The human brain is an amazing organ, capable of incredible feats of concentration and memory. It’s also highly susceptible to distractions.
As you’re working on a particular task, your brain constantly switches focus between the task and everything else it needs to process. This isn’t necessarily bad — it’s natural: we get fidgety, bored and distracted very easily once we begin focusing on something.
The human mind operates in a finite capacity. The amount of focus we can devote to anything at any given moment is limited.
As soon as you start thinking about something new or trying to do something different, your mind wanders all over again. This makes it difficult, but not impossible, to get more things done faster.
When you’re trying to get things done, it can feel like a mountain of obstacles in your way. Your mind keeps wandering; ideas don’t stick, and distractions are everywhere. And let’s not even talk about procrastination.
While some days you will feel like working is the worst idea ever, there are other days when it feels almost impossible to squeeze in a few minutes of dedicated work.
High performers in many industries tend to increase the mental processes they need to process things simultaneously. The result? They become overwhelmed and struggle to stay focused on their primary goal.
If you are constantly thinking about other things in your life, chances are your focus is extremely finite. If you are constantly juggling multiple tasks at the same time, your ability to focus suffers.
Sleep deprivation doesn’t help either. If you don’t get enough sleep over the course of a week, your ability to focus will be negatively affected. So keep in mind when you’re trying to improve your focus.
Focus is a skill
“Focus is more important than genius.” — Greg McKeown
Focus is key to productivity. But what happens when you saturate your brain? Focus becomes difficult, and you’re unable to get real work done.
How does our brain know when to stop focusing? The answer lies in how much focus our brains can accommodate at once. The good news is that you can improve your ability to focus.
Like any other skill, your concentration skill can be mastered with practice — but staying laser-focused requires a commitment to single-tasking. “It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world,” says Og Mandino.
Mastering any skill is all about practice and repetition. If you want to become better at something, the only way to do that is by putting in the time.
The key is focusing on one thing at a time and removing external distractions before you start important work — but it doesn’t always work for most people.
Better focus begins with elimination. “99.99% of everything is noise,” argues Michael Saylor. If you’re constantly interrupted or distracted, take a distraction inventory. Find what distracts you most.
Beware of overstimulation. To effectively get things done without fail, you must learn how to limit external distractions so that they don’t take over your life or prevent you from achieving your goals. “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks,” says Winston Churchill.
And start scheduling in some downtime — give your brain enough time to recharge between tasks. Even if it’s just 10 minutes of quiet time every day, it will make a difference. Once you’ve cleared your mind, you’ll find that it’s easier to stay focused for longer periods of time.
You can also improve your ability to focus by breaking down tasks into smaller chunks and steps and establishing clear goals for each step along the way. It’s easy to get lost in the moment, but try to break down long stretches into shorter increments with a specific endpoint and an objective that will be achieved after those short segments.
You have a finite amount of focus daily — use it cautiously. Learn to regain control of your cognitive abilities again. “I succeeded because I have a long attention span,” Charlie Munger once said.
—
This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
Escape the Act Like a Man Box | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men | Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race | The First Myth of the Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock.com