Your mental health toolkit, part 4

Attention residue… it’s sticky!

Dr. Sophie Leroy coined the term attention residue as “the persistence of cognitive activity about a Task A even though one stopped working on Task A and currently performs a Task B” (Science Direct). Some of your attention “sticks” with the first thing you were working on and negatively affects your ability to do the thing you’re currently trying to do. From a biochemical perspective, our brains are simply not meant to work on two things at once, and that naturally causes problems when we try to multitask and split our attention between multiple tasks constantly (Leibman; Dore; Timely Blog). This high demand for multitasking and resulting attention residue becomes a big energy-sucking drain on your cognitive load.

Rather than trying to multitask or constantly switch from one unrelated task to another, there are a few strategies that you can use to combat attention residue from building up and to improve productivity overall. These strategies include:

• Batching. Block off periods of time to do a set task (i.e. emails, social media, reading, assignments for a particular class, and so forth). Rather than interrupting your focus repeatedly to check, read, and respond to every email, you can instead maintain that focus for the task at hand.
• Turn off notifications. Periodic pings and other background noise can be distracting and add to your extraneous cognitive load. Turn your phone face down so you don’t see it light up every time you get a message when it’s on silent. Check out apps like Focus Keeper, Forest, Hocus Focus, and Freedom and plugins like Mindful Browsing and Motion to help you bring your focus back and block distractions (Mashable).
• Make small to-do lists only. Rather than creating a large, unwieldy to-do list you won’t be able to finish, instead try setting smaller, more attainable goals that you definitely can finish. In this way, you won’t have unfinished tasks intruding on your thoughts as you work, causing anxiety, and adding to your extraneous cognitive load (Medium). A more attainable to-do list can also give you a greater sense of accomplishment and a confidence boost, which can definitely influence your overall mental health in a positive way.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful. Over the summer, see what happens when you slow down and focus on one thing at a time. How does that affect your cognitive load and overall mental health?