Focus

Between family obligations and work demands, maintaining focus is tough in today's world. Our world overstimulates our brains. Technology has given us so many advances yet have only hasten the speed of our world. We've become more adrenaline-based: the need to answer that email immediately, text that message while we're driving, interrupt a conversation to take a cellphone call.

It's frying our focus. If you want to regain your focus, think about what problem area need the most help.

• Interruptions Continual interruptions can chop up your day eliminating long stretches of time that you can focus, concentrate, be creative. Once interrupted, it takes time to get back to the point you left off at.
  
  Turn off and make your feelings known. Turn off cellphone, email alerts and even the phone. At work, post a 'do not disturb' sign in the entry to your office, speak to people who may interrupt your work and ask them not to do so when the sign is posted. Explain why and you may see a 'copy-cat' or two in the office.
  


• Too much stress Feeling angry, worried or overwhelmed can shake your focus. If a 'stressor' makes us angry, we tend to narrow our focus and thus may miss important cues. Unable to see the larger picture, we can get stubborn, argumentative and critical (even self-critical). If we feel anxious and overwhelmed, our thoughts jumble or we freeze. We may do escape activities to avoid the symptoms but escapism doesn't rectify the problem.
  
  Three steps:
  1. Take 60 seconds to breathe helping to quench stress chemicals.
  2. Find your inner coach; think optimistic thoughts instead of downers.
  3. Compile a music list that make you feel great. Play it.
  


• Boredom We don't have enough time to be bored? But yet we do. We're accustomed to stimulating activities and our brains crave more. We've built a tolerance for stimulation.
  
  Limited multitasking can keep you focused and motivated during boring tasks. Click back and forth between one task to the other. The rapid switching can help you stay juiced. Make the 'other' task simple, like flexing your hands. Something that simple can keep you focused on the main job at hand.
  
  Certain jobs come naturally, absorbing our attention without much effort. You get into a groove. You intuitively know what to do and time passes quickly for you while doing it. Keep a diary and find what jobs put you in your groove. If bored, find a way to do your groove to get you back on track with other tasks.
  
  Do it differently, try a new approach. Focus on doing it as beautifully or as gracefully or as quietly as you can. Challenge yourself to find something to make the task more efficient.

Source: Regain Your Focus by Erin O'Donnell, Body&Soul Magazine 2/10