Have you ever caught yourself reading the same page over and over again, while your mind keeps slipping away? While it is pretty annoying, this distraction is completely normal. Let’s look at what you can do about it.
The human brain is a tool for goal achievement. When you take on a new set of projects, attention, memory, and motivation are immediately redirected to get new tasks on board and begin working on them in the background. Sometimes this process surfaces in our consciousness, interfering with what you are doing at the moment. You might get intrusive thoughts such as “I have to buy groceries today and vacuum” in the middle of writing an email to your boss.
When a goal such as passing an exam or scheduling a doctor’s appointment is unfulfilled, the brain keeps coming to it, trying to figure out how to achieve it. Earlier research suggested that this process can’t be really influenced until the goal is complete, but later scholars proved it wrong. It seems like writing a detailed plan for how you will achieve the goal – adding time, place, and conditions – stops the brain from interfering with the current activity.
The plan includes cues for your unconscious mind for when to wake up and act on one of the goals that has been occupying your mind. In the study, after forming a plan such as “After class on Tuesday, I will go to the library and study,” participants no longer needed to consciously think about studying – the plan could be executed automatically when the cue occurred.
The downside of the method, however, feelings of unease and anxiety do not disappear. Planning helped participants with cognitive load, freeing up resources for memory and attention for current tasks, while not reducing the emotional burden.
It’s okay though, you have already received plenty of our advice on how to deal with a feeling of worry. If you missed it, we’ve got you covered! You can read mental health articles here:
Still struggling with focus? Maybe Normotim can help.