Focus is tricky in today's digital world. You might block notifications, close extra browser tabs, and put your phone away—yet still find your mind wandering to that pending project or upcoming deadline.
In an episode of the Remotely Curious podcast, we sat down with Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California with over two decades of research on the effects of digital media on our daily lives.
Dr. Mark’s insights challenge common assumptions about focus and productivity, offering a fresh perspective on working better in distributed environments.
In this conversation, Dr. Mark revealed that maintaining focus isn't just about eliminating distractions—it's about understanding how our brains actually work and aligning our tasks with our natural rhythms.
Let's explore what this means for teams working in distributed environments and how you can help your team find its focus.
Focus works on multiple levels
Maintaining focus has become even more challenging in modern work. Research by Economist Impact shows that 42% of knowledge workers don't spend more than an hour on productive work without interruption.
So what's happening when we try (and sometimes fail) to focus? Dr. Mark has the answers.
"Most people tend to think of attention as having two states. You're either focused, or you're not focused. And the reality is that it's much more nuanced than that," explains Dr. Mark.
In fact, attention operates on three distinct networks in the brain, and even when we're fully engaged, our focus varies in intensity and form.
Dr. Mark identifies four key attention states that we move between throughout the day:
- Deep focus: When we're completely absorbed in meaningful work
- Rote activity: When we're doing routine tasks that require less mental energy
- Boredom: When the brain is under-stimulated and seeking engagement
- Frustration: When we're struggling to maintain attention despite our efforts
Understanding these different states is crucial because it helps us recognize that not all work requires the same level of focus. Some tasks benefit from deep concentration, while others can be completed effectively during periods of lighter focus.
Once you understand these attention states, the next step is learning how to work with them rather than fighting against your natural patterns.
Don’t “go with the flow”— tune into your personal rhythm
While many productivity experts talk about achieving a "flow state," Dr. Mark suggests this might not be the most practical goal for modern work. Instead, she advocates for understanding and working with your natural energy rhythms:
"What's a better thing to strive for is understanding the ebb and flow of our attentional resources and understanding those personal rhythms that we have, knowing when our attentional resources are at a peak...because that's what enables us to perform at our best."
Dr. Gloria MarkProfessor at the University of CaliforniaThe Virtual First model is a demonstration of these principles in action. In fact, internal surveys (2023) found that 87% of Dropbox employees report having a greater impact working in Virtual First than other working models.
Discover how you can use our Virtual First: Wellbeing Kit to help your team find practical ways to manage their energy levels and stay productive:
1) Map your energy levels
Start by having team members track when they feel most alert and productive. The Energy Map Worksheet helps identify peak performance times and natural dips in energy throughout the day.
2) Create energy rituals
Once you understand your patterns, establish routines that support them. Our Energy Ritual Worksheet guides you through creating sustainable practices like:
- Morning preparation routines to kick-start focus
- Afternoon reset activities to combat energy dips
- End-of-day rituals to maintain consistent energy patterns
3) Align tasks with energy
Encourage your team to schedule their most demanding work during peak energy hours. For instance, if someone is most alert in the morning, they should tackle complex problem-solving or creative work, saving administrative tasks for later in the day.
Multitasking doesn’t work the way you think
While understanding your energy patterns is crucial, another common workplace habit can derail even the best-planned schedule: the myth of multitasking.
Dr. Mark's research reveals something many of us suspect but often ignore: multitasking isn't just ineffective—it's actively harmful to our work quality and mental well-being.
When we rapidly switch between tasks, we’re not doing multiple things simultaneously. Instead, we force our brains to restart constantly, leading to more errors and increased stress levels.
But in today's work environment, avoiding task-switching entirely isn't realistic. The key is to be strategic about managing our tasks and time. Here's how to help your team break free from the multitasking trap with our Virtual First: Effectiveness Kit.
Practice intentional prioritization
Use the Prioritization Worksheet to help your team identify what truly needs their attention. By separating which tasks are urgent and which are merely important, this tool helps team members focus their energy on high-impact work and supports their productivity by prioritizing effectively.
Block time strategically
Dr. Mark is optimistic about how AI can help us manage our time better, describing it as "an agent that gets to learn about your behaviors, your mood, that can help you respond better to the environment and help you adapt better to the environment."
With this in mind, we've integrated Reclaim.ai into our workflow at Dropbox. This AI calendar helps teams:
- Schedule focused work during their peak energy hours
- Protect time for deep work
- Automatically adjust schedules when priorities shift
- Create better boundaries between different types of work
Set clear expectations
One reason people multitask is the pressure to be constantly available for many different teams. Help your team establish healthy boundaries by:
- Defining response-time expectations for different communication channels
- Creating team agreements about focus time
- Setting realistic deadlines that don't require constant task-switching
Even with these strategies in place, having awareness of how you spend your attention can make or break your focus practice.
The power of meta-awareness: your secret weapon for focus
Dr. Mark introduces a powerful concept often overlooked in productivity discussions called meta-awareness. This means becoming consciously aware of how and when your attention shifts, allowing you to manage your focus rather than actively letting it manage you.
"Where your goals go, your attention follows," Dr. Mark explains. By practicing meta-awareness, teams can transform unconscious distractions into conscious choices about how they spend their energy.
Here's how you can also use our Effectiveness Kit to help your team develop stronger meta-awareness and improve workday focus:
Track distraction patterns
Start by documenting the distractions that impact you the most using our Distraction Scorecard. This simple but effective tool helps team members:
- Identify common focus disruptors
- Understand their typical response to distractions
- Develop personalized strategies for managing interruptions
Set intentional goals
Use the FAST Goals framework or other intentional goal-setting methods to help your team:
- Break down large projects into manageable tasks
- Create clear, actionable objectives
- Align individual work with team priorities
- Establish regular check-in points
Practice forethought
Encourage your team to think ahead about potential focus challenges. This might look like:
- Preparing materials needed for deep work sessions in advance
- Planning communication needs before starting focused work
- Setting up their environment for success before beginning important tasks
Understanding and implementing these strategies takes time, but the impact on your team's productivity and well-being can be transformative. The real power lies not in eliminating all distractions but in building better relationships with how we work.
Bringing it all together: a new approach to focus
While we can't completely control our focus, we can create conditions that help it flourish. As Dr. Mark's research shows, the key isn't to fight against our natural attention patterns but to work with them intentionally.
Start by helping your team understand their unique attention patterns and energy cycles. Then, give them the tools and permission to design their workday around these patterns. Remember, the goal isn't perfect, uninterrupted focus—it's sustainable, effective work that acknowledges our human nature.
For more insightful conversations, like our episode with Dr. Gloria Mark on the Remotely Curious podcast, and resources on building effective work habits in a distributed world, visit our Virtual First Toolkit.
