Attention is trainable
Just as you can train your body to sustain effort longer, you can train your attention to hold focus longer. Start with short, single-task blocks — twenty minutes on one task with no tabs, no notifications — and extend them gradually. Each focused block is a rep for your attention.
Design the environment, not just the willpower
Athletes set up their training environment to remove friction. The same applies to focus: put the phone in another room, close unrelated tabs, use a single screen. Willpower is unreliable; an environment that makes distraction hard is dependable.
Make the right behaviour the easy behaviour.
Single-tasking beats multitasking
Multitasking is rapid switching, and every switch carries a cost. Research on attention shows that fragmented focus produces lower quality and more errors. Choosing one task, completing it, then moving on is slower in feeling and faster in result.
Key takeaway
Deep focus is a trainable skill. Train it in short reps, design your environment to make distraction hard, and choose single-tasking over the illusion of multitasking.