It has taken me a lifetime to not only succeed in focusing intentionally but also to decrease distractions. Even as a kid I would lose my focus. I would start one project only to jump onto two more, never finishing the first one. As a teenager I truly believed I could be a master multitasker, doing several things at once. The problem with that, I came to believe, was multitasking reduces productivity because it gets more challenging to complete even one task efficiently. Thinking multitasking was a viable skill only led to my being stressed because my attention was on the next thing I was attempting to accomplish while trying to complete other tasks. Of course I was in a constant state of denial..pretending I could focus on several things simultaneously when in reality I was embracing distractions!
Most of us can freely acknowledge we are distracted by our phones allowing us to check messages/emails, watch videos, look at the news, jump onto social media, and chat with our friends all throughout our day and evening. We begin focusing on a creative idea for work or for our own interests, start writing about it. A few minutes into our writing we decide to check out our social media, start thinking about a past friendship that ended several years ago, or decided to check our bank balance. Did we choose to be distracted or might there be a trigger that pushed us into distraction?
I believe there are triggers that seemingly make the decisions for us to find distractions, usually outside of ourselves. There are actually a few solutions to creating intentional focus and starving our distractions. First we could PAUSE and check out internally what was going on within that we lost focus in that example of writing. We can ask questions of ourselves: Was I bored with the task? Was I feeling lonely? Was I feeling anxious that I would be unsuccessful in the creative task I had begun? Did fear invade my subconsciousness and jump onto another line of thought or even buying into the belief that social media would give us something we thought we did not have in the moment? It might surprise you to hear that the more we tap into the emotion within that triggered our focus into the urge for a distraction, the more we can feed our focus and starve our need to distract ourselves. We can become interested in the reason instead of grabbing a proverbial two by four to beat ourselves up with a negative thought such as I have a poor attention span, I cannot follow through on chosen projects, or we can play the blame game of blaming social media or unresolved past experiences for robbing our focus! Once we engage in this solution oriented technique we can choose to make a mental or written note: “I am feeling uncomfortable in my skin and feeling tightness in my neck and shoulders. It just might be that I have attempted to follow through on a creative project before , did not complete it, and that may be evidence I waste my valuable time and prove how ineffective I am!” Once we know the underlying truth, a choice appears .either give into the distraction and leave your focus OR tell Mr. or Mrs Distraction “I hear you calling me but right now I am going to put you on hold for a while, and get back to my creative focus!” Making this choice gets us back to our task and brings up a feeling of success!
–Another challenge is about time. Many people create a long list of things to get done in a day and never get most of it accomplished. Studies have shown to-do lists do not generally work..they work to create more stress! A better idea is to appoint a shorter amount of time to tasks in order to feel productive. Pick one task, give it x amount of time, and apply that length of time, stick to it. The difference in having the old long list of things to get done and assigning a certain amount of time to one task beforegoing to another is it actually gets things done! There are two different ideas that research has shown works>>>time boxing and time blocking. With time boxing you focus on an activity such as cleaning out the garage. You set aside a specific time frame and only focus on the cleaning in that time . Another example is answering your emails or texts only from a certain time as 9:30-10:00. Time blocking is more about building routines. Use it when you have a multitude of things to get done. You can use an online calendar, plug in time boxes for the whole day in chunks of time so every part of the day is a visual representation of what you want to accomplish. You always know when and what you have scheduled for the day. You may still think a to-do list is better for you. A to-do list may offer you a sense of achievement as you cross each task off your list but it also can bring up anxiety and overwhelm if you make your list too long or impossible to complete in a day! A to-do list has no time allowed to it. Therefore things may not get done even over 5 days! To have more control over your day of things to accomplish you can look at measuring the tasks you scheduled with the time assigned, and ask yourself: Did I do what I said I would do, and what level of focused attention during each time block do I see evidence of ? In this way you will become a person who others sees as responsible and following through on intentional commitments.
Lastly, reduce as much as possible your distractions. -choose a quiet area to complete tasks -turn off notifications on your phone -let others know you do not want to be disturbed for x amount of time -create a working space free of clutter -set an alarm after 25 minutes for a 5 minute break throughout your day -make sure you are not hungry, lonely, or tired -each morning set intentions and create a way to show yourself evidence of your success in achieving them -create a mindfulness practice of paying attention to what you are doing, where your feet are in the present moment
When we decide to claim the superpower of feeding our intentional focus we will probably be a better listener , a calmer person, and increase our self esteem. Inner work is a choice ..to stop doing things not working in exchange for doing things that do work. It is all about Practice, not Perfection. I personally have discovered being more focused has enabled me to be more observant of others, clarity in what is really important in my life, and noticing aspects of the natural world that I used to let just pass me by. Breathe in Focus as you exhale distraction, and you might experience an amazing life you never knew was possible!
“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” – Greg Anderson
“Say no to distraction so you can say yes to your destiny.” -Thelma Davis






