Our lives become more and more complicated because we live in an age where everything happens so quickly and new improvements and developments are something that happens all the time. Because of this increasing complexity of life we hold so many thoughts in our heads at once that it makes it really hard for us to focus on one particular task.
Because of this lack of focus the quality of our lives suffers and most people are so preoccupied with everyday tasks that they don’t even stop and think where they are heading. If you don’t know where you are heading, you become the victim of the law of averages which means that it’s very likely that you will end up like the majority of people (hint: not a good place to find yourself in).
So how to escape the destiny of the masses? To do that you need to improve and control your focus.
How to Improve your focus
A very effective way to improve your concentration is to look at some object for around 5 minutes without any interruptions. If your mind wonders off, center it back to the object of your focus. If you do this daily, your focus will improve significantly.
Another thing you can do is to meditate. Meditation improves your focus because it clears your mind from useless thoughts. I’ve written several articles about the benefits of meditation, meditation motivation and meditation experiences.
Don’t watch TV – media has a negative influence on your focus and is responsible for greatly shortening your attention span. This is because it’s so easy to flick through channels and to change your mind about what to watch. It weakens your mind because you see instant results of your intentions (for example, you want to watch sports so you find the sports channel).
Instant gratification – any service or thing that you can get instantly shortens your focus. So if you order things online for instant access or prefer to go to fast food restaurants, things as such may be the cause of your lack of focus. Yes, it may be convenient to get served quicker or get things delivered instantly, but this makes you less patient and lacking focus.
Clustered life – if you live in a messy environment, or have too many tasks to handle then it’s likely that your focus is short, you often feel overwhelmed and irritated. To improve your focus and make yourself less stressed you need to simplify your life. That means getting rid of stuff you don’t need or don’t like, using 80/20 principle to eliminate useless taksks and limiting the time for accomplishing tasks because work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion (Parkinson’s law).
Unload Your Mind
If you always think about multiple things and your thoughts have no order, that’s a sign that your mind is overloaded. When “To do” lists, responsibilities, ideas and other kinds of thoughts always float in your mind, they distract you from the task that you want to accomplish and that results in the work poorly done. To avoid that, you need to unload your mind.
You can unload your mind by writing down absolutely everything that comes to it. That includes things that you know you will need to do, things that you might think you will need to do, things that are constantly floating in your mind and things that are useful and you don’t want to forget.
Always have a pen and a notebook with you to record such thoughts. If a thought comes in your mind to call your brother, write it down. If a thought such as “I must not forget to visit this place again” comes to your mind, write it down. This way thoughts as such will not be floating in your mind causing your lack of focus.
So now take your time and write down absolutely everything you hold in your mind. It will take at least 15 minutes If you do it honestly. For me personally it took around an hour to write everything I had in my mind.
Once this is done, categorise the list into the things you need to do now (or very soon), the things that can wait and have a list for other thoughts that need only your slight attention. The third list can include things such as:
Such and such store has the stuff that are great for business gifts.
Membership to … expires on … .
So keep a notebook with your thoughts with you at all times so that you could unload your mind as soon as it gets cluttered. This way you will significantly extend your focus because no random thoughts will distract you when you need to accomplish something.
How to control your focus
You will need some willpower if you want to learn to gain control over your focus. Willpower can be brought forth by making a list of benefits of your extended focus and the list of consequences of the lack of your concentration. When you see how much the extended focus will benefit you, you will naturally have more willpower to focus on tasks for longer than usual.
Also, when you need to accomplish something, clear the environment so that there wouldn’t be any things that distract you. Make yourself inaccessible to your friends, clients and family by turning off your phone and not checking emails. Let others know the times when you are available and the times when you are busy. This will make you respect your time and others will respect your time more too.
Focus Day
A great way to extend and control your focus is to have what I call a focus day. This is the day where you plan the tasks that you need to accomplish the day in advance. So basically you write a list of tasks that you’re going to accomplish and plan the exact times that you will accomplish the tasks by. When the day comes, you focus entirely on one task at a time and try to accomplish it within the deadline.
Because there’s a deadline, it will force you to focus even more because there will be no time for other thoughts not related to the task. You will notice that in your focus day you are able to accomplish much more than during usual days. When you see the benefits, you will start to plan more days as such.
Conclusion
The more you can focus on a task, the more effectively you can accomplish it. When you get into the habit of extensively focusing on one task, you will notice that the overall quality of your life will improve. As Wallace D. Wattles wrote in the “The Science of Getting Rich” (PDF):
“Every inefficient act is a failure, and if you spend your life in doing inefficient acts, your whole life will be a failure.
The more things you do, the worse for you, if all your acts are inefficient ones.
One the other hand, every efficient act is a success in itself, and if every act of your life is an efficient one, your whole life MUST be a success.”
Extensive focus is the habit and not the trait that only a few have. So if you want to improve your life and accomplish more than you can now, apply the advice in this post and you will be well on your way to a much more productive and happy life.
Thank you for visiting my site. My name is Simona Rich and my purpose in life is to help you reconnect with your core and create a life of your own design. I can help you do this with my coaching and articles. 
I have a major problem with my focus. I find it hard to focus on anything for more than 5 minutes. I will certainly apply your advice and see how it works. Thanks!
Well I hope that my post will help you get rid of this difficulty.
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[...] 1. Meditation improves your focus [...]
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[...] 1. Meditation improves your focus [...]
[...] 1. Meditation improves your focus [...]