"Why can't I seem to focus?"

Q: “I can’t seem to focus on anything, what gives?”
The simple answer: because you’re human.

No, you’re definitely not unique in this regard
No, there is nothing wrong with you
No, you’re not doomed to fail at everything
Most likely, it’s not even a disorder like AD(H)D
And no, it doesn’t have to be permanent either!

I’ll let you in on a secret:

Most people struggle with focusing well!

Here are a few (IMO disturbing) statistics:

• Our minds wander (on average) a whopping 47% of the time!

• The amount of time someone can stay focused on a single thing is roughly 40 seconds on average, and worst of all:

• The average person only recognizes their mind wandered 4 times per hour! Compare that to how often the mind wanders!

Let’s check in:

Have you been focused the entire time you’ve been reading this?

Or has your mind drifted in the meantime?

As shocking as these statistics might be and how horrifyingly short people’s attention spans are, there is good news! It’s the fact that with the right tools, techniques and a bit of self awareness, you can train your focus!

It’s a skill, and like everything, it can be improved.

So, how do you stay focused more often?

There are a few things that have done wonders for me, that I’ll share here.

First and foremost,

It is important to realize that we live in a world that is filled to the brim with distractions, temptations and…. SQUIRREL! A lot of these distractions will be coming from outside forces, but first let’s focus on the distractions coming from within you.

Here’s the best way to deal with them:

To explain this, have you ever heard of the “Zeigarnik Effect”?

At a bar or restaurant, you might have had a waiting standing with his hands behind his back, not taking any notes at all. And despite there being 9 of you, he perfectly remembered even the tiniest detail of your order.

“So what?” you ask?

The Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik found that waiters could often perfectly remember their orders, until they were done serving it. After that, their minds would consider it as done, and put the thoughts about the order out of their minds.

Here’s how to use this:

Something as simple as pen and paper will do the trick!

When you’re trying to focus, have this near you, Whenever you’re working and your mind brings up something like “Oh crap, I need to buy bread later”, go ahead and write it down.

It’s simple, but it puts your mind at ease.

If you don’t write these kinds of things down, you mind will keep nagging you about it, thus distracting you. The more of these things you can put to the back of your mind, the more you keep the front end clean to focus!

Where Is Your Focus?

The second method I have is going to be a bit harder.

It requires us to focus on our focus.

Take this as a general rule to life:

It is impossible to come to a solution to a problem when you’re unaware of the problem. Your ability to come up with the right resolutions for any issue is directly proportional to the degree in which you understand it.

Simply put:

If you don’t know how often you lose focus, to what and how you lose it, how do you intend to fix it?

Spoiler alert: You can’t!

Try to make it a little mini game to try and notice every time your mind wanders from the activity you told yourself you would focus on. Because only when you catch yourself can you consciously redirect your attention to the right activity!

It’s going to be difficult at first, as are ALL new things!

Keep at it my friend, and you’ll be able to notice your mind wandering more and more often, meaning that you can regain your focus more and more often as well!

Dealing With Temptation: Ancient Greek Wisdom

Now, let’s talk about taming external distractions!

For this, let me share with you the story of the Greek hero Odysseus. He’s one of the hero’s who fought in the Trojan War. I’d like to talk about the his journey back home, specifically the story about the sirens.

Long story short:

The sirens were said to be beautiful women who would lure sailors with their mesmerizing songs. Any man who heard it would fall into a trance, try to swim to the sirens and inevitably drown to death.

Now that’s what I call “Yikes!”.

However, Odysseus was determined to hear the song (and keen on not dying).

So what he did was have his men tie him firmly to the mast of their ship, rendering him unable to move. He then told his men to completely plug their ears and after that he sailed by, hearing the song without anyone falling victim to the sirens’ songs.

The moral of the story?

In this story, the siren’s song represents the many distractions you will face.

And the best way to deal with any temptation is to not deal with it at all. Rather, try to get rid of them BEFORE you get into the situation where they appear.

Let me give you some examples:

• Disable most (or all) notifications on your phone

• Leave your phone in another room when trying to focus

• Make sure the unhealthy snacks you like aren’t in the house

• Block certain website that you know distract you

• Clean up your desk to take away any distractions

See the point?

Our willpower is limited because we’re all human. However, when we can take care of any possible distractions before they arrive, we don’t have to resist any urges at all as they’re not there!

Take this lesson from Odysseus and you’ll do a lot better in focusing!

Additional Resources
Let’s further boost your focus and productivity!

Back to You: Things You Can Do Today!

As always, please don’t let this be “just another read”. It’s time to take action!

Here are a few suggestions to implement what you just learned:

1. Go over your computer and phone. Consider deleting any apps you deem distracting and don’t want to use. Limit most or all notifications. Try blocking certain sites or even delete certain (social media) accounts.
   
   It’s the best ROI you’ll ever get for your time, because when you clear it up once, it helps you for a longer time.
   

2. Have some form of note-taking ready whenever you want to be focused. Make full use of the Zeigarnik Effect so that you can block out some of these distracting thoughts!
   

3. Start to remind yourself to constantly focus on your focus. At some point, you’re going to lose your focus on focusing on your focus (and that’s okay). It’s a skill, keep on honing it and you’ll get better at redirecting your attention.
   

4. Bonus: I haven’t been able to get into it here, but consider picking up meditation. It’s one of the only ways to permanently increase your ability to focus.