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We all want more focus in our lives. Well, we all want more chocolate in our lives, we all think we NEED more focus in our lives. So let’s look at what focus is, what it is good for, and how it can actually harm us without us even noticing.
According to wikipedia, focus or attention, is selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things.
This starts out as a great skillset — the ability to focus in on exactly what is important for the moment, while letting all other things fall away. In fact, if you’re extremely good at this, they call it “hyperfocus”. The National Institutes of Health says that “hyperfocus is a phenomenon that reflects one’s complete absorption in a task, to a point where a person appears to completely ignore or ‘tune out’ everything else.” Complete absorption. Utterly focused on the thing, while all other things cease to exist.
In fact, philosopher Juan Luis Vives found that the more closely one gives their attention to a stimuli, the better the information will be retained. Meaning, if you can focus in, you can learn or do better.
If you have a deadline at work, and you need to get a project completed, this type of focus sounds pretty great. You can set up in a coffee shop with your laptop, have a great bottomless latte delivered to your table, and focus in on the project, regardless of what is happening around you.
If you are building a toy set for your slumbering child on Christmas Eve, in expectance of their joy in the morning, being able to focus on all the little fiddly bits without hearing the ticking of the clock telling you it’s time you ought to be in bed, too, can certainly feel freeing.
If you are a student staring down an exam, being able to study and write the exam without other interruptions would be an asset, for sure.
If you are writing an epic blog about hyperfocus for your website, being able to narrow in on the research and write about it in an engaging way without distraction seems like a boon.
But can you begin to see the problem already? Unrestrained intense focus can become a liability. One can easily lose all sense of time and perspective. Maybe the project you’re interested in at the moment has nothing to do with your job, maybe the subject you are currently studying isn’t the one with the looming exam, maybe the toy goes unbuilt while you meticulously wrap the other gifts. When it comes to focus, and especially hyperfocus, one is often led by their interests, or what is exciting and entertaining, rather than what is needed.
Without someone or something to check in on you regularly, to help you decide to focus on the right things, focus can easily lead to failure in school, loss of productivity at your job, and even upset within your relationships.
There are accounts by many of the time a meeting or deadline was missed because something else engaged their mind so deeply, that they completely lost track of time — even what day it was! Anecdotally, one might not even notice the house on fire around them, or the baby crying, or the raging tornado outside, if one is so focused on what they are doing.
So what can be done? How can focus work for us and not against us? That’s a great question.
Here are some of the tricks I’ve seen people use…
Setting a time limit with a timer (or two, or three!)
It’s one thing to say you’ll only work on a particular project for the next 45 minutes, but if you become absorbed, what is going to stop you? Sometimes setting a timer or an alarm to go off at a particular point can help. Sometimes you might need to set a second alarm for 5 minutes later, if you know yourself well enough!
Asking for a check-in (in person or as a phone call)
Having an accountability buddy is a wonderful system. You can mark the start of any work session by connecting with a friend and asking for them to come over or call at a certain point, especially if you know a timer isn’t likely to cut it for you!
Mindfulness
Including mindful practice in your daily life is restorative and healing. If you start introducing mindful activities regularly, then you may be able to use this as a cue to regain your focus. Training yourself to pause every now and again to take note of where you are in space/time and what your senses are telling you can be difficult, but once you master it, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it! Learning to focus on your own center can help.
Apps on your phone
There are really great apps for your phone, or your computer, that you can set to block your access to certain programs for a specified time. Sure, the intended use may have been to stop you from playing video games so you can focus on work — but maybe you can use them to stop you from working on a project more than the allotted time.
Change your environment
If you find yourself able to work at home in the evenings until 2am, then stop working at home. Go to a cafe or a restaurant. They all close eventually, and you’ll have to go home! (For obvious reasons, do not choose a 24 hour place, you’ll just take the same problem with you.)
Using a list (and actually using it)
I’ve heard from many people with ADHD that “lists don’t work” but I’ll keep suggesting them anyways, because they work extremely well for me. Give yourself a task list, and if needed, set out the timeframe for the list. Today I am going to do X and it will take me X amount of time, and then I will move on to the next X.
Attention Management
And last, but most certainly not least, there are methods to help you focus in healthier ways. One particular method is called Attention Management, and I offer a really great course you can take online to help you learn how to manage not only your focus, but also your time.
Focus is not the evil here. Being able to focus on a task is important — especially when they are life or death tasks, like open heart surgery or air traffic control or bus driving. Being able to lend your whole mind and body to the task at hand is an amazing skill our brains can do. It is when focus gets out of hand that one must start to reel themselves back in. If you find you are focused more on the unproductive tasks and less on the fulfilment of necessary tasks, it’s time to take a look at how you utilize focus in your life. Are you in control of it, or is it in control of you?
Look me up, and let’s take this conversation further. I’d love to help you learn to manage your attention!
