How to Enhance Your Focus Day by Day and Produce Work You’re Proud Of
It’s the same old story.
You’ve finally managed to carve out some time for a project you really care about. You sit down and stare at the screen.
And then it begins.
Your mind wanders. As hard as you try, you can’t focus deeply enough to do any meaningful work.
You bring your attention back to the present, but it’s not long before the cycle begins all over again.
In the end, all you can do is abandon your efforts.
By that time, it’s become a pointless exercise. You’re frustrated and your performance is declining along with your concentration.
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone.
We’re bombarded by non-stop disruptions that constantly divert our attention. What’s worse is we’re genetically prone to distraction. It’s an “evolutionary advantage” that helped our ancestors react quickly to the approaching sabre tooth.
When you add social media notifications, smartphones, and a constant stream of emails into the mix, it’s a surprise we manage to get anything done at all.
Fortunately, there are a few tested strategies to help you block out the noise and get the work done.
Sleep it Off
In 1964, Randy Gardner, a high school student in San Diego, earned a place in the Guinness World Records.
How did the then 17-year old Gardner make history?
He stayed awake for 11 days and 25 minutes.
During the experiment, a team of sleep researchers from Stanford made the journey to San Diego where they carried out a battery of tests on Gardner.
Going days without sleep soon started to wear on the young man.
He became increasingly nauseous and battled to remember basic things: a sort of “early Alzheimer’s thing brought on by lack of sleep” Gardner would explain decades later.
Of course, most of us wouldn’t go days without sleep. But it’s no stretch to say rest gets neglected in the pursuit of an extra hour or two of work, and all in the name of the hustle culture we revere.
I have a terrible record in sleep hygiene. During my 20s, I didn’t put any stock in the importance of healthy sleep.
Most nights were late nights. Most mornings were groggy, coffee-fuelled episodes.
And whenever I struggled to get a full night’s sleep?
Simple: I popped a sleeping pill. It was an unhealthy, exhausting cycle that perpetuated itself for years.
The problem was that soon sleep deprivation started taking shape in obvious ways: I was always tired and grumpy, slogging through my days in a permanent state of frustration.
My creativity started plummeting before falling off altogether.
And here’s the thing: there’s a body of scientific evidence analysing sleep deprivation.
When we deprive ourselves of the rest we need, everything’s going to be off kilter, explains neuroscientist, Matt Walker. His team ran an experiment that showed people suffering from sleep deprivation experienced a 40% reduction in their ability to make new memories.
And then there’s the fact that you don’t know long the effects of sleep deprivation will linger.
Decades later, Gardner reported suffering from insomnia.
Long story short: sleep is important. One of the best ways to enhance your ability to focus is simply to make a habit of getting a good night’s sleep, every night.
Build a Focus Bubble
What’s the first thing you did when you woke up this morning?
You wouldn’t be alone if you reached for your phone.
One third of smartphone users accessed their phones within five minutes of waking, according to this global study by Deloitte.
I didn’t participate in the study, but I might as well have.
Many mornings have seen me wake up to my phone.
Before I even set foot out of the bed, I had scrolled through social media and news sites. The effect was always the same. By the time I started working, I’d already used mental energy processing that information.
The problem with this approach is that you immediately raise your stress and anxiety levels, writes Jari Roomer.
“Immediately, external stimuli are pulling for your attention, giving you no time and space to start your day calmly.”
Roomer quotes Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi:
“…immediately turning to your phone when you wake up can start your day off in a way that is more likely to increase stress and leave you feeling overwhelmed.”
We’re sabotaging our focus before we’ve even had a chance to begin our day.
Since having kids, I’ve (mostly) shaken this habit. And the transformation has been incredible.
To fight against this and reclaim your focus, Robin Sharma suggests building your own “tight bubble of focus”.
For the best results, Sharma calls on us to do this at the start of each day, the “platinum hours” when our mental focus and willpower are at their peak.
Sharma’s technique is to block out 90 minutes over 90 days, where you “create a tight bubble of total focus so that no one can distract you”.
Use this window to work on your most important priorities.
“Turn off your devices. Put them in a little plastic bag. Put some reminders on your door, maybe some Post-It notes that, “This is my tight bubble of total focus for the next 90 minutes.” Tell your team, tell your loved ones, maybe put a Do-Not-Disturb sign on your door.”
There are no easy shortcuts to achieving intense focus, says Sharma. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll reap the rewards.
“… with consistency, you can become fluent and automatic at achieving creative and intuitive bursts.”
I’ve adopted this practice in my own life and it’s worked wonders. Carving out a quiet block of time at the start of my day has allowed me to improve my writing.
Force your Focus with Fake Deadlines
Each day we’re faced with competing priorities.
Sometimes, it’s as if we’re lurching from one task to the next, never really achieving a deep state of focus on any one thing.
But when it comes to the work that matters, setting a timeline helps get the job done.
Here’s where fake deadlines come in.
This tactic takes advantage of Parkinson’s Law, our tendency to fill up the time with work.
Parkisons Law was first introduced as a satirical Economist article by C. Northcote Parkinson
“It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
If you give yourself a few hours or weeks to finish a project, you’ll drag out the work too.
The caveat is that research shows we don’t typically take self-imposed deadlines seriously, especially when it comes to work for ourselves.
This tactic only worked for me when I started to shift my attitude towards important work.
And here’s where embracing a productivity framework called the Eisenhower Matrix made all the difference.
The first two quadrants require the most focus.
Activities in the first quadrant might involve an urgent task that needs to be done at work. Typically, these projects have firm — and external — deadlines.
For professional projects, the second quadrant — the important but not urgent stuff — includes self-improvement.
Personal development is important but rarely, if ever, considered urgent.
Yet, it’s only by focusing on those areas that you’ll get to do the work you love, build your best life, and become the best version of yourself.
Isn’t that what we all want?
Even if it’s not an aggressive deadline, give yourself clear timelines for when you will get the work done.
I’ve written about a practical way to use this approach before. Cal Newport, in Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World , recommends giving yourself a tight deadline for a task, one you can only meet if your focus intensely. It’s an exercise that will train your focus.
Focus is a Walk in the Park
Beethoven would take long walks through Vienna, armed with his pencil and note book should inspiration strike.
Like many other creatives, he believed there was relationship between walking and creativity.
There is psychological evidence to back this up: a link that binds the physical and mental. And it applies to focus, too.
This research study found that desk workers who had walking breaks were more energetic and happier that desk workers who sat for 6 hours.
Walking elevates your heart rate in much the same way of mental stimulation, writes Ferris Jabr in The New Yorker:
“When we go for a walk, the heart pumps faster, circulating more blood and oxygen not just to the muscles but to all the organs — including the brain. Many experiments have shown that after or during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention.”
More than anything, a lack of focus robs us of new opportunities.
Opportunities to solve interesting and important problems. Opportunities to bring our ideas to life and create work that matters. Opportunities to challenge ourselves and spur personal growth.
You now have strategies to deepen your focus. These tactics are transformative. Put them into action today. Show up for each task fully, and watch your life change.
