Focus in on This

Have you heard about this? Oh wait-what's that outside? Remember that cool YouTube video you wanted to watch! It'll only take a second!

Everyone's had these messages flash across their mind or their computer screen. Something interesting appears, and before we know it, we've rationalized how "it'll only take a second" and pretty soon we've gone from game statistics to Star Wars trailers and end up on beard ornaments. (There actually are beard baubles. Who knew!) But! Before you Google "beard ornaments," check out this list of how to stay focused!

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Nadia Goodman, M.A. in Clinical Psychology, has three excellent suggestions for those who struggle to focus in on the task at hand.

1. Do creative work first.

Typically, we do mindless work first and build up to the toughest tasks. That drains your energy and lowers your focus. "An hour into doing your work, you've got a lot less capacity than (at the beginning)," Rock says. "Every decision we make tires the brain."

In order to focus effectively, reverse the order. Check off the tasks that require creativity or concentration first thing in the morning, and then move on to easier work, like deleting emails or scheduling meetings, later in the day.

2. Allocate your time deliberately.

By studying thousands of people, Rock found that we are truly focused for an average of only six hours per week. "You want to be really diligent with what you put into those hours," he says.

Most people focus best in the morning or late at night, and Rock's studies show that 90 percent of people do their best thinking outside the office. Notice where and when you focus best, then allocate your toughest tasks for those moments.

3. Train your mind like a muscle.

When multitasking is the norm, your brain quickly adapts. You lose the ability to focus as distraction becomes a habit. "We've trained our brains to be unfocused," Rock says.

Practice concentration by turning off all distractions and committing your attention to a single task. Start small, maybe five minutes per day, and work up to larger chunks of time. If you find your mind wandering, just return to the task at hand. "It’s just like getting fit," Rock says. "You have to build the muscle to be focused."



Nadia's suggestions are excellent suggestions for change, and can be implemented slowly throughout our day. The trick is to recognize the potential distractions for what they are, and commit to doing something about them, or to making small changes in our daily schedule, and eventually we will be in charge of our time and our attentive energy.

In addition to making creative work our first priority, allocating time, and retraining the mind, livescience tells us how to implement planned breaks into our day, to ward off monotony.

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Enjoy a diversion

Perhaps the simplest way to improve attention span is simply not to pay attention for a little while. Evidence shows that taking a break improves your ability to focus once you return to the task at hand.

Even the briefest intermission can be beneficial, according to research from the University of Illinois, as reported in the journal Cognition in February. In the study, led by psychologist Alejandro Lleras, 84 participants were given a 50-minute-long computer task. The participants who were allowed two short breaks during the task performed it better.

Lleras said that just as the body becomes habituated to a stimulus over time (for example, you're not constantly aware of the feel of your socks), your mind can become habituated to the subject of its concentration.

"Prolonged attention to a single task actually hinders performance," Lleras said.

In other words, taking a short break in the middle of a long task acts like a "refresh" button for the brain.

Know your limits

In the end, increasing your ability to focus may require you to figure out what distracts you most.

In one study, people whose work was interrupted by emails from a hypothetical supervisor reported higher levels of stress after just 20 minutes.

Surprisingly, the participants were working faster, but at a higher cost: They reported feeling their workload was greater and required more mental effort to complete, according to Gloria Mark, who presented the findings at a 2008 meeting of the Association of Computer Machinery.

Mark said everyone may have a level of interruption that is tolerable, and a threshold for distraction. Exceed the threshold and the quality of work (not to mention the quality of a person's life) declines.

If you're feeling overworked and unable to concentrate, the solution may be as easy as signing out of your email account for a few hours.



By gaining an understanding of how the brain and body respond to distractions and to staying focused for prolonged periods of time, we can gain a greater understanding of our own needs. Taking a few minutes a day to plan out when you'll shut off electronics and focus only on the task at hand, and planning out break times can make small but meaningful changes in your personal and work life.

These principles are applicable to any area of life, so share them with a friend, child, parent, or co-worker. It always helps to have a friend to help when making life changes, so grab another Aggie and take control!

How To: Throw a Perfect Tailgate Party

This post uses information obtained from Buzzfeed.com and Babble.com

It’s that time of year to cheer for your Aggies! With football season comes one of the best traditions, tailgating parties. The Aggies open their season this week and need the help of past, current, and future students to cheer them on. For those that need a little prodding, we’ve assembled this brief tailgating guide. Also, be sure to check out the Tailgater of the Game/Year Competition.

 

parking.usu.edu

Why Tailgate?

It’s a great way to meet people. There are so many tailgaters, so there are so many opportunities to meet students, other alumni, and fellow tailgaters.

There are many aspects of tailgating. Food, games, activities. USU Alumni will be at every home game with a tent full of games and prizes.

You could win big. The Alumni Association will be on the prowl for the best tailgater to crown them the official “Tailgater of the Game.” Along with the glory of holding this prestigious title, you will receive a Camp Chef stove, which will undoubtedly improve your tailgate for subsequent games.

The Basics

First things first. Start out by pre-purchasing a tailgating space. For home games, these can be obtained through Parking and Transportation for the north tailgate lot, or the USU Big Big Blue Scholarship Fund for 800 East spots. For away games, check with the specific school’s stadium.

Be in your spot by 2 pm for 6 o’clock (or later) kickoff or 10 am for 1 o’clock kickoff, but not before 8 am without prior, written approval.

(Note: All official rules can be found on the Parking and Transportation website)

Tips for tailgating pros

We've assembled some of the most sound practices for making your tailgate a success. We won’t give away too much, because we want you to come up with the rest.

First and foremost, show your best Aggie pride. Show the world how much you love being an Aggie. 

This is your time to brag about how much Aggie gear you really have.

Dress the part.

Float a helium balloon on a long string from your car, so friends can find you.

Consider what way the wind is coming from. You don’t want grill smoke blowing on your tailgaters.

Think about how you could use paper towels or a hand-washing station. People like that.

Keep it simple.

Keep it classic.

Finger food is better. Make it portable.

Think about the extras: music, face paint, games, etc.

Introduce yourself to your neighbors.

Have fun.

We hope to see you at the tailgate party.

The Job Search Advice You're Taking Too Far

Article Originally Featured on the Muse.com

Photo of man job hunting courtesy of Shutterstock.

As a job searcher, you’re doing everything right. You have your interview answers perfectly scripted out, you tailor each and every resume you send in, and your LinkedIn connections far outnumber your Facebook friends. Every piece of job hunt advice that you’ve ever heard or read, you’ve put into practice.

But that ever-elusive job offer still hasn’t crossed your desk. What gives?

While the job search advice you’re following may be on point, the way you’re using it may not be helping your cause as much as you think. For a lot of tips, there’s a fine line between using it correctly and going a bit overboard (or even in the wrong direction).

Read on for a few great job search tips—and how they may be working against you.

Good Advice: Make Connections on LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be a job searcher’s dream. Through your connections, you may find that you have a link—and an immediate in—to your dream company. So, creating and cultivating new connections is extremely beneficial.

Taking it Too Far

Blindly clicking “connect” on hundreds of profiles and sending the generic invitation might land you a few extra connections, but it won’t get your profile a second glance.

Instead, recruiting expert Jenny Foss recommends first searching for contacts from your email address book. “Then invite them—but make it personal. LinkedIn will give you the option of sending a default ‘connect with me, please’ message, but don’t use it—sending a personal note will set you apart right from the start.”

Casting a wide net is beneficial, but only if you truly have some sort of link to those target connections. This is where LinkedIn’s “People You Might Know” feature comes in handy—to suggest classmates, colleagues, and former co-workers that you might not have previously thought of.

Good Advice: Explain That You’re the Best Candidate for the Job

Obviously, you want your potential employer to fully understand that you’re a great candidate; that you have all the skills you need to succeed in the position and that you’re the best man or woman for the job. So, it’s important to convey confidence in those abilities at every step in the process, from your cover letter to your interview questions.

Taking it Too Far

Overconfidence can actually be a downfall, as I learned from a hiring manager recently. I was in his office, talking about my writing experience. He asked me if I’m dissatisfied with my writing. “Of course,” I told him. “Sometimes I look back at things I wrote and wonder what in the world I was thinking.”

He chuckled knowingly and explained that he’d just interviewed a young man, fresh out of college, who answered the same question by asserting that he never wrote anything he didn’t like. And for the recruiter, that was actually a bad thing. You see, he wanted someone who not only had a realistic idea of the job (in this situation, that you’d have to write a lot of copy—quickly—and probably wouldn’t have time to make each piece perfect), but also had the desire and capacity to learn and grow. In the end, the somewhat over-confident graduate wasn’t deemed a good fit for the job.

While you shouldn’t discount your abilities (and you should certainly make a convincing case for yourself), there’s a big difference between showing confidence that you can do the job and conveying so much confidence that you end up coming across as arrogant or naïve.

Good Advice: Practice with Mock Interviews

Interviews are tough—and you want to make sure you’re prepared. So, asking a friend to help you run through practice questions is a great way to help you organize your thoughts, learn how to structure standout answers, and prepare yourself for the potentially stressful and awkward environment.

Taking it Too Far

Believe it or not, over-preparing for interviews can actually be detrimental to your chances of landing the job. As Foss explains, “It’s just as bad (or worse) to over-rehearse than it is to fly entirely by the seat of your pants.”

When you have too many memorized answers packed in your brain, you’re more likely to spend the interview trying to remember each scripted answer, rather than engaging in the conversation. The back-and-forth will seem unnatural and forced, and you’ll likely come across as insincere.

Instead, Foss recommends spending the majority of your prep time thinking over your career experience to date, jotting down a few bullet points about specifics you want to hit on. “Think about what you’re most proud of, what you struggled with, what you learned from the struggles, where you developed management skills, how you got to be so good at problem solving, and so on,” she explains. “When you’re confident with the specifics of your story, you’ll have a much easier time drawing from your experiences and articulating your worth, no matter what you’re asked.”

Good Advice: Use the Job Description to Tailor Your Cover Letter and Resume

When a hiring manager reads your application, you want him or her to immediately recognize how your background and experience make you the perfect candidate for the job. So, use the job description as a guide to fill your resume and cover letter with the right skills and experiences.

Taking it Too Far

Pulling keywords from the job listing and slapping them on your application materials probably won’t have the effect you’re going for. When you include every phrase from the job description, including generic staples like “hard worker,” “fast learner,” and “excellent communicator,” you’ll take up a lot of valuable space—but you won’t actually convey to the recruiter that you’re any of those things.

Instead, pull skill- and experience-based qualities from the job description (e.g., “hands-on experience with Google Analytics” or “experience with Object Relational Mapping frameworks”), and then show how (by using your past accomplishments and responsibilities) you meet those requirements.

Then, in the interview phase, you’ll have more opportunities to showcase those soft skills (like having a thirst for knowledge or being a quick learner) by telling anecdotes of how you've displayed those qualities in your past jobs.


As you can see, good job search tips can turn into bad advice pretty quickly. But by taking a step back and reevaluating your approach, you can get back on track in no time.


What other good job advice have you seen gone wrong?