I worship at the altar of deep focus. That’s a slight exaggeration, but it’s justified. Deep focus (on the short term and long term) has helped me prioritize myself and my dreams—and stick with them even when things get tough.
I’m not referring to short bursts of work followed by checking your phone, social media, or something else. Rinse and repeat. Also, I’m not talking about work that feels fun all the time (we focus easily on things that feel fun).
This is about the type of focus that feels hard. And I’m writing about it because once you make it through the hard phase, you enter the state of flow. That’s the place of your deepest, most inspired creativity. Plus you get tons more done in less time.
Most of us bounce from task to task and goal to goal and it’s causing chaos in our lives even though we don’t want to see (or admit) it. Maybe it’s not our fault.
We weren’t taught how to focus.
Growing up, they taught us:
- What to do
- What not to do
We yearned for guidance on states of being. Most of us never got that guidance.
Deep focus is a state of being. We get to that state of being by refining the skill of focus.
Sure, sometimes, someone would yell at us to ‘be focused’ but we didn’t know how. We had no tools to develop this skill. Some of us forced ourselves into those states during high school or university. But it didn’t stick.
Since then, it’s gotten worse with cell phones and social media. See, we cannot solely blame the adults who shaped our lives during our younger years. We now have a world where we’re rewarded for scrolling, jumping ship, burning bridges, pivoting paths, and changing directions by the month or the minute.
We can write entire diatribes on how social media is to blame for this. But what will that accomplish right now?
You need to figure out what to do to win this war of focus on an individual level.
And, yes, it’s a war.
What’s the collateral damage of these inner wars?
→ You have difficulty focusing on the micro (the steps right in front of you).
→ You struggle with the macro (long-term journeys, goals, and dreams).
→ Everything takes longer than necessary. You’re wasting time. When you’re working on a task (or a long-term goal), but you keep jumping around distracted, it takes you longer to finish.
What does deep focus look like?
Deep focus is when you can sit (or stand) for long periods working on something you’ve deemed a priority in your life or learning something that takes a lot of thought or writing something that feels challenging. And here’s the key:
→ When you can do these things even once it starts to feel hard, that’s deep focus! (And please understand that the feeling of ‘hard’ often comes disguised as boredom.)
No phone, no social media, no checking what’s in the fridge for the 10th time. No tumbling down a rabbit hole thinking about your ex, what you’ll have for dinner, or some other random string of thoughts you can’t seem to stop.
For most of us, deep focus feels like fire.
Every time you sit at the altar of deep focus, resistance engulfs your mind and body in flames of discomfort. I know this because the same thing happens to me.
On a micro level, being in a state of deep focus is about how you structure your days. On a macro level, it’s about how you structure your entire life.
Today, let’s focus on the micro. I’m a systems nerd, so of course, I’ve structured a system to help me.
My system for deep focus
Finishing what I start (even the little, mundane things)
I push myself to finish what I start. As they say, ‘How you do one thing is how you do everything.’
With that in mind, I don’t have to be working or reading or writing to be strengthening my focus muscles. I make it a way of living so that my mind becomes accustomed to it in every facet of my life (whether working or cleaning or relaxing or something else). I don’t delay or put things off till later if I can do something right then.
I’m training my brain to always finish what I start. To not keep jumping to other things.
Structuring my environment
When I’m doing anything that requires deep focus:
*My desk has nothing on it but my laptop and maybe one or two other items that I need (for example a cup of water or notes I need for that work session).
*My phone is out of sight.
*My notifications are off.
*I’m in a space with minimal noise and distractions (I wear headphones if noise cannot be avoided).
*I only schedule deep work when I know I won’t be interrupted.
Some people like working in co-working places or cafes. I did a lot of that during my nomadic days. Once in a while I still do, but when in a distracted environment, I choose to do work that doesn’t require deep focus. My brain doesn’t get deep into flow when I’m in a distracted environment. Maybe yours does? Test for yourself.
Sensory breaks
Because I spend many of my working hours looking at a screen, I counter that with sensory breaks. For me, it’s walking in nature. I think of this as resetting my brain, so that when I’m back in front of the computer or reading a book, my eyes and brain aren’t tired.
Our brains are overstimulated. Nature feels like the opposite of overstimulation for me. It feels like I’m giving my brain a rest.
Meditation
Besides walking in nature, there is no other act I do that so deeply affects my focus as meditation.
It’s the ultimate tool for training your mind to empty, get quiet, and be still.
The more you struggle with meditation, the more you need it. Here’s the good news, it gets better with time. Start with 5 minutes and keep building. Use an app if you need to.
Sitting with things that feel difficult
When something feels hard, we want to switch to do else. This is natural.
But the more we shift to something else every time things get hard, the more we’ll forever struggle with deep focus (and reaching our goals).
Deep focus goes beyond how we function on the tasks in front of us. It trickles over into our lives on a macro level. If we struggle with focusing on daily tasks, we’ll struggle with staying focused on bigger goals and priorities.
As uncomfortable as it is, we have to get accustomed to doing things that feel hard. We are complex beings with self-doubt, fears, and insecurities. These manifest in many ways, including resistance. That’s when your mind and body interpret something you’re doing as hard. Your instinct will be to do something else, but you will never master deep focus (or yourself) if you keep switching.
“[Great creative minds] think like artists but work like accountants.”
― Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (I’ve recommended this book in several videos.)
❤ You can do hard things.
❤ You can focus on one thing for long periods.
❤ You can stick with things even when they feel uncomfortable.
Start small and build. Create your system for getting into deep focus and staying there.
Much of your best work, your most creative pieces, and your deepest mind-shifting learnings are all on the other side of deep focus.