Learn to improve your focus in life.
Let your eyes look directly ahead
Proverbs 4:25
And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
People tend to mindlessly talk about hard work without talking about the equally important concept of leverage. Leverage is making sure your actions get the most “bang for their buck”.
Today, men boast about turning a bolt by grasping the center of a wrench, or close to the bolt. Instead, they should grasp the edge of the wrench, where the force they apply is amplified by the leverage. Then they can boast about the results of high-leverage activity.
That does not mean we never use focused, concentrated effort (which is the term I prefer to use instead of “hard work”). But rather that we use this concentrated effort with the actions that also have the most leverage. If I use a wrench and grip it to give myself the most leverage, I reduce the amount of effort necessary to turn it. But I can still use more effort if I want and turn the bolt faster.
In the world, there are also high-leverage activities. In the gym, there are some types of training that have better leverage than others if you are looking for specific results.
Your leverage in day-to-day activities is the tool of focus. You can improve focus if you want. If you can learn to focus, you can improve any part of yourself that you want. But you must be able to hold your attention on something for a period of time.
Here are four steps to focus.
I – You must believe that you can learn to focus.
You must have a growth mentality. As cheesy as it sounds, you are not going to make much progress if you do not believe that you can change. Some people believe that what they can do or who they are is fixed, and they can’t do anything to change it despite their greatest effort. But the reality is that most people can make improvements to themselves in any area. Even if the improvements are small, these are still improvements.
This is why you must begin to believe that you can learn to focus. Stop labeling yourself ADHD. Even if you are, you’re doing yourself no favors by labeling yourself in This Way. Label yourself as “focused” and “disciplined”. Start to believe that you can become anything you want, including an Incredibly focused individual.
II – You must believe that Focus creates Focus.
Discipline begets discipline. You need to rid yourself of the limiting belief that focusing on tasks drains you of the ability to focus. Just like when you are training your physical body in the gym, you exert physical effort but somehow you managed to come out of the gym with more energy. The body may be physically exhausted, but the mind is fresh and full of energy. How did that happen? How do you put energy out into the world in the form of exercise yet somehow find a way to create more energy in your own mind? Perhaps it can’t be understood. But the same principle applies when it comes to focus.
You must believe that focusing actually builds your ability to focus even more. Many people have believed this throughout the centuries. Different yoga techniques teach you to train your focus by doing Focus exercises. Begin to Believe that exerting energy to build the ability to focus actually results in more Focus down the line. And even scientists are beginning to catch on these days. The science behind fixed-point gazing to improve focus is beginning to develop.
III – Complete exercises to train your focus.
Start with a fixed Point gazing. Learn to focus on the tip of an eraser, the tip of a pen, or some small point in space. You will find that your ability to focus increases. Mental focus follows visual Focus, as discussed by Dr. Andrew Huberman. begin with 60 seconds to 2 minutes of fixed-point gazing.
IV Increase your ability to focus by using Blocked linear progression.
This is a fancy term for simply increasing the amount of focus you engage in over time. Just like in the gym if you’re exercising and you can complete 4 sets of 10 pushups. Eventually, after a few weeks perhaps, you increase it to 4 sets of 12. Then you continue to complete those four sets of 12 for a few weeks, then you to four sets of 14.
With this model, you linearly progress over time. Step by step you allow yourself to get better. As your body adapts to the exercises you can increase the workload or the intensity. The same thing applies to your focus. Begin with small exercises and don’t judge yourself based on how well you do at the start.
Let go of the need for results. Don’t attach yourself to an outcome because the outcome is likely delayed. Just like in the gym, you don’t see the rewards for your efforts until weeks or months later. The same thing applies to your focus. The rewards are on a delayed schedule. Therefore you need to set your goal to improve your focus and then forget about the goal. Rid yourself of needing to achieve the results, as when we leave you frustrated. Learn how to fall in love with the process instead, and the results will come just by virtue of time. If you learn how to fall in love with the process you can have anything you want.
