How to Stay Focused And Control Your Attention?
- Aug 31, 2021
- 5 min read
Written by: Katie Stoddart, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
When it comes to focus, the first thing most people think of is: how to deal with distractions. Focus is, therefore the opposite state to being distracted. No wonder it is such a common issue in this world of distraction! However, focus is not only the result of avoiding external distractions; it is a powerful combination of being clear & intentional, optimizing your energy, and training this concentration muscle.
In this article, I will breakdown the superpower of focus in the five key categories: Clarity – Energy – Distraction-free – Concentration – Review
Clarity & Intention
Before even beginning to focus or work on a task, you need to be 100% clear on what that task will be. As simple as this sounds, this is a step that is often overlooked: jumping into autopilot at the start of the day or onto social media will reduce that clarity and will lead you down a less focused road.
To avoid this, you can embrace ‘eat that frog’ (Brian Tracy) by working on your most important task first thing in the morning. This is a fantastic way to start your work: it sets a productive & focused tone for the day ahead.
What it comes down to are two keywords: Priorities & Intention. When you are clear on your three to five main outcomes for the day and you are intentional about your work, you are far more likely to be motivated and stay focused throughout the day and week.
One of the pitfalls that high achievers and doers often fall into is multitasking: this great illusion that when you are doing several things at once, you are more productive. It has been proven many times that this is not the case. By multitasking, you are reducing concentration and making it harder on your brain. Single-tasking is one of the greatest habits to develop if you are working on improving your focus: it is a total game-changer!
Optimizing our Energy
Imagine starting the day, after a great night’s sleep, and an energizing morning routine including exercise, fresh air – you then sit at your desk and work: how focused do you think you will feel? There is a great correlation between your energy levels and your concentration levels.
Your optimal level of focus is linked to how energised you are feeling.
A few essential points to optimise your energy:
The four energy pillars: Nutrition – Exercise – Sleep – Meditation. All of these have been proven countless times to be the highest components of energy. If you want to improve your energy, look at each of these categories and reflect: What could you improve? What could you put in place that would make a change in each of these pillars?
Breaks: Your brain is wired to be able to focus efficiently for 90 to 110 minutes maximum. If you skip breaks, your attention will diminish over time, and you will gradually feel less focused and more inclined to indulge in distractions. To avoid this, you can use the Pomodoro method, or set a reminder to take a break every hour to an hour and a half.
Triad: Tony Robbins’ triad of Physiology – Focus – Meaning is an impactful method you can implement to change your state or emotion at any given time. If you are feeling unmotivated, you can: change your body by exercising/ breathing (physiology), focus on a different thought (focus), or change your perspective (meaning). Constantly working on being in a ‘high state’ will directly change your energy!
Managing Distractions
As Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky put it in their book ‘Make Time,’ we are prone to falling down infinity pools: social media, YouTube, Google, emails, etc.
You are more likely to be tempted by such distractions if your energy is low, if you are feeling bored, frustrated, or stressed. As Nir Eyal, author of ‘Indistractable,’ clearly states: ‘Time management is pain management. The first step to managing distractions is to understand that the majority of distractions are internal: they come from an emotion/ thought that you want to remove or avoid. That search for extra dopamine is what drives you to check all these infinity pools.
Once you have understood this and managed your state effectively, you are far less likely to be tempted to go down that rabbit hole.
Nonetheless, you can also use extra distraction blockers to reduce the temptation to check these sites while you are working, such as Freedom, StayFocusd, or ColdTurkey.
By taking even only 5 minutes break (off computer & phone) between each important task, you won’t feel as distracted, and you can continue working in a focused way.
Training Concentration
Focus/ Attention/ Concentration is really a muscle. You can train it over time. If you feel that you are not a focused person – this is something you can influence and change!
As mentioned here above, some of the best ways are to: be clear on your intentions, only work on one task at a time, manage your emotions (to avoid being distracted), and take breaks.
If you are looking for a ‘focus booster’: a practice to greatly increase your focus over time – there is a magic secret ingredient: meditation.
The principle of meditation is to constantly bring your awareness back to a specific object (often, your breath). By doing this, you are training your meta-attention: the ability to understand how you are placing your attention.
The greater your meta-attention, the easier you can catch yourself when you are distracted or if you switch from one task to another. This is how meditation serves your focus: it trains your meta-attention and helps you to be mindful & keep your concentration on your current activity.
One of the greatest rewards of focused work is flow. The term flow, coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, refers to that state of mind & body where you are totally absorbed in what you are doing, and no longer have any notion of time or self.
The more you train your focus, the more likely you are to enter ‘flow’: this is when you produce the highest quality work and where you derive the greatest feeling of enjoyment! If only for increasing ‘flow’ in your life, it would be worth training your focus!
Review
As with any skill that you are trying to improve and work on, you will reap the rewards after you put in the effort. To observe your progress, you can monitor how your focus is improving over time through essential questions. How long are you able to concentrate on one single task? How often do you feel distracted? How many breaks do you take during the day?
In today’s world, focus is a superpower! You can achieve more in less time and enjoy the process so much more when you can be fully focused on what you are doing. I wish you a great focused journey ahead!
Katie Stoddart, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Katie Stoddart, founder of ‘The Focus Bee’ is an award-winning, international, high-performance coach, speaker and podcast host. Katie supports leaders and business owners to reach & sustain peak performance in their business.
For her weekly podcast ‘The Focus Bee Show’, Katie interviews leading experts in high performance. Passionate about living intentionally; Katie challenges each and every person she works with to re-focus on what matters most. Katie works primarily with entrepreneurs & executives through 1-1 coaching & workshops on: Focus, Leadership & Performance.
