How To Focus Part 1

The ability to focus is essential to any undertaking.

Nowadays, we live in a world that diminishes our focus. Everyone and everything is out to capture our attention and distract us from what we really want. It’s easy to get caught up in someone else’s agenda and forget about ours. Our attention is now monetizable and people try everything to maximize the profit.

The good news is that focus is in our control. It can only be captured if we let it happen.

To do that, we need to be aware of it and know the skills to control our focus. The skill of directing our attention is innate to every human being. Most people simply get caught up. We forget that we choose what we concentrate on.

We feel out of control. We are not to blame, but it still is our responsibility.

What is focus?

Focus means concentrating on one thing and ignoring everything else. The highest form of focus is complete absorption.

Everyone had this sensation before. Moments when we were so focused that we lost track of everything else: the time, environment, our phone… Sometimes even our hunger or pain.

We want to turn this into a reliable skill that can be called upon anytime.

There’s a right and wrong time for everything: Intense focus can have its downsides. Distractibility can have its upsides.

Types of Focus

There are several types of focus, the most important being:

1. Short-Term Focus: Focus on the moment and task at hand with the exclusion of everything else.
2. Long-Term: Focus on tasks and their progress over an extended period (weeks, months, years)

This article will cover long-term focus and tools to cultivate it. It’s surprisingly fundamental to short-term focus with an immense influence on our ability to concentrate.

Important Factors

Many factors either diminish or strengthen our focus. As always in life, everything comes together.

1: Why? The reason we do something is essential to our motivation. Intention is essential. The common problem arises when we don’t want to do something but have to. The inability to focus is often rooted in unwillingness (lack of a motivating intention) and a lack of tools to solve this problem.

2: Environment Although there are ways to focus in the most distracting environments, there’s a simple rule: the more distractions, the harder it is to focus. We tend to forget that we often have more control over our environment than we think. We always have tools to weaken distractions and strengthen our focus.

This can be as simple as leaving your phone in another room when you try to focus.

3: Emotions/Thoughts The ability to regulate our emotions/thoughts and control them as best as we can is the most important factor. It always starts within and reflects in our actions and lives. Everybody had moments when our thoughts or emotions relentlessly got in our way, just as we had moments where everything lined up perfectly and focus came naturally.

4: Perspective The way we see focus — the way we think about it — plays a crucial role. This is also true for our self and worldview. Most imagine focus as something rigid, like concrete. But focus is more like water. There is a fluidity to it. There are no rigid boundaries to focus. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi coined the concept of flow, and he was spot on. Think of yourself as Poseidon, the Greek “god of the seas“. It’s all about creating that flow, riding the wave of focus.

5: Clarity This ties in with all the other factors. Mental clarity is fundamental. For example: If you don’t know exactly what to do and how to do it, how could you do it? If there is no clear route, how can you go down that route? If you want to focus but your mind is occupied with everything except the task you need to do, how can you concentrate on it?…

…And so on.

It’s not that we can’t focus. It’s that all kinds of internal and external impulses obscure the clarity.

The ability to focus relies on having a clear path in our mind and environment. Again, it starts inside: if we create a clear path in our mind, a clear path in our environment comes naturally.

The Big Picture

Another important factor is having a bird’s-eye view, an overlook.

We tend to get caught up in the moment. This isn’t bad. It’s essential to enjoying a fulfilling life. The problem is that we get caught up in momentary negatives. Distracting thoughts, negative emotions, doubts, worries, etc. Instead of being in and enjoying the moment in a positive way, we get caught up in a negative way.

Nowadays, there is a lot of talk about “delayed gratification“. Although most are familiar with this concept, many don’t grasp the extent of what it implies.

The power of knowing where you want to go and why is underestimated. It can transform your entire way of being because of the felt purpose it brings.

Creating the big picture and staying on course depends on a few principles:

1. Create the vision That means making time to think and visualize our ideal self and life, our goals and dreams. The mind knows no limits, so it’s allowed and should even be encouraged to dream as big as we want. Saving this vision, for example, by writing it down, recording a description of it on your phone, memorizing it repeatedly… is key. This allows us to stay on track and implement the actions to get there.
2. Break it down Every big goal gets achieved by first breaking it down into single steps and then focusing on taking each of these steps. You can’t climb to the top of Mount Everest by beaming yourself from the bottom to the summit. It happens step by step until these steps equal the number of steps it takes to get to the top.
3. Organization Every venture depends on organizing it. Putting these steps in order and into a realistic sequence/timeline. It simultaneously phases out a lot of common mistakes and establishes a productive approach that increases your chances of getting there immensely. The execution and its success rely on our strategy/approach.

Organization

This is a point I struggled with. My mind is easily overwhelmed by complex matters and shuts off, which is a way of sabotaging myself. It’s not that I can’t grasp complex matters. I (subconsciously) don’t want to.

If you feel the same way, don’t despair! As always, it’s not that we can’t do it, it’s that we don’t know how.

It’s not you that is the problem, it’s just your approach, which can be changed anytime.

Getting organized

Starting with creating the vision, it’s simple: Imagine and dream as you like. Anything goes!

Losing 50 pounds, learning 5 instruments, becoming rich, expanding your social circle… Take your mind where you want to be.

Through these imaginations, we create a vision we can break down and map out.

What’s even more important We figure out what we really want, even if it seems unachievable. We get a sense of what it would feel like to be there. We reconnect with our true selves and our purpose.

Then, we write it down in a simple and direct way. The fewer words we can use, the better.

We break it down. Remember: Asking the right questions will produce the right answers.

What are these single steps that make up the big goal? How can you achieve them? Which are the tools, methods, and strategies you need, and which are already in your inventory? What would you need to do, learn, accept, endure, etc.? Which are the important factors? What are the obstacles? What are your advantages and disadvantages?…

Of course, the first question is the most important one. It allows us to create a map we can follow.

A house isn’t built from a single piece.

It’s built brick by brick.

From here, we can put these steps into a natural and logical sequence. We can create a timeline, a mind map… Whatever is needed to create a clear path in our mind and life. For example, losing 50 pounds would include headers like “exercising“ and “diet“, which is followed by “jogging, lifting weights…“ and “cut sugar, eat only X amount of calories…“, which is followed by…

You get the gist: Break it down as far as possible. Being rooted in reality and taking inventory of it is essential.

We can’t win if we operate on the wrong ground/basis. We can’t score a touchdown on the basketball court.

From this point, we know exactly where we are, where we want to go, and every step to get there. There’s a good chance that it has become an overwhelming amount of information now…

Priorities

Now, we organize this big mess, which depends on ruthless prioritizing. What are the most important goals? What are the most important steps?

Determine which steps have to be taken daily/repeatedly, which are onetime events, which can be cut from the plan, etc. Determine which goals are the most important and how much time/energy/mental capacity you should spend on each one.

We can use this as a worksheet that we can rely on to create a daily to-do list, stay on our path, track our progress…

We will dance between the big picture and the moment we take the step. We balance between the short- and long-term perspective.

If we take a closer look, we realize that a lot of our problems have their origin in not having a clear sense of our priorities or not staying true to them. There is no clear path. Therefore, solving these problems often starts with deciding to create this clear sense and honor it.

In a nutshell…

This is how it goes:

1. Vision: What you want/need
2. Breakdown: Which steps make up the goal?
3. Prioritizing: Which steps and goals are the most important? How do we split the time for each?
4. Structure: Create a long-term worksheet with all the steps and goals that we can use to create our daily to-do list.
5. Tracking: Keeping the balance between our long- and short-term perspective to see if we are on track or have lost our way.

Why?

Why do we need this if we want to focus on something we need to do? The goal is to avoid the pitfalls and establish the useful/productive factors:

1. Having the vision creates clarity, can establish the right mind state/spirit, gives us purpose, and connects us to our true self…
2. Having clarity gives us a realistic view, a clear path to follow (mentally and physically), and leads to knowing and setting our priorities…
3. Knowing our priorities cuts out distractions and useless actions, determines what steps we have to take in order to get what we want, keeps us on track and close to our goals, etc.
4. Knowing the steps makes a overwhelming goal possible, is actionable/trackable, and thus leads us to the finish line, maintaining clarity…

We could go on and on. As you see, all of these are intertwined. It creates a solid foundation to work on and, most importantly, a purpose that drives you!

Nothing drives our actions as emotions do. The more intense, the better.

There’s not much that creates such intense emotions as a purpose that you believe in with every fiber of your body and mind. It creates an unstoppable drive that can propel you through the walls you need to break.

In another article, we will cover more tools and explanations regarding long-term focus and organization. For now, it’s enough to digest and think about.

As always, please draw your own conclusions and make up your own mind. Use it as inspiration, use it to follow it step by step, or toss it out the window!

The golden rule is: Do what works for you.

Every mind works in an original way and the world needs the best version of yours! Only you know what’s best for you. I’m just trying to inspire and create a spark from which you can make your own fire.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

This is part 3 of the "Lazy Hustler" Series, proving insight and tools to reinvent yourself