“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. ” -Tony Robbins
According to a 2015 study from Microsoft, the average human has an eight-second attention span, less than that of a goldfish which are believed to have an attention span of nine seconds!! Our attention spans are getting shorter thanks to smartphones and access to modern technology and our brain is always seeking out what is new and what is next. Losing focus has become easy nowadays, however you need to know that focus is a muscle that you can build as stated by Elie Venezky, author of Hack Your Brain, and if you work on building it you can get closer to feeling successful.
Here are 8 strategies to help you gain back your focus:
- Understand where your focus needs to be: identify what deserves your focus for the day. Then look at your calendar and block time dedicated to focus. Prioritize the tasks that actually can get you closer to your biggest goals and dreams especially when focus is at its best (for some people it is early morning, for others it is mid-day or late afternoon).
- Choose to focus on 2 to 3 tasks each day, that if you manage to accomplish them you will feel productive and happier at the end of the day. Choose the tasks that must happen no matter what, and do them first before you get distracted.
- Make sure the conditions of your environment are convenient for focus. Make sure it is neither too hot nor too cold and that you are neither hungry thirsty or sleepy, also make sure to turn off your social media and email notifications off as these factors can really be distracting.
- Refocus on doing what YOU really, really like to do: When you really like doing something then the motivation to do it come automatically (most of the time). And when you really want something then it simply becomes easier to push through any inner resistance you feel. So if you lose your motivation, ask yourself am I doing what I really want to do? If not and if possible, refocus and start working on that very important thing instead.
- Make a list of upsides: Write down all the benefits you will get from achieving something no matter how small they are. Save that list of rewards and then pull it out whenever your motivation is lacking again and review it. Or put it somewhere where you will see it every day until you reach your dream.
- Make a list of downsides: This is a very effective one. And you can combine it with the list of upsides to give yourself even more motivation to start moving and get things done. Ask yourself these two questions: How will my life look in 5 years if I continue to stay on the same path of distraction / procrastination as now? Will my life likely become worse for me and maybe even for the people around me? Try to see the negative consequences as vividly as you can in your mind to kick start your motivation to get going for that positive change again.
- Follow the 50/10 rule to stay inspired: work on an important task for 50min then take a 10 min break to refocus.
- Have a chewing gum: Research shows that chewing gum increases the oxygen flow to the parts of your brain responsible for attention and it also improves your long term memory and injects a bit of insulin into your blood which may help give your brain that added energy boost.
With more tasks than we could ever accomplish and loads of wasted time in between, our days are being set up for failure. When you get more focused on the important things you need to accomplish within a time-line schedule you will be able to enjoy having nothing to do later and have more time to spend with family, friends and on hobbies. Many times we let distraction guide our days and we tend to procrastinate our tasks which become a source of pain. So if you think you are addicted to wasting your time think about your time worth and find a point or purpose to improve focus and motivation.
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