Feed Your Focus

Welcome back! It’s Yogesh writing this week!

Focus! The state where you have clarity in that moment of time, you are well aware of what needs to be done. All your attention, all your energy is fixated on the task at hand. Distraction seems to be non-existent; nothing seems to put you off. You are so engaged, so magnetised by the activity you are doing. Suddenly, 30 mins pass, and you zone out. Distraction seems to creep in, now you are in a battle of trying to regain your focus to finish the activity. But, 99% of the time it’s usually a voice in your head saying, “I’ll do it later, tomorrow, next week, next month….”

Some days are easier, where you just seem to be in the zone whereas some days you are not able to keep at it. I have noticed that my focus seems to be at its optimum during the day, for others, it may be during the night. This is totally dependant on the individual of course, as everyone is programmed differently. I have also found that for me, my focus is even stronger when I am moving towards my goals, when I am being extremely intentional about the choices I am making. If you care about something so much, you will do anything to limit distraction whether that be limiting your phone time or cutting down on watching TV.

Distractions take our focus away from what we should be doing. These distractions give you a sense of joy, excitement, and happiness in the short term, however, they may hinder your chances of reaching your long-term goals. It’s easier said than done but what should be at the forefront is the objective. When it comes to mastering a skill, you have to put in a certain number of hours to get really good at it. Even after you have mastered the skill, you have to keep on doing it, so you don’t forget! If you are not focused during the time of mastering, then you have shifted yourself from the ascending limb to the descending limb. You are setting yourself up for a downward trajectory.

So why is distraction so attractive:

• It gives us pleasure

• It takes pain away

When we indulge in a distraction, we focus our time and energy on something that is inherently more pleasurable than what we are currently doing. Solving that problem is hard, so I’ll just surf on the internet, go on YouTube, Netflix, right? Finishing this document will take some time, so let me squeeze in 45 minutes on the phone with my friend. Making that call to a customer will be challenging, so let me watch some TV first. The reason why these things are attractive is because they give us pleasure or take away some pain.

Now I’m not saying it's bad to go on these sites. They can be good for us if we want to relax a bit, see what’s trending etc., but It should not turn to addictive behaviour where it undermines your ambitions and goals. The balance will be up to you. Why not try to make a list, whatever distractions you find yourself succumbing to, write it down. See how long the list is! Then slowly, slowly see if the list gets shorter and shorter. Soon enough, after a lot of self-assessment on yourself, you will come to a stage where you will be able to focus on tasks more easily, distractions become limited! But the thing to keep in mind is that it must be intentional!

Science says that if you find yourself gravitated towards distraction then your dopamine reward system is imbalanced. Smartphones have provided us with a virtually unlimited supply of social stimuli both positive and negative. Every notification, whether it is a WhatsApp message, a “like” on Instagram, or a Twitter notification, has the potential to be a positive social stimulus and dopamine influx. The brain is constantly seeking instant satisfaction, you can go on your smartphone, but it should not compromise tasks you need to do, to accomplish your life goals. With anything, if you have a purpose, this should not really be a setback. The balance will be up to you. In fact, what can help is eating well, sleeping well, and exercising. I shall talk more about this in another post.

Are you ready to make that new connection?

Stay tuned for more next week!!

links:

https://www.mayooshin.com/focus/

https://hbr.org/2018/08/4-strategies-for-overcoming-distraction