Focusing

It’s all about: concentrating, staying engaged and paying attention.

Your focusing skill  

Lots of things can get in the way and distract us while we're concentrating.   

Your education will have played a big part in the development of your focus. You’ll have practised your focus by:

• doing homework
• concentrating on tests
• listening to teachers and classmates

Being able to concentrate on what you’re doing helps you complete tasks quickly and more effectively. 

Top tips for developing focus 

1. In general: Ditch the devices. We all love social media, and chatting to friends is so easy online. But set aside time to switch off and do other hobbies outwith your devices. 
2. In school: Practise paying attention in class by listening to what your teacher is saying and asking you to do. Take your time doing homework so you can concentrate and ignore distractions. 
3. In work: Make sure you’re listening to your customers and colleagues by not scrolling on your devices while they speak. Tune out non-essential information by completing one task at a time.  

Describing your focusing skill to employers 

Employers want to hear in your CVs, applications and interviews about how you’ve used your focus. They’ll want to know you can see a task through to the end in good time. You may be asked to describe a time you: 

• sorted information into categories to help break up a task  
• paid attention to a particular piece of work to achieve an end goal  
• filtered out unnecessary information when working on a project or task  

Applying your skills

Explore different ways you can apply your skills and learn more about them.