The bottom-down system multitasks and scans features of our surroundings that have not yet come into full focus. It analyzes very quickly before it selects what’s relevant for us. As you can see, “focus” is mainly driven by our top-down mind. Because it’s so energy-intensive, we can utilize this kind of focus for 40 - 60 minutes before we need a break.

OUR TIPS:

- Practice makes perfect: To focus better, practice with different exercises. For instance, the next time you’re reading a book and thinking of closing it for bedtime, continue reading 2-3 more pages. Sustained practice like this improves your concentration in the long term.

- Finite goals: Practice concentrating on one thing with a finite end. Do this one at a time, with nothing else going on. Sit yourself into a comfortable position, turn off distractions, and do that thing: read a book chapter, work on a puzzle, or even color a page in a coloring book. Try this for 5 minutes at a time, then 10, then 30, and so on. 

- Meditation: Meditation is a great way to practice focus because you get to be more present in the moment. When meditating and your thoughts begin to run away, try to voluntarily get them back again. By training your mind to focus on the moment, you are training your brain to recall focus in the long term.