Pay Attention

- Sarah Barmak

JENNIFER LEE NEVER USED to have a problem staying focused. The 43-year-old senior communications strategist in Mimico, Ont., has been feeling far more scatterbrained, however, since she welcomed a new baby into her family two years ago.

“I’m saying something to my husband and halfway through, I’ve forgotten what it was,” she says. With her toddler, a 10-year-old, a full-time job and aging parents, she says her powers of concentration feel stretched to the breaking point.

Like Lee, many of us feel pulled in every direction, whether we’re being interrupted at work by the ping of our smartphones or we’re retired and managing a calendar of family obligations and appointments. While we may glorify multi-tasking, some researchers suggest that constant switching between activities takes a toll on the area of our brains responsible for emotional and cognitive regulation— and has also been associated with depression and anxiety.

But how do we reduce demands on our lives and boost our ability to focus on what matters? It’s easier said than done, but it’s not impossible.

Declutter Your Life

Although Lee wishes she could take tasks off her plate, she finds it hard to ignore a request for help when it comes from a loved one. For instance, her elderly father occasionally asks her to write or copy-edit documents for his seniors’ club. She squeezes the work in during her lunch hour, and then her day is more harried.

“It just makes me stressed,” she admits. “I would have guilt if I told my dad I didn’t have time to help, but I end up feeling at wits’ end.”