Want to Focus Better? Steal These Secrets
I was an expert in procrastination, distractions, and unproductivity.
To quit those darling habits, I came across tons of BS advice.
Some productivity gurus swore by setting ridiculously early alarms and grinding out a few hours of work before taking a break. Others suggested prioritizing tasks and managing time.
But I was a lazy bum.
I wanted to work less yet get the shit done.
So, I forced myself to work only 3–4 hours a day without getting distracted. I even set a reward of slouching on the couch after that—all-day long.
Surprisingly I did more work in four hours than I did in eight hours.
I realized that 90 percent of productivity battle is the focus. The rest, 10 percent, is preparing yourself to focus.
It’s a myth that you need extra time. All you need is a heightened focus.
But luckily, you can train yourself to use those productive hours to their full potential without doing anything fancy.
Here are a few tips that yielded me unbelievable results.
1. Repel All The Attractions
What attracts you at work?
What diverts your focus?
What disrupts your flow state?
It’s not social media. It’s not people around you.
It’s clutter!
Evidence shows that it’s tough to concentrate on one thing when you’re being bombarded with several visual cues.
Messy rooms can cause disorganization and chaotic minds. If you have OCD like me, you must keep your workspace organized to stay focused on your work. Even a tiny misplaced paper clip can cause anxiety and kill your concentration.
Even if you don’t have OCD, you’ll find it hard to focus because of the fancy stationery and other eye-catching paraphernalia lying on our desk.
The workplace is often underrated and not often discussed in improving focus. But that’s one of the root causes of your lower concentration.
According to a study published in Psychology Today, a messy environment plays a significant role in killing your concentration:
It continually distracts you from work.
It attacks your minds with stimuli that create unwanted thoughts.
It attracts your attention.
It makes you feel guilty after losing your productivity hours.
If you want an anxiety-free day at work and utilize your maximum brain capacity, you need to reorganize and rethink your cubicle space.
What You Can Do
Minimize personal items like decorations and photos. Use motivation quote stickers instead.
Use a file organizer, so your files don’t float on the desk.
Buying a paper shredder is profitable if you’re dealing with plenty of confidential papers.
Change your cubicle/work table orientation, so you don’t sense people coming in and going out.
Secure all the cables underneath the table. Sometimes, tangled cables can mess up your head.
Get rid of all the stuff you don’t use. Or else they’ll get in the way of useful ones.
2. Don’t Overuse/Underuse Yourself
Do you find yourself reading the same page of the book for an hour? OR
Taking forever to prepare a presentation for the office meeting? OR
Spending a lot of time in the loo? OR
Using more than 30 minutes to get ready in the morning?
If yes, you’ve overused or underused your concentration powers.
Scientists believe:
If you cannot complete a task to perfection despite devoting a significant time, it means your brain has reached the maximum working capacity causing your mind to get distracted by external stimuli. It can also mean you haven’t developed your focus yet.
So just like your cell phone, recharging your mental focus while working is inevitable.
The best type of break to elevate concentration is short breaks. It can exponentially increase your mental focus.
Focus is a muscle that gets strengthened with practice. It’s pointless to force yourself to focus on work when the brain is shouting NO.
What You Can Do
Pause your activity every hour. Divert your attention to some unrelated task. You can also consider small activities like:
Changing coffee filters
Refilling the printer pages
Sipping in some water
Going a bathroom
Neck stretches
Spot marching
One-minute meditation
But, if you’re in a flow state, continue working.
Caveat: Don’t check phone notifications during the break. It utilizes your brain’s attention resources.
3. Don’t Fall Between Two Stools
It’s natural to get overwhelmed by the plentitude of work. But attacking all of them at once isn’t wise.
As the Turkish proverb says:
“One arrow does not bring down two birds.”
Multitasking leads nowhere. It gives you the illusion of control over things. But, reality speaks differently.
Switching between tasks scatters the attentional resources of your brain. Your problem-solving skills, rational thinking abilities, and cognitive decision powers get compromised, affecting the quality of your work.
Think of it as sunlight. Which is more powerful enough to burn a piece of paper — Scattered sunrays or the ones concentrated by a magnifying lens?
Distributing your mental energy to varied activities causes chaos and stress. The pressure to complete all the tasks kills your creative quotient.
Gathering too much than you can handle weakens your memory. Let’s say you’re cooking four recipes at one time. There are very high chances that you’ll forget an ingredient or two.
Also, there's one more thing to note that Stanford University research says:
Individuals regularly affected by different types of electronic media cannot concentrate, recollect important information or juggle between tasks.
What You Can Do
Get enough rest and sleep well at night, so you don’t rush things the next morning. A calm mind is a secret to 1000x productivity.
Here’s how you can plan your evening routine:
The 10–3–2–1–0 Bedtime Routine That Makes Your Mornings 2X Productive
Learn the art of saying NO. An upfront no is better than a lousy job.
Learn batch processing: Instead of checking your emails every 15 minutes, pick a time when you do all of these tasks in one sitting.
Schedule a time for distractions like phone, television, etc. This habit will help you to concentrate on your job better.
Plan and commit to no more than three important tasks for the day. More than three will overwhelm you, and less than three will free you to get distracted.
Before You Go
Which idea resonated with you the most? Or
Do you have any favorite focus-enhancing tips that I didn’t mention in the post?
Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear about them!
Thank you again.
See you!
Lots of Love,
Darshak
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When Gmail asks you if you want to make this change permanent, then pump your fist in the air, shouting, “Heck yeah, you Google!”
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Let’s break all the barriers!