When you hear the word “Focus“, what comes straight to your mind?

According to the Cambridge dictionary,

“focus noun [C] (CENTRE) the main or central point of something, especially of attention or interest. I think Dave likes to be the focus of attention.”

In the context of productivity and getting work done, this “focus” or “attention” is what is required before you can complete a task or achieve a goal regardless of how motivated you are. Focus is required for you to write your assignment without having the urge to check what your friends are posting on Instagram. Focus is very essential for you to study without falling into the temptations of distractions.

Focus can be synonymous to willpower and concentration.

A lot of us start up a particular task determined to stay focus on the task on ground for so and so period of time, but we end up losing concentration. Any loss in concentration would lead to a loss in focus and hence a reduction in productivity. Hence the need to understand how to focus better.

There are thousands of articles both offline and online that would teach you how to focus better – there is an abundance of information on the internet. It sounds positive, but all these information also comes with its own difficulties.

These load of information can also create new problems. With the huge influx of information, we can easily get overwhelmed making it difficult for us to get anything done. This is one of the predominant reasons why majority of us find it difficult to focus or concentrate.

A quick fact for you:

According to a study that was done by Microsoft, they found out the average human has an attention span of about eight seconds. Guess who has a longer attention span than a human? A goldfish. A goldfish would concentrate longer on a subject matter than the average human.

In recent years, this number has also declined due to our dependence on technology and all things digital. Our brain is always looking for the next new thing to dwell on, jumping from one thing to the other.

Here is what Alysen Gausby the consumer insights lead for Microsoft Canada has to say about focus, “No matter what environment humans are in, survival depends on being able to focus on what’s important – generally what’s moving. That skill hasn’t changed, it’s just moved online”.

First you have to understand that focus is a muscle that you can build on. Once you drop the notion that you can’t ever be focused, it becomes easier for to take actionable steps to concentrate more.

Then comes the big question – how does one focus better, reduce distractions and improve concentration whether it is a small task like washing the dishes or a big one like preparing for a doctorate thesis exam.

It is very possible for you to increase your focus tremendously with the the right mindset and tools. Here is how to focus better with eight steps and tools that would reduce distractions and increase concentration and productivity:

1. GET GROUNDED: PREPARE YOUR BRAIN

Do not ever jump into any task right away. You have to take a few minutes to get yourself prepared for the task at hand. First make sure that your work area is very comfortable, has enough air, natural light and is not cluttered. It would be very easy for you to get distracted when there are stuffs lying everywhere.

After ensuring that everything is organized, take some minutes to do proper breathing exercise to calm yourself. No need for chanting or mediation exercises, you just need calmness. Being calm before you start your task would help increase focus.

2. KNOW YOUR SOURCE OF DISTRACTION

Focus involves knowing before hand where the sources of your distraction are most likely to arise from. It is important that you know where you need to focus and the areas that are not worthy of your time and energy.

It is important that you have a work flow – you need to identify those things that deserve the entirety of your focus for the day, next week, month and even the whole year. Having these on your calendar would help you to reduce sources of distraction. One focus killer in calendar invites that are last minute, non-emergency issues.

Your focus is how you deliberately target your energy to get progress in a particular goal or task you have at hand. Since focus would take a lot of your time, energy and requires maximum effort, it is important that your sources of distraction is as minimal as possible.

The two main reasons why we get easily distracted is because of two key things:

It is either we do not have a have a clear goal -the destination or

We do have a clear goal or destination but do not know how to go about actualizing the goal

When discussing how to focus better without answering these questions would be nothing short of a waste of time.

3. TURN OFF EMAIL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

You wouldn’t realize how much effect the beep of a new notification from email or twitter can have on your focus. If you want to focus better, it is advisable to log out of email, social media and turn off all notifications. Jan Bruce , coauthor of meQuilibrum: 14 Days to Cooler, Calmer and Happier says, ” Even if you live ad die by email, do yourself a favor and log out for 30 minutes either in the beginning of the day or for a period in the afternoon. You won’t believe how much you can get done when you’re not always interrupting yourself to return emails.”

4. COFFEE IMPROVES FOCUS

Caffeine in coffee easily gets into the brain and has a very positive effect on mental focus. A lot of studies have shown that caffeine is a good mental stimulant. Taking caffeine in moderate doses can help improve your ability to focus and concentrate.

Note that caffeine would not make you smarter or wiser, it would only sharpen your mental alertness. Caffeine also has no effect how you learn.

After reading on how caffeine helps focus, i am sure a lot of us might go gorge on it. The doses is also very important. The smaller the amount of caffeine you ingest at a time, the better. The more you take coffee, the more your body gets used to the signal and the response would become slower.

The best way to have the full effect of caffeine is to limit your dose to about 300mg per day. Caffeine consumption should be just once a day. When you take caffeine in excess, it has negative effects. Some of which includes anxiety, problem sleeping, heart palpitations and indigestion. In small amounts, caffeine is beneficial but in heavy doses can be very dangerous.

5. CONTROL ROOM TEMPERATURE

Even if you follow steps 1-4 in this article on how to focus better and do not follow number 5, you would be wasting your time. If the temperature of your workspace is either too hot or cold, it would be impossible for you to focus. Your body and the internal organs works best at room temperature. Two studies have been done to see what temperature people are more productive and focus better at:

The first study was done by researchers at Cornell University. They found out that workers were more productive at temperatures between 68 and 77 degrees.

The second study was done by Helsinki University of Technology in Finland and their results showed that the best temperature to work in is at 71 degrees.

6. TAKE BREAKS

We are so afraid of distractions that we end up falling prey to it. You can intentionally build distractions into your routine. Alejandro Lleras who is Psychologist at the University of Illinois suggests in a study that patients who were given short breaks during a 50 minute task focused better than counterparts who did the job without any break.

A phenomenon called “vigilance decrement” says that it easy to lose focus during a task over a long period of time. When you take break in the middle of tasks, you energize your brain and get it ready to start working again. Taking brief mental breaks would help you to get focused over the long run.

7. PLAY MUSIC

Note that music and noise are too different things. A study that was published in Scientific Reports by the University of California says that listening to music while working would help you to focus on your thoughts. As far as you like the song you are listening to, it would be easy for you to concentrate.

Music also has a lot of effect on your mood. Listening to dull bleak music can sap all your enthusiasm and focus away from you. Listen to songs that would lift up your mood. Music that you enjoy would increase your focus while music that you don’t like would reduce your focus.

8. DOODLE

Doodling would help to increase not only your artistic skills but focus as well especially when you are in long meeting, conference or a monotonous event. Doodling would help to improve your cognitive performance and ability to recollect things.

Jackie Andrade the lead researcher at the University of Plymouth says this about doodling, “Doodling simply helps to stabilize arousal at optimal level, keeping people awake or reducing the high levels of autonomic arousal associated with boredom.”

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