Many lawyers and law students think they are excellent multitaskers—able to fire off a text, scan social media, check a sports score, and then quickly toggle back to complex tasks. However, research shows otherwise, argues Professor Shailini George in her new book, “The Law Student’s Guide to Doing Well and Being Well” (Carolina Academic Press, 2021).
The problem, George writes in Bloomberg Law, is that “quick hits of distraction ignite an area in the back of your brain called the parietal lobe, which constantly scans the environment for stimuli. But to deeply focus, you use the prefrontal cortex, in the front of the brain. You can’t really use both well at the same time.”
When you need to focus deeply, you can’t simply tell yourself to do so, she explains. It takes too much of your brain’s finite willpower to constantly resist the distraction temptation.
Unfortunately, it’s not enough to just turn your phone over on the desk where you’re working, she says. Research shows that the mere presence of your phone is a significant distraction—so it’s better to put it in another room. She also shares studies suggesting that we perform best when we deeply focus for about 50 minutes and then take a break for eight to 10 minutes.
This fall, George and Professor Lisle Baker have been teaching a new 1L course, Preparing for Professional Success, which includes a section on developing focus to better face the challenges of law classes and law practice.
Image by Michael J. Clarke
By Michael Fisch
Law Briefs
Return to Table of Contents
By Michael Fisch
LAW BRIEFS
Many lawyers and law students think they are excellent multitaskers—able to fire off a text, scan social media, check a sports score, and then quickly toggle back to complex tasks. However, research shows otherwise, argues Professor Shailini George in her new book, The Law Student’s Guide to Doing Well and Being Well (Carolina Academic Press, 2021).
The problem, George writes in Bloomberg Law, is that “quick hits of distraction ignite an area in the back of your brain called the parietal lobe, which constantly scans the environment for stimuli. But to deeply focus, you use the prefrontal cortex, in the front of the brain. You can’t really use both well at the same time.”
When you need to focus deeply, you can’t simply tell yourself to do so, she explains. It takes too much of your brain’s finite willpower to constantly resist the distraction temptation.
Unfortunately, it’s not enough to just turn your phone over on the desk where you’re working, she says. Research shows that the mere presence of your phone is a significant distraction—so it's better to put it in another room. She also shares studies suggesting that we perform best when we deeply focus for about 50 minutes and then take a break for eight to 10 minutes.
George has been teaching a new 1L course this fall, Preparing for Professional Success, that includes a section on developing focus to better face the challenges of law classes and law practice.
Image by Michael J. Clarke
Return to Table of Contents
Suffolk Law Professor Shailini George