If you can't focus, read this
Read time: 5 minutes
The finite fuel for focus
Do you think our ancestors had this hard of a time staying focused?
Were they as distracted and disassociated as the average person today?
I don’t think so.
The story I tell myself is they weren’t pulled in 500 directions…
…in fact they had very few things to focus on.
Survival: Making sure they had everything they needed for eating, sleeping, reproducing.
Family: Taking care of each-other and their environment the best they could.
With time more was added to our plates:
Careers, education, social status, money…
…and now with technological advances we have the internet, phones, social media, etc.
Each of those bringing a bundle of things to do or worry about.
It’s no wonder we are all feeling like we can’t focus.
With all the noise and no reasonable way to silence it - we are all going mad.
But, for the sake of today let’s keep it light.
We are here to talk about focus…
…and more specifically why you can’t hardly do it.
Focus is a skill, and like any skill one rule applies:
“Use it or lose it.”
Since it’s easier than ever to distract ourselves or disassociate into the void…
…we are losing our ability to focus.
Focus has one primary source of fuel:
Willpower.
And with all the many things requiring our time and attention…
…we run out of fuel pretty fast.
There are three big problems draining our willpower:
1) Decision fatigue
Every time you need to make a decision or choice you drain willpower.
What do I wear? What should I eat? Do I text this person back now or later?
Anything from picking up your phone to deciding your life path are all choices / decisions.
Since we are bombarded with options at all times…
…it’s safe to say we make a lot of micro-decisions each minute of each day.
You need to simplify and eliminate the amount of decisions you make.
Start with something simple:
- Getting clothes out the night before.
- Pre-planning the weeks meals in advance.
- Not checking your phone during certain times of the day.
These are a few things that keep me sane…
…when I do them consistently.
2) Overcommitment (prioritization)
Assuming you aren’t already out of fuel from decision fatigue…
…let’s talk about how you over-stack your plate.
You have a bad habit of keeping yourself busy.
Always something to do, someone to please, or somewhere to be.
It’s killing your ability to focus…
…you are drowning in to-do’s.
Remember:
- Each time you say yes to something you say no to everything else.
- You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.
- When everything is a priority, nothing really is.
These ideas help me to remember I have to do less…
…so I can ultimately do more.
3) Complexity.
The enemy of progress is complexity.
Life feels complicated enough - are you sure you need to make it worse?
If you find yourself:
- Habitually searching for new or better.
- Overthinking each decision in advance.
- Avoiding hard things because there is ‘an easier way’.
You are making it more complicated than it needs to be.
Making progress, finding happiness, and getting things done all have one thing in common.
They are SIMPLE but not EASY.
Boring, tried and true wisdom usually doesn’t fail you.
We fail ourselves by trying to recreate the wheel, or avoid things by overanalyzing it all.
The new oil of the 21st century
Attention is the new oil...
...and like a 'third world country' the rest of the world is invading our mind to steal it.
If we aren't careful we will look up one day and realize our life passed before our eyes...
...except our eyes were glued to a screen or to busy watching everyone else live theirs.
Unfortunately it will get worse before it gets better - I doubt the world slows down anytime soon.
Which means we must...
Simplify our life and work.
“
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
— Leonardo da Vinci
Seek stillness and silence.
“
The answers you seek never come when the mind is busy, they come when the mind is still.
— Leon Brown
Secure our time and attention.
“
Arguably the most important skill is controlling your attention. This goes beyond merely avoiding distractions. The deeper skill is finding the highest and best use for your time, given what is important to you. More than anything else, controlling your attention is about being able to figure out what you should be working on and identifying what truly moves the needle.
— James Clear
Otherwise regret is going to be real bitter when we're on our way out of this life.
The less is more approach (how to improve your focus)
Here are a few simple ways to improve your focus skill starting today:
What’s your one thing?
Multi-tasking is dumb 90% of the time.
Our best quality work and progress comes from singularity of focus.
And at any given time there is only one most important thing to work on.
“
The shorter way to do many things is to only do one thing at a time.
— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Go deeper than before.
Deep work is the best productivity method I’ve found.
It’s simple - 45-90 minute blocks of completely uninterrupted time on your most important work.
I’ve heard one hour of deep work is worth 4+ hours of ‘shallow’ work - which is what most people do.
Find your prime time.
Everyone has a certain time of the day they are most productive.
For me it’s early morning or late night.
Stack your most important work around these peak times.
You can move mountains
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“
Focus and simplicity...once you get there, you can move mountains.
— Steve Jobs
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For your eyes only...
If you took the time to read this today I have a special offer for you.
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This is a ‘to good to be true’ kind of deal - but I’m looking to add more bad ass people who are starting, building, or scaling their business…
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- Record months in their business.
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If you’d like to join or learn more - go here.
If you liked this letter:
- Share it with a friend
- Reply telling me why
See you next time and as always...
Rooting for you 💪
–Christopher
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” - Confucius
