Psychologists estimate that one-third to one-half of a person's thoughts while awake are daydreams, although a single daydream rarely lasts more than a few minutes, according to the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology.

When people are given a specific task to do — say, an engineer tackling a complex equation or a factory worker doing a repetitious assignment — they focus on that task, but then other brain regions get busy during the downtime, researchers reported in an issue of the journal Science earlier this year.

"There is this network of regions that always seems to be active when you don't give people something to do," according to psychologist Dr. Malia Mason of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

When Mason asked people what was happening during this downtime, her answer was clear: "It's daydreaming. But I find that the vast majority of time, people aren't having fanciful thoughts. People are thinking about what they have to do later today," she told Reuters in January.

"Evidence indicates that unless confronted by a task that requires concentration, the mind tends to generate stimulus-independent thought (SIT) — it tends to wander from the current stimulus environment," according to a survey that sought to answer how respondents' mind-wandering compared with others.

Concentration: the ability to direct your thinking. Of course, forcing the mind not to wander, to focus, isn't always easy, especially at this time of the year: people taking in the warm weather may be walking by your office/cubicle window throughout the day, or the air conditioning on the factory floor may be causing discomfort and causing your mind to wander away from the task at hand.

Plus, consider the number of people afflicted with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who may be inattentive for even more than the aforementioned one-third of the time. ADHD is a neurobiological condition that affects an estimated 3 percent to 7 percent of the population, according to the National Resource Center on AD/HD.

In the workplace, one typical situation in which focusing may be particularly difficult is a meeting. Like the students in the classroom who struggle to pay attention to the teacher, adult workers who spend time in meetings must focus. Lack of personal focus in meetings can lead to problems if all team members are not tuned into forthcoming responsibilities or changes on the horizon.

The good news is "we can systematically tame the mind and as we do, we move into a seat of quiet, mindful observation," writes Steve Shealy, Ph.D., in Cultivating Mental Discipline: The Skill of Mindfulness. "And with observation comes the ability to shift from reactivity to response; we can choose our next move rather than simply reacting in our old conditioned way."

"We all have the ability to concentrate — sometimes," notes The Study Guides and Strategies Web site. "Think of the times when you were 'lost' in something you enjoy: a sport, playing music, a good game, a movie. Total concentration."

Next time you find your mind wandering from the task at hand, try these simple suggestions for slowing things down (adapted from psychotherapist Margo Valentine Lazzara's The Healing Aromatherapy Bath). Your concentration and memory should improve, and you'll be able to think more clearly and with less effort.

1. Allow your thoughts to come and go, but resist the urge to follow each one. Your brain will eventually slow down and you will feel less pressured.

2. As you work and think, be strict with yourself; each time your mind wanders, return it to the task. As you keep refocusing your attention, your "mind stillness" will improve.

3. Find a comfortable position and don't allow yourself to move. Concentrate on what you are doing or watching, drawing your attention away from physical distractions, and focus your thoughts on your task. After a while, you will notice that you fidget less and feel less physical discomfort. Now you are channeled into mental exertion.

4. If you find it difficult to let go of your thoughts, try counting slowly as you breathe. Watch your thoughts and try to resist following them. Turn your attention to the count as you breathe out.

Likewise, according to Shealy, using phrases as you breathe in and out can deepen concentration, a strategy taken from the teachings of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. For example, say to yourself on alternating in and out breaths the following:

"In" - "Out"
"Deep" - "Slow"
"Calm" - "Ease"
"Smile" - "Release"
"Pres" - "ent"
"Mo" - "ment"
"Wonder" - "ful"
"Mo" - "ment."

An article entitled How To Stay Focused, by Kevin Eikenberry of learning consulting firm The Kevin Eikenberry Group, is also relevant and particularly interesting.

Breaking it down into three main categories — planning, questioning and removing — he suggests incorporating the following considerations into your daily routine:

• Is what I am doing now focused on my most important objectives? If the answer is "yes," great! If the answer is "no," time to refocus.

• How is my energy level? If you feel it waning a bit, take a five-minute walk, a 10-minute power nap or eat a smart snack of almonds or some other energy food.

• What is distracting me now? If something is, determine how to quickly handle it, or remove that distraction.

When a person is not allowing his or her mind to wander or daydreaming, one might refer to this as being mindful.

"In the most straightforward terms, mindfulness is being present with whatever is occurring to us or within us at any given moment," says Shealy.

Resources

Daydreaming
Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2001

Caught daydreaming? Blame your brain
by Maggie Fox
Reuters, Jan. 22, 2007

National Resource Center on AD/HD: Workplace Issues

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
National Institute of Health

Cultivating Mental Discipline: The Skill of Mindfulness
Steve Shealy, Ph.D.

Concentrating when studying
by Joe Landsberger
The Study Guides and Strategies Web site, last revised: March 16, 2007

How to Stay Focused
by Kevin Eikenberry
TheSideroad.com

The Canonical List of Engineers' Distractions: Lessons from Dilbert and Real-Life Engineers
by Ron Graham
Rhetoric for Engineers and Other Practical People