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15 Ways to Increase Mental Focus

How to Focus

By Ryan TouchPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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15 Ways to Increase Mental Focus
Photo by Quinton Coetzee on Unsplash

Do you feel like you’re busy all the time and that the days are getting shorter? Are you constantly overwhelmed and can’t seem to quite make your deadlines? Is the amount of time you’re able to concentrate diminishing?

If you answered yes, you’re lacking mental focus which is holding you back from your full potential.

Learning to improve your focus is how you break free from the never-ending cycle. You’re not always going to be able to be 100% focused, but learning how to focus will help you meet your goals and enable you to conquer any task.

Below you’ll learn how to focus so you can train your brain and know exactly what needs to get done.

Let’s get started.

1. Identify Your Purpose

It’s going to be difficult to maintain mental focus when your body, mind, and soul are not in line with your purpose. Every day can seem like it’s on repeat and filled with eternal dread. When your heart isn’t in it, you aren’t able to hit a flow state and maintain concentration for long periods.

Consider that your lack of passion may be causing you to lose focus throughout the day. If this sounds like you, it might be time to contemplate taking a new direction in life.

Finding a new path in life can be frightening. The payoff of facing your fears is being able to focus more for longer periods while being able to spend time on what you love. Try new things, spend time focusing on yourself, and find out what makes your clock tick.

One of the best ways to discover your drive and purpose is to use the ‘5 Whys‘. This form of self-questioning will help you get to the core of what you want out of life.

It works like this…

Let’s say your initial want is to “make more money.”

Why do you want to make more money? “Because I want to buy a big house.”

Why do you want a big house? “Because living in a big house is comfortable”

Why does only a big house make you comfortable? “Because I have a big family, with a wife and three kids; we need a big house for everyone.”

Why do you want a big house for everyone to live in? “Because I want them to live in a comfortable place.”

Why is that? “Because I love my family and I want them to be happy.”

Can you now see the clear difference between the initial want and the true purpose at the end? In this example, you thought you wanted more money; but in reality, what you truly want is for your family to be happy. While making more money and getting a big house could do that, how you treat your family and the time you spend with them are key elements too.

2. Prioritize Your Work

Losing focus when juggling multiple assignments? Start by learning how to work more efficiently. By prioritizing your tasks by importance, you won’t end up having to deal with a deadline you brushed off until the last minute.

Not every task requires the same attention. Working on your time management skills will help you split up your time intelligently for each assignment. Spending your time wisely each day will let you focus intensely on the task at hand, not letting a moment be wasted.

Set yourself up for success by setting goals to finish up your work each day. You’ll start to see a positive feedback loop when your assignments are completed with ease, making it easier to stay focused.

Luckily, prioritizing your tasks is really quite simple. Just do the following:

Spend 5-10 minutes in the morning assessing the tasks you need to complete that day

Decide which are the priority tasks, and which tasks are not so important

Order the tasks on your to-do list from high priority to low priority

Start working through your list from top to bottom

When you start using this simple time management approach, you’ll see big results in what you’re able to achieve. No more missing deadlines; and no more stressing yourself out jumping between tasks.

You can also take it to the next stage by using our Superstructure Method.

This involves analyzing each task to identify its:

Intention: Why you’re doing it

Value: What benefits the task brings you

Cost: What you have to give up or invest to achieve the value (in resources, time spent, etc.)

When you do this analysis, you’ll be able to quickly see which tasks you should prioritize. You can then sort them into Must Haves, Should Haves, and Good to Haves. And remember, if any of your tasks are likely to take more than 3 hours, then break them down into smaller tasks.

Now that you know the priority of your tasks and approximately how much time you’ll be spending on each task, it’s time to put all these things into action.

This is as simple as scheduling these tasks on a weekly planner — specifying which day and at what time should you tackle these tasks. And when you follow this planner, you’ll no longer be overwhelmed with loads of tasks anymore. You’ll always have an organized weekly plan that allows you to master your time.

Another benefit of working in this way is that you’ll start to create a solid routine for some recurring tasks such as replying to emails or having regular meetings. Routines save your time and energy as you no longer have to make decisions every time. Routines are also a great way to keep you away from distractions.

To start prioritizing your everyday tasks more effectively, grab the following FREE Guide To Creating More Time. You will end busyness and overwhelm and start to get important things done.

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3. Eliminate Distractions

Even when you’re working from home, distractions are everywhere. Figure out which type of distraction you’re dealing with so you can learn how to not get distracted.

Internal Distractions are your thoughts and emotions and include things like daydreaming, fears, and worries. When you start feeling overwhelmed, do some breathing exercises to relax your mind. You’ll find that taking a short break allows your mind to reset and unwind.

External Distractions happen outside of your mind. Typical external distractions include checking social media feeds, phone calls, and annoying co-workers.

Removing External Distractions

It’s impossible to focus if you’re constantly interrupted. That’s why it’s so important that you do everything you can to minimize the number of distractions in your life — particularly when you’re trying to work.

If you need to focus on a task, then make sure your external environment enables you to focus. This might mean moving to a coffee shop for an hour instead of trying to work in an open-plan office with lots of colleagues chatting and asking you questions.

If working from home, then you may want to create a ‘do not disturb’ policy to help prevent your family members from entering your office space and interrupting you while you’re on Zoom calls or focusing on writing project documentation, etc. If you have an open-door policy, you’ll have countless distractions that are bound to impact the amount and quality of work you accomplish.

Sometimes, putting on music that helps you to focus is also a way to take control of your external environment. Try this Ultimate List of Deep Focus Music for Productive Work.

You can learn more about getting rid of external distractions here: How To Remove External Distractions.

To become indistractable, grab our free guide End Distraction And Find Your Focus.

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Removing Internal Distractions

While it’s fairly easy to sort out your external environment, fixing your thoughts is not so easy.

Just think of all the times you find yourself daydreaming. If you’re like most people, you probably do this more than 10% of the time you’re awake.

Now imagine if you could reduce this daydreaming time by half or more. This would significantly boost your focus and your productivity. You can achieve this by taking 3 simple steps:

Set Deadlines — When you have plenty on your plate, you’ll be much less likely to start daydreaming. You’ll also naturally find yourself able to focus more. Giving yourself a deadline for tasks can also help keep you focused on them. For example, you may have noticed how you can find your focus when your tax deadline is due!

Reward Yourself When You Accomplish Small and Big Goals — Stay motivated and on track by rewarding yourself when you complete tasks. Small tasks get a small reward (perhaps a cup of coffee); big tasks get a big reward (perhaps a night out with your partner).When you make this technique a habit, you’ll also have something to look forward to!

Take Regular Breaks — Taking regular breaks is essential. If you fail to do this, you’ll tire your eyes and brain, kill your creativity, and eventually cause yourself to burnout. Studies also show that people who take regular breaks are the most productive. One simple way how to increase focus is to practice the Pomodoro Method. You can find out what this is and how to do it in the section below.

Sometimes, instead of being a distraction, technology can help you stay away from distractions. Get one of these 18 Best Time Management Apps and Tools to help you manage your time better.

To always stay focused, you actually need to practice doing it. Learn how to increase focus so by joining our free Fast Track Class – Focus Like a Top Achiever.

Article resource: https://www.lifehack.org/how-to-focus

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Ryan Touch

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