Never before have we had so many distractions in our lives. People and companies are trying to get our attention with any and all technology available. Think back-25 years ago there was no ding of the email- there was no vibration of the phone or Tweet sound. There was no alert popping up on your phone. There weren’t hundreds of TV channels, not to mention commercials popping up within TV programs or before you open a video on-line. Oh, how far we’ve come technologically and there are so many positive uses for all of it.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides is that our collective ability to focus has been diminished. It’s true. Our ability to focus, both in depth and for any amount of time has been impaired by all of these distractions. All that task-switching in our brains make it hard for us to concentrate. We’ve allowed it. Let’s face it… all of these devices, technologies and modes of communication and entertainment are attractive. And we’ve let them have our attention.

The good news is that we can re-train our brains. If we turn off a few notifications or make ourselves step away from distractions for certain periods of time each day, we can improve our focus. Try it. Trust me when I tell you it won’t be easy at first. Remove all distractions and try to focus your attention. If you’re like most people, you’ll find your mind wandering pretty quickly. But as you’ll hear in any yoga class “Gently bring your mind back” to what you want to be focused on. No judgment. Practice and it’ll get easier. And improving focus can make us more productive, more creative and improve our relationships.