Ultradian Rhythms: Working With Your Brain's Natural Cycles
Ultradian rhythms repeat many times a day. The 90-minute sleep cycle is well documented; a 90-minute focus cycle while awake is not. How to test your own.
Focus & Concentration
Deep work, attention span, flow and beating distraction: what the research says about concentrating in a noisy world.
The biology of focus
Best Time of Day to Focus: Finding Your Peak Hours
The best time of day to focus depends on your body clock and your age. How to find your peak hours in 1 to 2 weeks, and why off-peak hours may suit insight.
Focus techniques
How to Increase Your Attention Span: The Five-More Rule and Other Small Stretches
How to increase attention span in 6 small steps: time your baseline, do five more when you want to stop, hide the phone, move on breaks, protect sleep.
Focus Meditation: A 10-Minute Practice for Sharper Concentration
A 10-minute focus meditation, minute by minute, with desk variations and an honest look at what research says it does for concentration.
Distraction and interruption
Why Multitasking Doesn't Work: The Evidence in Plain English
Your brain takes turns on 2 thinking tasks, and each switch costs time. What the research shows, why hands-free doesn't help, and when multitasking is fine.
The True Cost of an Interruption: What Happens in Your Brain
An interruption costs you 3 ways: a slower restart, more slips and drift. What happens in your brain, and what research says cuts the cost.
Attention Residue: Why Switching Tasks Leaves You Foggy
Switching tasks leaves part of your mind behind. What research since 2009 shows about attention residue, and a 3-line plan that reduces it.
Deep work
Deep Work for Beginners: How to Start With Just One Hour a Day
Deep work for beginners in 5 steps: one protected hour a day, a task chosen the night before, an if-then start, alerts off and a closing note on your next move.
Focus-friendly environments
Does Listening to Music Help You Focus? What Studies Show
Does music help you focus? On dull tasks it can, but lyrics disrupt reading about as much as speech, a 2018 review of 65 studies found.
Attention basics
Is Your Attention Span Really Shrinking? What the Research Says
The 8-second goldfish attention span was never measured. Decades of concentration tests show no decline in adults; what changed is how we use screens.
How to Focus: A Research-Backed Guide to Concentrating on What Matters
How to focus: 6 steps ranked by evidence, from if-then plans (642 experimental tests) to batched alerts, plus signs poor focus needs a doctor.
Flow state
Flow State Explained: What It Is and How to Get Into It
A flow state is complete absorption in what you are doing. What the research since 1975 actually shows, and the 3 conditions you can set up.