Focus, Refocus, What are you thinking about?

Five ways to improve your focus so your brain and your career don’t explode

The average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data and information each day — an increase of about 350 percent over nearly three decades

— the University of California, San Diego. Dec 9, 2009

The above statistic is a stunning number to me. And it is now 12 years old; just think about how much information our brains are bombarded with now!

The human brain is very powerful. For it to not overload, it tends to focus on those things that it sees as pertinent to survival and your goals.

Is it any wonder that, as humans, we now have a significant focusing issue? How are we supposed to get focused or stay focused? What are we supposed to focus on?

I don’t profess to have all the answers to these questions in this short article. I do have some techniques that I, and some people I know, have done to stay focused.

As COVID hit 5 years ago, many people had trouble focusing. Even more than usual. Some people have gotten back to their “normal” ability to focus. Many of us have not.

When I was “unfocusing” 5 years ago, I spent some time just wondering around, not sure where to go or what to do. Then I started doing some exercises that I knew about and some that some friends told me about to help me focus. 

Here are my top 5:

1. Focus on a passion. 

What is it that you are passionate about? What is it that you love to do that brings you joy and energy? What is it that you just love to do? When we do things that we love to do, things we are passionate about, our brain gets excited, and we focus on doing those activities whilst blocking out much of the outside world.

2. Live in compartments of time. 

Dale Carnegie said (about 100 years ago) to live in day-tight compartments. I would revise that for today to live in 30-minute compartments of time.

Just focus on what you need/want to do for the next 30 minutes. Then take a short breath, a short break, and move on to the next 30-minute block.

3. Mono task.

There has been much ballyhoo about multitasking. I was working with a Focus Coach a few years ago, and she had me do an exercise where I was "multitasking.". This consisted of reading two different articles at the same time. Not easy to do at all. We timed how long it took me to reach each paragraph when I was only reading that one paragraph. When I attempted to read both at the same time, one word from paragraph A, then one word from paragraph B, I had to continuously refocus and re-engage on that paragraph. It took me more than 2 times as long to read it when I was multitasking. She did this same experiment with a class of 25 people a few days later and had similar results. Just do one thing at a time. (For just 30 minutes at a time.)

4. Breathe.

We forget to breathe, as odd as that sounds. I am not talking about shallow breaths that just bring in some air. I am talking about deep breaths that bring in much-needed additional oxygen. This oxygen is consumed mostly by your brain (that is why you yawn; your brain needs more oxygen to operate). By focusing on your breathing for just one minute (do this between your 30-minute activity blocks), you will enrich your brain with oxygen, and you will also most likely lower your heart rate and relax, which will allow your brain to better concentrate.

5 Laugh.

During each of your activity breaks, go and listen to a comedian, read a joke, or watch something funny on the internet. Do something to laugh. Laughter can lower your blood pressure; it brings in additional oxygen (that we talked about in #4), and it puts your brain in a positive state of mind. Try laughing and being angry, or having a negative emotion at the same time. It is impossible. When you smile, even if it is a fake smile, for 30 seconds or more, it WILL change your disposition.

There you have it. Five quick ways to help you focus to get more stuff done and be happier doing it, and your brain and your career won’t explode!