Distraction seems to be the oxygen we breathe these days, with endless pieces of information at our restless fingertips. Every time I open my Edge browser, news headlines and sharp images assault me. Half the time, I forget where I was going!
Is our attempt to control attention an attempt to maintain a fool’s errand? Nicholas Kerr, in his bestseller, Atli: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brainsfor , for , for , . Note that some top journalists have stopped reading books because 1) they can easily find the information they need on Wikipedia and other online sources, and 2) their attention spans have withered.
Mindfulness meditation tilts us in the opposite direction. Instead of surrounding yourself with endless options, we simplify. This practice has us focus on the present moment, with curiosity, kindness, and impermanence. In place of multitasking and busyness, we discover the focus of the current explosion, free of the endless push to find out more. Mentality acts as a countermeasure. here, in place
Mindfulness acts as a counterpoint.
What attention training for ADHD can teach neurotypical practitioners
For individuals living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the need for attention training may be more indicated. In the winter and spring of 2025, two groups completed my six-week “Mindfulness for ADHD” workshop series, with the option to extend to nine weeks.
I wanted to track if and how this technique was making a difference for workshop participants. Participants completed a 19-question assessment at the beginning and end of the program, and data were analyzed for those who completed both: 5 participants from the 6-week program, and 3 from the 9-week program.
read a diagnostic statement, “I get distracted easily, and have a hard time refocusing on a task.” With these negatively worded statements, greater disagreement indicates improvement. Overall for both groups there was a 14 and post: 20 – 43% increase.
One of the participants, Henry, offered this reflection: “I feel the benefits of feeling more grounded and being able to recognize when distractions are affecting me and how to manage them to move forward with the things that are most important.”
A common misconception of mindfulness is that we are cultivating a certain state of mind, such as calmness or happiness, and anything that disrupts that process (“monkey mind”) is a disadvantage. People who subscribe to this perfectionist view become discouraged when their ideal performance is not met. They often quit, concluding that mindfulness isn’t for them.
A common misconception of mindfulness is that we are cultivating a certain state of mind, such as calmness or happiness, and anything that disrupts that process (“monkey mind”) is a disadvantage.
The effort in mindfulness practice is not to use oneself to keep the mind focused on a particular object, such as the breath. Rather, it aims to recognize the wandering mind and return our attention to a stable anchor of awareness – like our breath, or our feet on the floor. This exercise builds focus, and flexibility. You might even be falling down and coming back up again and again.
Starting with simple intentions
In one of the weekly sessions, participants were asked to set an intention when they got up, at the beginning of the day. They identify a priority, like cleaning the living room, and then keep reminding themselves of it during the day when they get involved in other activities.
“I noticed how often my mind drifted away from intention,” wrote Casey, a longtime mindfulness practitioner. “By the end of the series, I had a good handle on it and was able to paint my bathroom using this approach, and now it’s finished. I was so used to not working in the past!”
Multitasking fiction
Our modern culture is wedded to multitasking: the belief that we need to be dexterous in focusing on a bunch of things at once. However, research has debunked this myth, as neuroscientists have shown that the human brain is best suited to focus on one task at a time. Anything more than that creates stress, increases errors, and starts to erode productivity.
The most important deal breaker is that when we change our focus, say, from reading an article to browsing a website, our brains have to reorient to the new context, and then we have to reorganize when we return to the article. This chews up valuable cognitive resources, a process researchers call “switch costs.”
Replacing multitasking with mindfulness resonated with a third group of four “mindfulness for ADHD” when they responded to the statement, when they responded to the statement, “Multitasking is a great way to get a lot done.” 40% of them agreed to start, and at the end of the program, 75% disagreed/strongly disagreed.
People living with ADHD in all three groups were relieved to hear that taking it easy one thing at a time conserves cognitive resources and reduces stress, while preserving focus. And this message strikes a chord with the general population as well. In a 10-week workplace mindset training with 10 police officers, their response: “Multitasking enables me to get more done” A post evaluation showed a large change of mind (significant disagreement).
The “Mindfulness for ADHD” program included a stopping process we call “Head and Shoulders.” It’s a way to take a quick break from a challenging situation – growing up, frustration, stress – to connect to the bigger picture (open space), and then revisit the challenge with a broader frame of mind. “Learning to stop reacting and be present with one task at a time has been especially helpful,” says Gloria. This group with four participants showed strong improvement regarding the diagnostic statement, “I take action, and then regret it later,” Development from 75% agree/strongly agree (PRE) to 50% disagree (POST).
The link between anxiety and attention
Anxiety and stress are common in connection with attention problems. The assessment statement showed the greatest improvement with the first two ADHD groups.
“I’m stuck with stories that make me feel anxious or stressed, and I don’t know how to stop or interrupt that pattern.”
In the first two groups, disagreement increased by 70% (total score: pre: 17: post: 29). The third group progressed from 75% strongly agree/agree (PRE) to 50% agree (POST).
Mindfulness is not like a vending machine where you simply put in a coin and out pops a bag of chips. There is not a one-to-one relationship between practice and results, which derives from the non-goal orientation of the process. Of course, we want to get something out of it, but at the same time we are encouraged to check our desire at the door. In this way, we can be present with the actual practice, following the instructions, without hankering for anything beyond the moment.
When we get stuck on storylines, it’s like our thoughts are amplified by loudspeakers, glued to our ears. Mindfulness practice allows us to notice when this is happening, recognizing that these are thoughts that come and go. We don’t need to “fix” anything. We simply return our attention to this This world is here. Some mentalists see the back-and-forth activity as exercising mental muscles. We learn that, through awareness, we can radically change how we relate to our thoughts, from maserized and trapped to objective understanding.
Reflecting on thoughts without judging them
The key is to relate to your thoughts without judgment.
Being stuck understandably makes people feel anxious or stressed. When we get caught up in a whirlwind of thoughts, stress and anxiety aren’t far behind. Their effects on the brain affect working memory, which is closely related to attention.
“Research has shown that rapidly changing situations, worry and anxiety can all have a significant impact on your ability to focus,” says Kate Morgan on the BBC’s “How Anxiety Affects Your Focus.” That’s because learning how mindfulness tools can help deal with anxiety can help us regain our ability to focus.
Mindfulness is not about getting rid of stress and anxiety, but about dealing with them with openness and curiosity – seeing them as they are, without habitual patterns, prejudices and hatreds.
People’s sense of helplessness often stems from the fact that they do not know how to stop or interrupt this looping cycle of distraction, anxiety, compromising focus, and judgmental thoughts. To live with our self-critical thoughts in a new way may seem momentarily like it might not do much, but in fact it does a lot. Because it’s so easy to get used to, putting a pin in it and taking a mental step, even just for a breath, becomes a game changer.
Attention training is important in a busy world
Mindfulness elements of grounding, being in the present moment, being kind to yourself, and promoting awareness, focus, and immobility are certainly not limited to people with ADHD. In fact, one of the main reasons for the growing widespread interest in mindfulness is the cry for balance and well-being in our techno-infused consumerist world.
Developing these skills takes time, and the process is not linear. But a growing body of research is showing that mindfulness works to strengthen our ability to focus, reduce stress in favor of constant engagement, and increase our sense of personal agency in a noisy world that tries to pull us out of the present moment.
