Staying focused

Let people know that your focused time is important to you and your well-being, and any reasonable person will understand. Starting out, you can set aside just one hour per day to focus on a key area of your choice. If you say you don’t have time, I will punch your nose four times. You have time for the things that matter to you.

How To Stay Focused: The Four Basic Requirements

Focusing is a lost skill, a casualty of the 21st century. People bury their noses in iDistracted and Distractdroid devices, practically salivating at the notifications which confirm their importance. Instead of commanding their day, they are controlled by their uncontrolled lust to be distracted.

Escapism. Let’s escape from the reality of life, escape from the self-responsibility to pursue dreams, and escape from anything challenging. Distraction is the drug of choice of the 21st century, and supply is endless.

You may not be an alcoholic, but how much of your dissatisfaction is drowned with the web, Facebook, TV, text messaging, or video games? These things are not supposed to be core life activities, but enjoyable side trips. And they are much more fun as side trips.

Accept that you may not succeed with the task at hand

Think about it. When you focus on something, you’re pouring all of your energy into it. Your brain will automatically label it as important. Focus is typically split up between several different tasks, ideas, and thoughts. So when you focus on a single cohesive idea, thought, or task, the brain says, “Whoa now, this task is getting special treatment. It must be important.”

It’s healthy to face failure and learn from it, rather than to bury it in other distractions, but it places more pressure on you to perform when you focus. Juggle six tasks at once, fail at one, and what happens? You keep going with your other five. Focus on one task and fail, and you have to face that failure. There’s nothing else to look at.

Sometimes, I hesitate to write. Before writing a story, I’ll consider how it might not turn out well or that I’m not as skilled as some of my favorite authors. The discomfort in potential failure pushes me back to burning time on Facebook, because there’s no pressure there. It’s easy, and fun, and a waste of my time.

To focus, give yourself a free pass on failing at the task. Make it ok to write a boring story, exercise with low energy, screw up your business launch, and embarrass yourself. If you only attempt things you’re 100% sure will end in success, you won’t do anything of significance.

Accept that you may not succeed with the task at hand

Think about it. When you focus on something, you’re pouring all of your energy into it. Your brain will automatically label it as important. Focus is typically split up between several different tasks, ideas, and thoughts. So when you focus on a single cohesive idea, thought, or task, the brain says, “Whoa now, this task is getting special treatment. It must be important.”

It’s healthy to face failure and learn from it, rather than to bury it in other distractions, but it places more pressure on you to perform when you focus. Juggle six tasks at once, fail at one, and what happens? You keep going with your other five. Focus on one task and fail, and you have to face that failure. There’s nothing else to look at.

Sometimes, I hesitate to write. Before writing a story, I’ll consider how it might not turn out well or that I’m not as skilled as some of my favorite authors. The discomfort in potential failure pushes me back to burning time on Facebook, because there’s no pressure there. It’s easy, and fun, and a waste of my time.

To focus, give yourself a free pass on failing at the task. Make it ok to write a boring story, exercise with low energy, screw up your business launch, and embarrass yourself. If you only attempt things you’re 100% sure will end in success, you won’t do anything of significance.

Accept that you will not make progress in ALL other areas of your life (for the chosen time)

You have 50 areas of your life you know could be better, don’t you? And you want them done now! ALL OF THEM! Or you know that your reward if you succeed would be delayed significantly from the work (like writing a book).

The decision to focus is almost always slightly uncomfortable. Focus is commitment to a single task, and it can be very unsettling to commit to read your C++ book for your career when you know you need to get in shape too.

This is where Facebook rears its ugly blue and white head. “Hey, you don’t need to read your book or go to the gym, you have a new notification. Let’s just think about that in the background while we check this exciting, immediately rewarding message.”

I like to combat this tempting thought with another thought – whatever I do today is a projection for the rest of my life. If I spend 2 hours on Facebook today, I’m setting that standard for the rest of my days. But if I write 2,000 words today, I’ll have written more than 700,000 words per year at that pace. Did you know that the average novel length is 64,000 words? That means I could write TEN full books in a year! Even if I cut my pace in half to 1,000 words per day, it’s FIVE full books. It really hits home for me when I think about how much time it’d take me to write 1-2 thousand words – about two hours. So my choice is between trifling conversation on facebook and writing five books? Hmm…

9. Choose suitable music

This could be a shocker for many readers out there. Though, it might not bring the same results for one as it would produce for many. Listening to a certain kind of music could increase your concentration at work. A recently published article stated that background music has actually the power to alter the listener’s mood.

To be a little specific, it was mentioned that listening to music that is positive and has slow tempos could actually improve your performance. It won’t be wrong to say that listening to background music helps to improve focus, blocks out distractions, and even makes a tedious task more enjoyable. Try it out to see if it works for you or not.

10. Use apps to train your brain to focus

Sometimes, it is almost impossible to focus when numerous other things are pulling out our energy. You would be surprised to know that there are many tools, mobile apps, and work management software that can actually help you focus better. These apps are designed in such a way that help you reclaim your brain and get busy working on the things that matter the most. One of the most popular and liked apps include Brain.fm, Concentrate, Headspace 2.0 to name a few.

Always remember that your ability to concentrate is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the better it would develop. It might be a little difficult in the beginning but with practice and determination, you can train your brain to focus better.

Vartika Kashyap is the Chief Marketing Officer at ProofHub and has been one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2018. Her articles are inspired by office situations and work-related events. She likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click.

Authorship:

https://stephenguise.com/how-to-stay-focused-the-four-basic-requirements/#:~:text=How%20To%20Stay%20Focused:%20The%20Four%20Basic%20Requirements,to%20focus%20on,%20get%20strategic%20with%20it.
https://stephenguise.com/how-to-stay-focused-the-four-basic-requirements/
https://www.proofhub.com/articles/stay-focused-at-work
Staying focused

Music is a nice choice to block out distracting chatter – but what if you’re making an educational video for work, and cannot play music with your headphones without having your microphone accidentally record Queen’s greatest hits? Or, what if you’re doing client calls for most of the day?

Focused

Staying focused is an interesting concept. We all want to be good at it, but the want fades away quickly. Focus can help you finish a task you are working on, stay on track and meet a deadline you have, help you score higher grades and have more time during the day to do things you want to accomplish.

Not many know this, but once distracted and moving away from a task, it takes us 23 minutes to go back into deep focus. To put it simply, staying focused while you study or work makes you more productive. The digital age has brought a lot of good, but we now realize more and more that it also brings distractions – a lot of them.

Employees who work mainly on their computers (and let’s be honest, most of us do), are distracted every 10.5 minutes on average. For some, these distractions include reading emails or reading a notification they have received on their phone, for others it’s checking what their friends are doing on Facebook or Instagram for example. Our attention span runs between 10-20 minutes, so it’s easy to understand how one will quickly drift off from the task in hand.

In addition to these distractions, Some of us have days that consist of lots of meetings. We spend somewhere between 35%-55% of our time in meetings, which makes staying focused while we work extremely important. It is the only way we can really accomplish all of our tasks and meet our goals.

20 Quick focus tips

1. (Re-)evaluate your work habits

How best to (re-)evaluate your work habits?

A problem with your work habits has a lot to do with how you schedule your day. You may schedule activities too early or too late in relation to your Biological Prime Time, i.e. the time when you’re the most productive:

Following a fixed routine is beneficial for productivity, but you’ll have no benefit from it if it’s the wrong fixed routine – so, work on your current schedules to find ideal times for all your assignments and errands.

2. Create and follow a To-do list

Since we’ve already stated how multitasking is sapping your ability to focus, one of the techniques that can help you overcome switching between tasks is prioritizing your work. Therefore, the first thing you need to do in order to start your day right is to create a To-do list you’ll follow – this way, you’ll know:

How best to create and follow a To-do list?

Customize your own To-do lists to your liking — for this purpose, you can make use of To-do list templates. Whether for work, school, or even daily chores – create and download your personalized To-do list in PDF format, share it with your colleague in Google Docs, or simply print it out.

It’s of the utmost importance to prioritize your work when creating To-do lists. Therefore, when you start working, do your urgent/important tasks and subtasks first, and your NOT urgent/important tasks and subtasks second.

Put a checkmark next to each task you finish, as soon as you finish it – watching the number of tasks you’ve finished increase will make you feel more confident to continue working and reach the end of the list as soon as possible.

3. Work in time blocks

How best to work in time blocks?

Time blocking example 1

Time blocking example 2

4. Timebox your emails and meetings

How best to timebox your emails and meetings?

HOW BEST TO TIMEBOX EMAILS…

HOW BEST TO TIMEBOX MEETINGS…

5. Define personal deadlines

How best to define personal deadlines?

The best practice is to set your deadline based on previous experience with the same type of tasks – if you know it takes you 3 hours on average to finish a project proposal, then you should set a deadline for 3 hours each time you write a project proposal.

6. Make others aware of your schedule

How best to make others aware of your schedule?

As an alternative, you and your colleagues can join the same workspace to track time in a team Dashboard – this way, you’ll all be able to see what everyone is currently working on, and decide whether it’s the right time to interrupt them.

7. Take short breaks?‍

How best to take short breaks?

The previously mentioned research shows that ~50 minutes is the maximum time we can stay completely focused on a task – after that time, our focus slowly dwindles and we lose the sense of importance tied to a task.

What’s more, you can make use of the Pomodoro timer that can track time spent on tasks while keeping you focused and improving your productivity altogether. The Pomodoro technique works on a very simple yet effective principle – you work in 25-minute “pomodoro” intervals separated by short 5-minute breaks. Every five “pomodoros”, take a 20 or 30-minute break.

8. Turn off notifications in apps

Notifications in apps are useful in general – they tell you when you can update a favorite program with new useful features, or when your colleague has just sent you a new message. But, when you’re trying to focus, a message from your colleague telling you about the newest Black Friday deals will only distract you.

How best to turn off notifications in apps?

Most individual apps have options to disable notifications, so you can do that app by app – for example, you can select the channels you want to get notifications from in the settings of your chat app, or block updates from a certain program you’re looking to uninstall anyway.

9. Schedule quiet time

Finding some quiet time for when you have to finish an important assignment with flying colors is often a challenge – so, it’s best that you find a quiet, isolated place where you can go work when you need ultimate focus and zero distractions.

How best to schedule quiet time?

Nowadays, most companies that have official office spaces harbor an open office policy – you all sit and work together, for better or for worse. But, most offices still have isolated rooms for meetings and similar activities.

47 Incredible “Stay Focused” Quotes to Inspire You

So when you’re looking for some motivation, whether it’s motivation to write an essay, motivation to study, motivation to do homework, or motivation to self-publish a book, enjoy these stay focused quotes which will keep you accountable, lift you up, and remind you to pay attention to and stay focused on your dreams.

21. “Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be.” – Eric Thomas

31. “Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them.” – Jack Canfield

Authorship:

https://blocksite.co/focused/
https://clockify.me/blog/productivity/stay-focused-at-work/
https://www.goodbyeselfhelp.com/stay-focused-quotes/
Staying focused

Switch tasks. While we may want to concentrate on a particular task, sometimes we get stuck and our brain needs something fresh to focus on. Try switching to other tasks or something you love to do. Switching tasks can help you stay alert and productive for a longer period.

Eliminate Distractions

While it may sound obvious, people often underestimate just how many distractions prevent them from concentrating on the task at hand. Such intrusions might come in the form of a radio blaring in the background or perhaps an obnoxious co-worker who constantly drops by your cubicle to chat.

Minimizing these sources of distraction isn’t always as easy as it sounds. While it might be as simple as turning off the television or radio, you might find it much more challenging to deal with an interrupting co-worker, spouse, child, or roommate.

One way to deal with this is to set aside a specific time and place and request to be left alone for that period of time. Another alternative is to seek out a calm location where you know you will be able to work undisturbed. The library, a private room in your house, or even a quiet coffee shop might all be good spots to try.

A few strategies you might want to try to minimize or eliminate such internal distractions are to make sure you are well-rested prior to the task and to use positive thoughts and imagery to fight off anxiety and worry. If you find your mind wandering toward distracting thoughts, consciously bring your focus back to the task at hand.

2. Create an hourly-work plan

One of the major reasons why most of us lose our focus is not having a proper plan. As a result, our monkey mind unchains itself and we lose our focus. To tame your monkey mind, try scheduling your tasks hour by hour. It is a great exercise that gives a structure to your workday. You know exactly what to do when and what needs to be accomplished at the end of the day.

Creating an hourly-plan is, in fact, a great way to enhance the process of prioritization. It allows you to plan in such a way that tasks requiring more attention or higher energy levels could be accomplished as the first thing in the morning.

Factors affecting concentration

Some days it seems like our concentration is under attack from all sides. In fact, concentration is affected by both internal and external or environmental factors. If you want to learn how to improve focus and memory, it helps to understand what’s getting in the way now.

• Distraction. We are bombarded by a constant flow of information, whether new or old, during the process of doing something. Researchers have found that our brains are so primed for this distraction that just seeing our smartphone impairs our ability to concentrate. We constantly assess whether the information is useful, sufficient, or meaningless. The sheer quantity coming in muddles our assessment of whether we actually need more information to make decisions.
• Insufficient sleep. Scientists have found that lack of sleep can lead to lower alertness, slower thought processes, and reduced concentration. You will have more difficulty focusing your attention and may become confused. As a result, your ability to perform tasks especially relating to reasoning or logic can be seriously affected. Chronically poor sleep further affects your concentration and memory. Dr. Allison T. Siebern from the Stanford University Sleep Medicine Centre notes that if you cannot concentrate on what is at hand, it is unlikely to make it to either your short- or long-term memory.
• Insufficient physical activity. Have you ever noticed how vigorous exercise leaves you feeling more relaxed and energetic throughout the day? When you don’t do physical activity, your muscles can become tense. You may feel tightness in your neck, shoulder, and chest and such persistent, low-level discomfort can affect your concentration.
• Eating habits. What we eat contributes to how we feel, including our mental sharpness and clarity, throughout the day. If we don’t fuel our brains with the proper nutrients, we start to experience symptoms like memory loss, fatigue, and lack of concentration. Low-fat diets can ruin focus because the brain needs certain essential fatty acids. Other restrictive diets may negatively affect concentration by not providing the nutrients the brain needs or by creating hunger, cravings, or feeling of unwellness in the body that are themselves distracting.
• Environment. Depending on what you are doing, the environment can affect your focus. Obviously, a noise level that is too loud is a problem, but many people also have difficulty concentrating when it is too quiet. It isn’t just the overall noise level but the type of noise that matters: the high-energy, anonymous hum of a coffee shop might bring focus while the overheard conversation of two co-workers derails it. A favorite song quickly has you singing along, happily distracted, while less distinct instrumentals might keep you attuned to the task. Lighting that is too bright or too dim can affect your vision. A room that is too hot or too cold creates discomfort.

Conditions related to concentration

If you frequently can’t focus your thoughts and are experiencing ongoing concentration difficulties, it may indicate a cognitive, medical, psychological, lifestyle, or environmental cause. Depending on the cause, you may have to temporarily accept that your concentration is low and learn a few tricks to reduce the impact or accept the dips as they come. If you need help with concentration and think your difficulties go beyond the list above, consult with a professional.

Cognitive. Your concentration may decrease if you find yourself forgetting things easily. Your memory sometimes fails you, you misplace articles, and have difficulty remembering things that occurred a short time ago. Another way your concentration may be cognitively impaired is if you find that your mind is overactive constantly thinking of multiple things due to concerns or important events. When thoughts and issues intrude in your mind, demanding attention, it prevents effective concentration.

Psychological. When you are depressed and feeling down, it is difficult to focus. Similarly, when you are recovering from the loss of a loved one during bereavement or are experiencing anxiety, you may have difficulty focusing on a single task.

Medical. Medical conditions like diabetes, hormonal imbalances, and low red blood cell count can affect our concentration. Some medication also makes you drowsy or bleary and severely impair concentration.

Environment. Poor working conditions, shared spaces, and intense or negative work dynamics may also contribute to a lack of concentration. When we are experiencing burnout or stress from work or personal life, we will find it difficult to concentrate due to emotional exhaustion. Similarly, the environment can create discomfort to our body with effects that we’re aware of (heat, light, noise) and others that don’t fully register (tension, negativity, monitoring)..

Lifestyle. Fatigue, hunger, and dehydration can derail concentration. Lifestyles that involve too many missed meals, rich foods, or excessive alcohol consumption can challenge our memory and ability to concentrate and focus.

Eliminate distractions. How do we focus better if we are always bombarded with information? Make a practice to block time in your schedule to do a specific task or activity. During this time, request that you be left alone or go to a place where others are unlikely to disturb you: a library, a coffee shop, a private room.

Close social media and other apps, silence notifications, and keep your phone hidden from sight in a bag or backpack. As described in HBR, researchers found that cognitive capacity was significantly better when the phone was out of sight, not just turned off. Keep Your primary focus is to complete what you need to do. Shutting off both internal and external disturbances can help you to concentrate.

Reduce multitasking. Attempting to perform multiple activities at the same time makes us feel productive. It’s also a recipe for lower focus, poor concentration, and lower productivity. And lower productivity can lead to burnout. Examples of multitasking include listening to a podcast while responding to an email or talking to someone over the phone while writing your report. Such multitasking not only hampers your ability to focus but compromises your work quality.

Practice mindfulness and meditation. Meditating or practicing mindfulness activities can strengthen well-being and mental fitness and improve focus. During the meditation process, our brain becomes calmer and our whole body becomes more relaxed. We focus on our breath during the process so that we will not be distracted by our minds. With practice, we can learn to use our breath to bring our attention back to a particular task so that it can be done well even if we get interrupted.

Get more sleep. Many factors affect your sleep. One of the most common is reading from an electronic device like a computer, phone, or tablet or watching your favorite movie or TV show on an LED TV just before bedtime. Research has shown that such devices emit light towards the blue end of the spectrum. Such light will stimulate your eye retina and prevent the secretion of melatonin that promotes sleep anticipation in the brain. Use a filter or "blue light" glasses to minimize such blue light or avoid all electronic devices before bed. Other ways to improve sleep include avoiding exercise late in the day, staying hydrated throughout the day, using journaling or breathing exercises to quiet the mind, and creating a predictable bedtime routine and schedule.

Choose to focus on the moment. It might feel counterintuitive when you feel unable to concentrate, but remember that you choose where you focus. It’s tough to concentrate when your mind is always in the past and worrying about the future. While it isn’t easy, make an effort to let go of past events. Acknowledge the impact, what you felt, and what you learned from it, then let it go. Similarly, acknowledge your concerns about the future, consider how you are experiencing that anxiety in your body, then choose to let it go. We want to train our mental resources to focus on the details of what matters at the moment. Our minds go in the direction we choose to focus.

Authorship:

https://www.verywellmind.com/things-you-can-do-to-improve-your-mental-focus-4115389
https://www.proofhub.com/articles/stay-focused-at-work
https://www.betterup.com/blog/15-ways-to-improve-your-focus-and-concentration-skills