My friend Vinod Thomas recently told me that while I keep talking about doing 25-minute focus sprints (pomodoros), even focusing intensely for 5 minutes is hard. And Vinod is one of the smartest people I know.
So is 25 min of focus feasible or is it just a myth?
The duration of focus depends on primarily three factors:
- How engaging is the task:
E.g., in the Harry Potter series, by the time you reach ‘The Order of the Phoenix’, you can go on reading for hours without a break. Whereas, a high school geography textbook will tax your mind after 15 minutes.
Another example — if you are doing active work, e.g., solving problems or coding, you can focus for long periods (easily 45-60 minutes). But for passive activities, e.g., reading a book, even 25 min can be challenging.
- How challenging is the task:
If the task is too easy, your brain is insufficiently activated due to low levels of norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter that makes you alert. As the task complexity goes up and matches your skill level, you are in the sweet spot for flow.
Once you are in flow, you can go on for long periods with extremely high mental performance.
But if the task complexity keeps going up, at some point, the norepinephrine levels are so high that you get anxious and then panic. Now you can’t focus.
For a 10-hour task, you can’t focus if your deadline is 3 months or 3 hrs away. But if the deadline is 10-12 hrs away, you will get in the flow state.
- How strong is your focus muscle:
This is cliched but true — your ability to focus is like a muscle. The more you practice, the better you get at it.
Another way to practice this muscle is mindfulness meditation. In fact, after a meditation session, just keep a light breath awareness while working on a task and you will see amazing focus.
The next time you need a high degree of focus, keep these in mind. And for most tasks, 25-50 min of focus is quite doable.
– Rajan