Priscilla Xu

Reading time: 4 minutes.

After we have understood a simple model of how the fluid shapes of attention are controlled by dopamine, how can we apply this neuroscience knowledge to our life right away?.

We have two types of work: analytical and creative.

Analytical work is tasks that have a specific answer, such as solving a math problem and looking for trends in data.

The Cathedral Effect

The Catherdral effect is how high ceilings can promote abstract and creative thinking.

High or low ceilings occur because such ceiling heights increase or decrease vertical room volume, which stimulates alternative concepts and types of processing.

The amount of space your eyes can see literally primes how abstract and lofty your brain and think.

Actionable Tips for Analytical Work

Suppose I am doing analytical, precisional work. In that case, the better time to focus is the first half of the day (0-8 hours after awake). The brain is in a higher dopamine, cortisol, and epinephrine state. Those neurotransmitters are better for focused, analytical work.

I can also wear a cap to lower my “ceiling” of visual field and maintain a narrow visual field. A low ceiling is suitable for

• Detail, refined tasks
• Find differences and similarities
• The low ceiling can confine your brain to concepts

Actionable Tips for Creative Work

The brain is better for creative work in the second half of the day (8-16 hours after awake). Because our brain slowly shifts to a mode of having more serotonin in it.

Funny enough, it will be very ridiculous if you put your screen on the ceiling. Anyways, a high ceiling is good for

• Priming for abstract and freedom related concepts
• Good for combinational creativity and idea sex.
• Relational and analogous thinking.

Actionable Tips to Increase Alertness and Focus Regardless of the Type of Work

1. Have your screen at least at eye level.

I found this excellent tip from Huberman’s Lab Podcast on Optimizing Work Space. Your eyes are divided into the upper and lower visual fields. So when you look up, your brain’s alertness circuits will be active. However, the brain stem will make you more sleepy and calm when you ook down.

2. Wear a hat or hoodie to restrict your vision.

I found this tip in the same podcast too. Our visual system has two main pathways: focusing on details with high resolution (parvocellular visual pathway) and extensive panoramic views with low resolution (magnocellular visual pathway).

When you shrink your visual field, you will be using your parvocellular pathway to focus. The eyes engage in something called vergence eye movement. The ideal restriction is the visual field between your ears. Think of it as reverse engineering your focus by controlling your visual field.

3. Reduce the number of times you zone out to sustain your alertness and focused period by closing your eyes for 10 minutes before starting to work.

The fancy term for zoning out when you shift tasks is attentional blinks. The purpose of the blink is to allow you to ignore the distraction and reset your attention to the task in front of you. The blink is around half a section, so the conscious mind hardly notices the shift.

Research has shown that you can close your eyes for ten minutes before starting your focused working session to decrease the number of attentional blinks.

Don’t go overboard with this XD.

I am a very ambitious person, but I sometimes forget to rest… My default mode is to work, and I am mostly on top of my tasks. The downside to this is that I can burn myself out sometimes. For example, on writing this article, I went working out intensively. I feel like my body is falling apart from my sore muscles, but my brain is well rested with 9 hours of sleep. I tend to sprint and then sleep for 9-10 hours after a tiny knockout in life.

So, if you like to work, remember to schedule breaks. Or suppose you wish to increase your productivity and focus. In that case, I hope that article can provide you with the best scientific evidence-based tips to focus on.