For many Kenyans, the modern working day does not involve doing one thing at a time.
You may start the morning answering WhatsApp messages, move to an online meeting, check M-Pesa transactions, respond to a client, open Facebook, return to work, answer a family call and then suddenly realise that an hour has disappeared.
Students face a similar problem. So do entrepreneurs, journalists, freelancers, office workers and people running businesses from their phones.
The problem is often described as a lack of discipline. But there is another way of looking at it: your brain is constantly being asked to change tasks.
And that can make concentration much harder.
Research into multitasking shows that the brain pays a cognitive cost when people switch between tasks. What feels like doing several things simultaneously is often rapid switching between different demands.
The good news is that focus is a skill that can be strengthened through everyday habits.
Your phone may be your biggest distraction
Kenya is becoming increasingly connected. DataReportal reported 23.4 million internet users in Kenya at the end of 2025, while social-media user identities reached 18.4 million. Mobile connections stood at 77.5 million.
That connectivity creates enormous opportunities for business, education, communication and entertainment.
But the same phone that allows a Nairobi entrepreneur to find a customer can interrupt that entrepreneur every few minutes.
A WhatsApp notification may appear while you are writing an important email. A TikTok video may arrive while you are researching something. A Facebook notification may tempt you away from a task that requires concentration.
Each interruption may last only seconds.
The bigger problem is the mental shift that follows.
Stop confusing multitasking with productivity
Imagine you are writing a business proposal while occasionally checking WhatsApp.
It may feel as though you are accomplishing two things at once.
In reality, your attention is moving from the proposal to WhatsApp and back again.
Research on task switching shows that changing between different tasks requires cognitive control and can reduce performance compared with concentrating on a single task.
This does not mean multitasking is always impossible.
Some activities can be combined when one requires little conscious attention. Walking while listening to an audio programme, for example, is different from writing a financial report while responding to complicated messages.
The important question is therefore not simply, “Can I multitask?”
It is:
“Which tasks deserve my full attention?”
Start training your brain to work in blocks
One practical way to improve focus is to divide your day into periods dedicated to particular activities.
For example, instead of checking WhatsApp throughout the morning, you could allocate specific periods for messages.
You might spend the first hour of work writing, researching or handling the most important assignment before opening social media.
After that, you can check messages and deal with less demanding tasks.
The principle is simple: protect your most productive periods from unnecessary interruptions.
This is particularly useful for people working from home or running online businesses, where the boundary between work and entertainment can disappear.
Put the phone away when concentration matters
You do not necessarily need to switch off your phone for the entire day.
Instead, create situations in which your phone is physically separated from your immediate workspace.
Put it on silent.
Turn the screen down.
Place it in another room during an important task.
Or simply put it face down.
The objective is to reduce the number of decisions your brain has to make.
If a notification appears in front of you every few minutes, you repeatedly have to decide whether to ignore it.
Removing the notification removes the decision.
Train your attention gradually
Many people try to improve concentration by demanding too much from themselves.
Someone who normally checks their phone every five minutes may suddenly decide to work uninterrupted for four hours.
That may not be realistic.
Instead, begin with manageable periods.
Work for 20 or 30 minutes without switching tasks. Then take a short break.
Over time, increase the period.
The goal is not to become a machine capable of working continuously. The goal is to become more comfortable with sustained attention.
Modern research describes cognitive control partly in terms of balancing cognitive stability — staying focused on the current task — with cognitive flexibility, the ability to switch when switching is actually necessary.
Both abilities matter.
Give your brain fewer things to remember
Another source of distraction is mental clutter.
You may sit down to work while thinking:
“Did I pay the electricity bill?”
“I need to call that client.”
“I have to collect the children.”
“I haven’t replied to that message.”
“I must remember to send that document.”
Writing these things down can help.
Keep a notebook or digital task list and record tasks instead of repeatedly trying to remember them.
This allows you to concentrate on the task in front of you rather than constantly rehearsing everything you still need to do.
Sleep may be more important than another productivity hack
People sometimes look for complicated ways to improve concentration while ignoring one of the most basic requirements: sleep.
A systematic review of research on sleep and cognition found that sleep deprivation can affect attention and working memory. Another 2024 meta-analysis found that even one night of restricted sleep was associated with poorer sustained attention and more attentional lapses.
This has obvious implications for people who regularly work late into the night.
The Kenyan culture of staying awake to finish assignments, watch football, conduct business or scroll through social media may sometimes feel harmless.
But if insufficient sleep becomes routine, concentration during the following day can suffer.
Your brain cannot simply be ordered to “focus harder” when it is exhausted.
Move your body
Improving concentration does not necessarily mean spending more time sitting at a desk.
Physical activity is an important part of overall health, and the World Health Organization recommends regular physical activity while encouraging people to reduce sedentary behaviour.
For someone working at home in Nairobi, this could be as simple as getting up periodically, walking outside, taking the stairs or going for a regular walk.
The point is not to turn every worker into an athlete.
It is to avoid spending the entire day sitting in front of a screen.
Create a “single-task” environment
Your environment can either help or sabotage your concentration.
If you are writing an article, close unnecessary browser tabs.
If you are studying, put the phone away.
If you are preparing accounts, avoid simultaneously watching videos.
If you are attending an online meeting, resist the temptation to browse unrelated websites.
The fewer competing demands in front of you, the easier it becomes to direct your attention toward the job.
Don’t try to eliminate every distraction
There is another important point.
You cannot eliminate every distraction from modern life.
Your child may need you.
A client may call.
An important family matter may arise.
Your employer may send an urgent message.
A genuine emergency does not care about your productivity schedule.
The objective is therefore not to create a perfectly distraction-free life.
It is to distinguish important interruptions from habitual interruptions.
That distinction can transform how you use your time.
A simple focus routine for everyday life
Someone looking to improve concentration can begin with a very simple routine:
Choose one important task.
Work on it without unnecessary notifications.
Complete a defined block of time.
Take a short break.
Check messages at a designated time.
Return to the next important task.
Repeat.
There is nothing particularly glamorous about this approach.
But productivity does not always require a complicated system.
Sometimes it requires simply giving one important task your full attention.
The goal is not to become a multitasking machine
The idea that you can completely “rewire” your brain and become an extraordinary multitasker makes for an attractive headline.
The scientific picture is more nuanced.
The brain can adapt, and people can develop better strategies for managing attention. But demanding multiple cognitive tasks simultaneously can still create performance costs. Research on multitasking and task switching has identified distinct brain networks involved in managing these demands.
So the practical goal should not be to train yourself to handle an unlimited number of tasks at once.
It should be to become better at deciding what deserves your attention, protecting that attention and switching deliberately when necessary.
For Kenyans navigating an increasingly digital economy, that may be a far more useful skill.
Your smartphone can help you earn money, study, communicate, build a business and reach customers around the world.
But it should not automatically control where your attention goes.
You should.
Source note: The article’s neuroscience and health claims are based on peer-reviewed research and WHO guidance; the Kenya digital-use figures are from DataReportal’s Digital 2026: Kenya report, whose figures largely reflect data available in late 2025.
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