“Argh…I really ought to do the laundry. But do I have to? Maybe I could just wear dress socks tomorrow and put it off one more day…”
“Hmm…I should probably email IT about my ID card not working in the copy room…”
“Are we out of kitty litter?”
You know that voice in your head that acts as a reminder service? Nagging you at random moments about all the half-finished tasks in your life?
These are called “Zeigarnik intrusions,” and can be helpful in some situations. But often, they are just pesky mental distractions that can make it difficult to practice or study as productively as we’d like.
Might there be a way to shut off these intrusive thoughts, so we can focus more effectively on the task at hand?
Our brain’s unconscious goal striving
Spoiler alert – the answer is yes, but before we get into the nuts and bolts of how, why does our mind do this to us anyway?
Well, it’s been reported that the average student has 15 ongoing projects at any given point in time (Little, 1988) – from writing a paper, to looking for the right opportunity to ask the cute barista for their phone number.
Obviously, it’s not possible to work on every one of our goals all at the same time, so it appears that some part of our mind keeps incomplete projects simmering on the back burner, looking for opportunities to complete these “open loops.”
This isn’t all bad, as it may contribute to those Eureka! moments where we are suddenly struck with an insight that helps us solve a problem.
But this background simmering can also get in the way of us performing up to our full abilities and being more focused on the task that’s actually in front of us. After all, our brain has limited cognitive resources, and we can’t be fully engaged and productive on our scales, if we have half-written papers and baristas and laundry and emails and kitty litter on the brain.
So how can we reduce these intrusions on our focus and productivity?
Implementation intentions
Implementation intentions are a specific technique that involve making specific plans for when, where, and how you will complete an ongoing project.
The strategy has received a lot of research support in the last couple decades when it comes to achieving goals and changing habits. And researchers at Florida State University (Masicampo & Baumeister, 2011) wondered if this technique could also combat these Zeigarnik intrusions, enabling us to wipe our mental scratchpad clean of open loops, and increasing our focus.
To plan or not to plan…
So they recruited 73 undergraduate students, who were randomly assigned to one of three different groups.
One group (the no-plan group) was asked to think of two important tasks or errands they needed to complete in the next few days – but for which they hadn’t yet planned out when, where, or how they were going to get them done.
A second group (the plan group) was also asked to think of two important ongoing tasks/errands they needed to complete. But unlike the first group, they were asked to create implementation intentions, by providing details on exactly when, where, and how they planned to complete these tasks.
A third group (the control group) was simply asked to describe two tasks that they had already completed in the last few days.
A reading task
Then, all participants were asked to read the first 3200 words of The Case of the Velvet Claws, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
During the reading task, participants were periodically interrupted and asked if their attention was on-task or off-task at that moment.
Rating focus
After they finished reading, participants rated themselves on (a) how well they were able to focus on the story and (b) to what degree they were distracted by thoughts about the tasks they had written about earlier (1=not at all; 7=very).
They also answered 8 questions about the passage they read, to see how much of the reading they actually absorbed.
So did implementation intentions help increase focus?
The results
Yes!
With an average score of 5.56 (where 1=not at all focused; 7=very focused), the participants who were asked to make specific when/where/how plans (i.e. plan group) were indeed able to focus more effectively than the no-plan group which scored a 4.61.
The plan group also had fewer intrusive thoughts (1.77) than the no-plan group (3.00).
The plan group also absorbed more of the reading passage, with an average score of 6.94 out of 8 questions correct, vs 6.13 for the no-plan group.
Additional nuggets
There were a few additional findings that might be helpful to note.
Additional finding #1: plans must be specific
Apparently, simply brainstorming the actions you could take towards completing a task doesn’t cut it. The plan must be specific (i.e. when, where, and how you will complete the task).
Because in a follow-up study with 80 undergraduates, one group of participants wrote down the actions they could take towards completing an unfinished task, but didn’t commit to any particular one. While another group did commit to a specific plan.
And when asked to what degree they were still thinking about the task that hadn’t yet been completed some time later, the participants with no specific plan continued to experience more intrusive thoughts about the incomplete project than the participants which did have a specific plan.
Additional finding #2: there must be an intention to follow through
The researchers also found that in order for an implementation intention to be effective at increasing focus (and performance) on the task at hand, you also have to be serious about your intention to follow through on the plan! It doesn’t work if you simply make up some random plan that you have no intention of implementing.
Because in another follow-up study, 97 undergraduates were given a specific strategy for how to complete a task – but only one group specifically committed to using that strategy.
This committed group of students proceeded to solve more word puzzles (9.55 puzzles on average) than the group which didn’t commit to the strategy (6.55). And researchers found that this was true specifically for those who actually followed through on their commitment to utilize the plan they committed to. Those who committed to the strategy but didn’t utilize it failed to experience the same benefits.
So…what are we to do with all of this?
Take action
Well, the next time you’re trying to practice, and you find a bunch of random unfinished tasks pinging about in your head, take a few seconds to jot these tasks down, and for each, create a simple, specific plan of:
- when you intend to complete the task
- where you intend to complete the task
- and how you intend to complete the task
And make sure it’s a realistic plan that you intend to follow through on!
Take it a step further
Want to kick things up another notch? There is a personal productivity system called Getting Things Done (a.k.a. GTD) that actually reflects many of these findings. Conceptually it’s pretty straightforward, though the execution can admittedly be a little less straightforward. Then again, as the creator David Allen notes, we have complex lives, and sometimes complex problems require complex solutions.
I’ve yet to become a total GTD ninja, but Getting Things Done is one of my favorite books, and there are legions of folks online who have found it liberating and helpful, even if you only adopt some of its principles.
Here’s a great 15-minute quick and dirty summary of GTD if you are curious to explore this further: GTD in 15 minutes
References
Little, B. R. (1988). Personal Projects Analysis: Trivial Pursuits, Magnificent Obsessions, and the Search for Coherence. Springer US EBooks, 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0634-4_2
Masicampo, E. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (2011). Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 667–683. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024192
When I did a mindfulness meditation course some time ago, the teacher suggested an interesting method of getting rid of these extraneous thoughts. When something popped into our mind he asked us to say mentally ‘Just another thought’ and try to suppress it. It took a while but eventually I was able to keep my mind clear of thoughts and concentrate on the meditation. I haven’t tried it with my practice but will do so now that you reminded me of how it might work.
I’ve come to feel distracting thoughts are my biggest problem with performing. When I’m practicing, I’m in the habit of thinking about all kinds of other things. So I’m not practicing actually focusing on what I’m doing. When I get out on stage and do try to focus, it feels alien. The other things I think about, though, are not “to do” lists but more emotional things, replaying conversations, and so on. Not sure what I can do about that. The previous commenter’s suggestion might be helpful.
This seems to point to the value in designating a (mostly) regular block of time for practice, as for other things. The association of, say, 7 – 10 pm as practice time can become habitual. From experience, handling all the “little stuff” that “needs to be done” before practice can be a real detriment. If a block of time is established for these things, it will also tend to become a habit of association with that time and prove less burdensome on the conscience.
One other thought: Sometimes it’s not the small “to do” items that can be a mental diversion, but rather big projects that may take days – weeks – months to complete. One can’t simply decide to “get it done at 9:30 tomorrow morning.”
I’m also a fan of a GTD system. So many of us are walking around with hundreds of to-do items floating through the brain. Simply writing them down in a trusted place, where you know they can be easily retrieved, opens up a lot of bandwidth.
Beyond that, distraction and boredom are more often than not natural symptoms of a poor practice strategy. Mindless repetition spawns a wandering mind.
Create a spacious, thoughtful practice session on purpose. That, instead of simply stumbling into a random practice routine. Rushed run-throughs of orchestra music exacerbate this type of band-aid approach to your music.
Then, there are the perfectionists may need to create some downtime to break up those extended practice sessions. “Make a deal” with that part of yourself that’s asking a break by distracting you. Telling it, “I’ll come back and play later” honors a part of your identity that might often be ignored.
I love your blogposts – they are always very informative. I wonder if you would consider posting links to the research you reference? I’d love to read more about the studies. Many thanks for your great work!
Sure thing – here it is.
I dont usually dive deeper into sources and references. So how do I know who to believe? One key is to look for those willing to post and share the research they are applying. Thanks! The links I HAVE followed have proven to be reliable so my trust of your representation of the findings is pretty good!
Jim
Interesting. For me, practicing is the one time when I focus completely on what I’m doing and have no trouble putting other thoughts aside. It’s all-consuming, and that’s one of the reasons I value practicing and performing. I guess I’m lucky.
I become completely preoccupied with music, but I am much more easily distracted when reading something. I wonder what the results of the study would be if conducted with conservatory students during practice sessions.
Great article, thanks for writing it! Yes I totally agree and believe in the GTD system. In fact, I just completed my third read-through of the book and each time I always find a new insight. As my world is very much in the digital and online spheres, I find EverNote paired with the iPhone apps FastEver and SoundEver make for the perfect tools to help me immediately offload my “open loops” into an “Inbox” so I can give 100% of my mental energies into whatever task I’m currently engaged, practice included of course!
[…] Noa Kageyama, PhD, of Bulletproof Musician, recently addressed our very human thought intrusions in his article, How to Get Those Distracting Thoughts Out of Your Head When You’re Trying to Practice. […]
[…] https://bulletproofmusician.com/how-to-get-those-distracting-thoughts-out-of-your-head-when-youre… […]
I think everyone at some point will deal with this. I know I have even more over the past year as I juggle a number of projects. Thanks I think I will reference the post to a group I am doing some leadership/Character development with. Also I have marked the book to check out.
I play piano and this happens all the time. When I have an excessive busy day I find singing the melody helps both keeping focus and of course overall in performance.
Excellent article I was needing something like that!
[…] How to Get Those Distracting Thoughts Out of Your Head When You’re Trying to Practice […]
[…] And read Noa Kageyama’s excellent piece How to Get Those Distracting Thoughts Out of Your Head When You’re Trying to Practice. […]
Our world is complex! Sometimes the ‘Committee’ jumps in with questions and answers and makes focus difficult. I am looking into GTD as a tool to keep things from floating around looking to be resolved.
There is another scenario that is different. Sometimes my brain hunts for excuses not to focus on something. Resistance to ??? Fear of what?? Even things I clearly want to do and enjoy are undermined by the little voice that says – reading a blog entry and commenting are more urgent than whatever I had planned…
Great post! Before the internet, I used to keep scraps of paper to hand in my practice room. If a task popped into my mind, I’d write it on a scrap and put it in my pocket. That way I wouldn’t have to remember it. After practice, take all the scraps out of my pocket and decide what to do about them.