Increase Your Focus Skills

Supercharge Your Train of Thoughts & Concentration

With Effective Successful Secrets of An ADHD Mind

James Sheldon
 [1]

All Rights Reserved 2019

No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical,

photographic or electronic process or in any form of
phonographic writing nor be stored in a retrieval system,
transmitted or otherwise copied for public or private use.

The information given in the book should not be treated as a

substitute for professional medical advice. Neither the Author
nor Publisher can be held responsible for any loss, claim or
damage arising out of the use or misuse of the suggestions
made, the failure to take medical advises or for any material
or third party websites.

Disclaimer: Author and Publisher will not be held liable for

any loss or damage resulting from reliance on the information
contained within this book. The data contained in this book is
not necessarily real-time nor accurate, and analyses are the
opinions of the Author. This is a book offering information
and none of the information is intended to guarantee future
results.
By using this material, you agree with the limitations and
exclusions of liability set out in this disclaimer and the
separate disclaimer page. If you do not agree with them, you
must not use this content.
[2]

Publication Date:

August 13, 2019

Related Categories:

BISAC: ADHD

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Related Categories:

Self-Help
 [3]

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its

ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing
it’s stupid.” ― Albert Einstein
Contents

Chapter 1 – Top Strategies to Improve Focus and

Attention

Chapter 2 – How Mindfulness Can Increase Your

Concentration and Lower Stress

Chapter 3 – How to Develop Your Attention to Detail

Skills

Chapter 4 – Best Ways To Increase Your Energy,

Focus and Productivity

Chapter 5 – Sports That Can Help You Improve

Memory & Concentration

Chapter 6 – Best Brain Foods That Help You

Concentrate

Chapter 7 – How to Increase Your Attention

Management
Chapter 8 – How to Focus Your Mind: Develop a
Laser-Sharp Mental Focus
Chapter 1 – Top Strategies to Improve
Focus and Attention

Learning to focus your attention can make the

difference between your success and failure. Mindfulness
can be the answer you are looking for. We all know how
distractions and lack of focus can ruin a work day. Being
able to focus means you can get things done faster and
more efficiently. In the end, this means you will reach
your goals much quicker! Whether it was the tangent
google research search for a piece I was writing, or
magically finding myself on Instagram screenshotting a
yoga tip, my attention would run off like a wild animal.
And when you’re working from home, there’s no one
there to help you tame this animal. No bosses hovering
over your back. No nosey coworkers snooping around
your desk.

After one too many days of wasted time, and pushed

deadlines, I decided I was going take control of my ability
to pay attention. I will share some of what I did below,
along with some brain science to help explain these tips.
In the end, I slowly found a way to tame my mind with a
conscious approach to focus and attention. There’s a
time and place to let your mind run free, but you should
be in control of when it does. Take control of your mind,
and take control of your life.
But Wait, How Long Does this take?

Even if you have ADHD, there are things that you can
do to optimize your personal ability to pay attention.
Some of those adjustments, e.g. adequate sleep, will
work immediately. However, using mindfulness
strategies and neuroplasticity to make overall increases
in your abilities to pay attention takes practice over a
longer period of time. Thinking of these tips as a
mindfulness practice will be most helpful in creating
lasting changes.

How Your Brain Pays Attention

According to researchers, attention has become a big
interest of study within neuropsychology due to rising
rates of ADHD and the increased use of technology
(Cohen, 2014). Using the Posner (1994) model of
attention, we can view attention in 3 parts:

1. Alerting (The ability to stay vigilant or prepared)

2. Orienting (the ability to focus on one thing, and
shift to another if needed)
3. Conflict Monitoring (Executive Attention; the
ability to monitor distractions)

Correlated Brain Areas:

• Alerting – Reticular Activating System,

• Orienting – Parietal Lobe
• Conflict Monitoring – Anterior Cingulate Cortex;
Frontal Lobe

You’ll find out how we will use this knowledge in a

conscious approach to focus and attention.

What Does this Have to Do with

Mindfulness?
Mindfulness encompass activities that help bring the
present moment into consciousness. Consciousness is a
mental state of mind. It has many underpinnings and in
many ways is controlled by what our minds allow in.

Mindfulness is a way to expand our consciousness, and

attention is the first step in that process. If you can find
more ways to: 1) experience mindfulness more often and
2) for longer periods of time, you will automatically
start improving your ability to pay attention.

So How?
You can have a focused hustle that changes your work
life for the better. If you are tired of wasting time with
distractions, read these tips on improving attention
mindfully.
Sitting Meditation
Sitting meditation is not just for relaxation. It helps
make neuroplastic shifts in our brains that improve
sustained attention. Many studies have touted the effects
of meditation on increasing attention.

For Example:

• Improved focus for long time meditators,

• Improved attention for new meditators
• Increased attentional capacity for meditators

Daniel Goleman, discusses how the basic move in

meditation is flexing our attention muscle. We
intentionally pay attention to an object of meditation
such as our breath or our thoughts.

Then, when we notice our attention drifting, we

orientate ourselves and shift our attention back to the
meditation object. This corresponds exactly to the
components of attention described above (alerting,
orienting, and conflict monitoring).

For example: with insight meditation, you learn to

constantly monitor your thoughts. The practice entails:

• Paying attention to your thoughts,

• Accepting it with curiosity and not judgement,
• Letting it go.
 Then you continue monitoring your thoughts until
another one arises. And again, you note it, and let it go.
Without any fancy research, you can easily see how
mastering this practice will help improve your attention
skills. Through neuroplasticity, meditation gives us the
repetitive practice needed to rewire our brains to have
more executive control over our attention.

Be patient with this practice, rewiring the brain doesn’t

happen overnight. But science is in favor of as little as 2
months of meditation practice to significantly improve
your attention skills. Stick with it, and be consistent with
your meditation practice. As you do so, you will see that
your ability to focus will continue to grow.

That’s Not All

Also, make your mediation practice personal for faster
results. Be very mindful of the shifts you make in your
mind to become better focused. For example, when you
notice it takes you less and less time to get into a state of
meditation, take note of why things got easier? For me I
noticed that I was able to get into meditation quicker,
and stay focused longer during meditation when I
properly set the scene before sitting down to meditate.

This includes having my tea first, being in my sacred

space, making sure I had my blanket and meditation
journal, and feeling comfy and cozy. I realized I need this
same preparation when I sit down to focus. Now I always
set the scene in my work environment before I sit down
to work, and it’s amazing how much better I focus.

Other personal shifts might include letting go of

expectations, or you might notice that doing a relaxation
technique like a body scan first helps you to focus better
during meditation. Whatever the personal shift, take
note and apply it to your work life as well.

Feed Your Brain

Give your brain what it needs to focus in the moment.
Usually paying attention is associated with the pre-
frontal cortex because attention heavily relies on
executive control. But there are also other important
brain regions involved in attention that give us more
insight into how attention works.
Using the Posner description of attention described
above, attention consists of alerting, orienting, and
conflict monitoring.

According to much research, each of these components

have been correlated with parts of the brain: Alerting has
been correlated with the reticular activating system,
orienting with the parietal lobe, and conflict monitoring
with the anterior cingulate cortex (Modesto-Lowe, 2015).
By tapping into increased functioning in each of these
areas of the brain, we can in turn increase our attention
capabilities.
Staying Alert
Give your brain what it needs to stay alert:

• Adequate sleep and natural rhythms

• Regulated Breathing

Alerting, which is the capacity to stay vigilant to what to

pay attention to in your environment, is correlated with
the part of the brain that is responsible for transitioning
from sleep to wakefulness.

It is housed in the brain stem, near the respiratory

centers in the brain. This area is responsible for
circadian rhythm. Knowing that neurons that wire
together, fire together, we can begin to devise some key
components of staying alert.

Here’s The Deal

Namely, adequate rest and natural rhythms help keep
us alert, but a case for regulating your breathing can also
be made based on where the alerting structure is located
in the brain. Healthy sleep habits and breathing exercises
to help regulate the breath are hence very useful as you
work towards improved attention.
Staying Oriented
Give your brain what it needs to stay oriented to the task
at hand:

• Use the five senses to get in touch with the present

moment

Orienting, the ability to focus on something and shift

focus if need be, is located in the sensory area of the
brain. Specifically, the parietal lobe receives and
coordinates sensory information. Being oriented to taste,
smell, sights, sounds, physical sensations, and
vibrational energy helps to bring you into the present
moment and therefore better able to focus on that
moment.

Before working, use your senses to orient yourself. And

truly come in contact with the present moment while
working. In 2015, mindfulness guru Jon Kabat-Zin wrote
an article called, “Why paying attention is so supremely
important.” In this article, he discusses how our senses,
including interception, proprioception, and awareness,
are the gateway to full attention.

Describing raw perception of the present moment and

pure attention, he writes, “With our senses intact and by
way of awareness itself, we can attend in such ways. To
do so is to be more alive”
Here is a Sensory Exercise:

Manage Distractions
Give your brain what it needs to manage distractions:

• Control your thoughts and emotions

• Use mindful self-discipline to limit external
distractions

Conflict monitoring, the final component of attention, is

the ability to regulate your thoughts and emotions so
that you can manage competing stimuli. This is housed
in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), connected to our
emotional limbic system which is responsible for fight or
flight (Modesto-Lowe, 2015).

The ACC is also connected to the prefrontal cortex, the

structure responsible for executive decisions in our
brain. This combination makes this system the
powerhouse of regulating our thoughts and emotions
(Stevens et al., 1994). This system is heavily tied to
avoiding suffering (fight or flight), something Buddhism
discusses at lengths.

Affect Regulation
A powerful mindfulness tool to develop control over
your emotions is the practice of acceptance. Acceptance
calms our fight or flight response, and allows our brains
to focus.
How Can You Actually Apply this?
Here’s how to practice acceptance when negative
emotions are distracting you:

• See if you can accept the circumstance that is causing

you fear, anger, or sadness.
• Can you accept the situation without trying to change
it or wishing it was different?
• Ask yourself, “What was this situation sent here to
teach me?”.
• Practice relaxation techniques to calm your body.
• Keep in mind that you are loved. Bring to mind loved
ones that care about you.
• Remember that you have survived other hard
situations.
• As you begin to accept the situation and relax, your
fight or flight response will lessen. Then your brain
will be better able to manage your emotions without
letting them distract you from important tasks.

Also, avoiding suffering is not only involved in our fight

or flight response, but it is also involved in our systems
that seek pleasure. In his book, Buddha Brain, Dr. Rick
Hanson describes how our archaic brain evolved to avoid
sticks and seek carrots. Basically, when we have the
luxury to not be avoiding suffering, we are seeking
pleasure.

This can come in the form of avoiding boring tasks and

seeking out more pleasurable ones. This is how we find
ourselves on Instagram while working. Your ability to
regulate feelings like boredom, as you work are crucial to
increasing your attention abilities. Mindfulness of
emotions is another great mindfulness strategy to use
while working to increase emotional regulation skills.

• As you work, monitor how you feel emotionally each

time you stray from work.
• Are you stressed, sad, bored, or even overwhelmed?
• In the moment see if you can notice these feelings.
• Accept them for what they are without letting them
overcome you.
• Let them go if you are able to.

Finding ways to process these emotions while you

aren’t working is also beneficial and will lead to less
distractions during work. Sometimes you may find that
it is more beneficial, if you have the time, to stop what
you working on and take a break to process how you
feel.

You’d be surprised how many times underlying

emotions appear as attention deficits, when the real
underlying issue is emotional control. In my training to
become a neuropsychologist, I have seen many people
that think they have ADHD but when we test them we
find out that it is actually emotional issues like
depression and anxiety impairing their ability to pay
attention.
Cognitive Control
Do constant thoughts and ideas distract you while
working?

Many times, we lose focus because our minds are

seeking a dopamine rush, and things like distracting
social media are the perfect fix. Here are some resources
to help you limit those external distractors:

• Block distracting websites

• Stop being distracted by your phone
• Become more aware of where you spend your time on
the internet

Body Work
If you want a more active way to flex your attention
muscle, try using body work to improve your focus skills.
Here are my two favorite ways to do this.

Massage

Through consistent body work with a massage

therapist, I learned how to tolerate distractions. My
massage therapist is highly qualified and takes her work
very seriously. At the beginning of our relationship she
made it very clear that we would be working together to
heal my body and my mind. This was not going to be a
one-sided relationship.
 My first task in our work together was to learn to
manage my hyperactivity. I had a lot of tension and
restlessness in my body, and when we first started
working together, it was very hard for me to stay still.
My body would endlessly fidget and my mind jumped
from one bodily sensation to another. These sensations
felt like they were commanding me to scratch or move in
an effort to become perfectly comfortable.

Why Does this Matter?

Hyperactivity of the mind or body usually accompanies

attention problems, and learning to manage this
restlessness helped me develop tools to focus my mind
and tolerate distractions. Each massage I practiced
tolerating distracting sensations.

I became comfortable with stillness and learned it was

very different than perfect comfort. I learned to focus my
mind on the sensation of the massage and whenever I
was distracted or tempted to move, I began to do the
following:

1. Notice the distracting sensation.

2. Acknowledge that while it was uncomfortable, it

wasn’t painful and therefore I could tolerate it.

3. Use breathing techniques to work through the

tickle, itch, or desire to move.
 4. Focus my attention on the massage sensation I
was feeling at the moment, and really used all my
senses to become completely aware of that body
part.

1. This includes mindful awareness of the

tension/resistance at the massage cite, as
well as visualization of the body part being
massaged.

Yoga
Yoga is also another great body work technique to
improve your attention. The practice of yoga gives us an
opportunity to practice focusing in a safe and non-
judgmental way. Here are some ways you can use yoga
to improve your attention:

Maintain Ujjayi breath throughout the practice.

Whenever you notice that you have lost your Ujjayi
breathing, without judgement, simply practice returning
to the breathing technique. Pay attention to how you
flow throughout the class. This is another great way to
flex your attention muscle.

Try to maintain an elegant, and poised flow in your

next yoga session. Trust me, you will find times when
you are extra sloppy or even careless. No worries, that is
part of the practice. Simply congratulate yourself for the
ability to notice you let go of your flow, and simply go
back to flowing.
 Pay attention to sensations in your body during
practice. This is inherent in most our yoga practices. But
I encourage you to really increase your awareness of
every physical sensation to increase your focus. Choose
at least 1 day of the week that you practice yoga, and
dedicate that practice to mindful and intentional
movement of every pose.

Mindful Motivation
I couldn’t write a blog about staying focused as a go-
getter, without talking to the most focused go-getter I
know: my partner, Jean Victor Mariolle. I’m not just
saying that because he’s cute. Jean-Victor (or JV as I call
him!), is the VP of Business Development for a thriving
natural food company.

Before VP life he had extensive sales experience, and

oversaw the worldwide expansion of a leading brand.
I’ve never met someone more focused than he is when he
works. Contrary to his attention abilities outside of
work, he has an amazing ability to resist distractions and
stay focused while working.

I asked him, “What’s the secret to your impeccable

ability to stay focused while working?”. His answer:
“I have to say, … motivation. I love what I do. I’m
passionate and excited about our opportunities. And the
work I do is so engaging that distractions become
obsolete.”
 Based on neuropsychology, this makes a lot of sense.
Even people with ADHD, have increased abilities to pay
attention on activities they are passionate about,
challenging, or fun. In fact, they typically perform better
trying to pay attention to complex or challenging tasks
versus simple ones. This is because dopamine (pleasure
neurotransmitter), is released when we experience
passion, which helps the brain focus better.

Bottom Line

• Engage with your work

• Be passionate about your work
• And Make sure your work is challenging

Attention and focus are essential to any conscious

hustle. Use these mindfulness tips to improve your
attention span and reach your goals faster.
Success is your destiny, you just have to make sure you
develop the skills you need to reach it.
Chapter 2 – How Mindfulness Can
Increase Your Concentration and
Lower Stress

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we

make peace with ourselves.”—Dalai Lama

Mindfulness can help students focus and reduce stress,

and help create new neuronal pathways in the brain. As an
advocate of meditation, I use mindfulness because it is
relaxing and the benefits are extremely rewarding. Read
below to discover the history of mindfulness and how you
can practice it today.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness originated in Buddhism, and the 2,500-year-

old tradition is part of a much wider set of beliefs and
behaviors. Some of these behaviors and beliefs are referred
to as a psychological process or as a skill developed over
time. Mindfulness has been studied at Penn State for years
and it has been turning heads outside of the University with
programs and workshops. Meditation is a large portion of
the practice, if not the only practice.

What does mindfulness entail? Well, if you are constantly

aware of your surroundings, you are practicing
mindfulness to some degree. Awareness may be one of the
most important aspects of mindfulness. This may be
because awareness uses your brain in ways that require
order and logical thought. Emotions, such as anger, can be
extreme only when you sink back into your thoughts, or if
you go forward, such as thinking about the future.
Awareness helps one to be fully immersed in any moment.
Let’s see how this can help with our brain, emotions, and
stress.

Mindfulness is being aware of each moment that passes,

while being fully present of our thoughts, feelings, physical
sensations, and surrounding environment. Meditation is
used as a mindfulness technique to help us achieve this
optimal state of awareness, which can help you improve
concentration and reduce stress.

Mindfulness also incorporates acceptance into everyday

situations. This means that we do not judge our thoughts or
feelings — we allow them fully. For example, instead of
thinking that our emotions or thoughts need to be put into
a category of right or wrong, practicing mindfulness allows
us to accept how we feel in any given moment and allow
ourselves a sense of freedom.

We also are tuned into the present, so we aren’t focusing

on the past, or imagining the future. As I mentioned earlier,
this can help with stabilizing our emotions, such as intense
anger, fear, or sadness.
Mindfulness Creates New Connections
In the Brain

Mindfulness helps us achieve growth of new neural

networks in the brain. By growing neural networks, you are
essentially rewiring your brain to find better and new ways
to handle tasks and cope with stress and emotions. You are
also helping yourself increase your focus.

Practicing mindfulness has been shown in research to

increase gray matter in the brain. Gray matter holds most
of the actual brain cells compared the other structures of
the brain. An increase in density may mean an increase in
connectivity between the cells, and an increase in two areas
known as the pons and raphe nucleus can improve our
overall psychological well-being.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

A recent study on mindfulness meditation showed that

participants had less psychological stress from anxiety,
depression, and pain. To me, this makes sense, because
while we experience anxiety, we tend to give our thoughts
too much power. Our thoughts run our lives, and if they are
negative, that becomes overwhelming.
Increase Your Focus in 8 Weeks

A study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital was

the first to report changes in density in the gray matter of
the brain. In as few as 8 weeks, participants had increased
density in the areas of the brain responsible for:

Learning & Memory Processes

✓ Emotional salience
✓ The ability to take on different perspectives
✓ Emotional regulation

These areas of the brain are known as the posterior

cingulate, the temporo-parietal lobe, the hippocampus, and
the cerebellum. As research continues, increases in gray
matter density in different brain structures show promise
for positive brain changes.

These changes can help improve your focus and enable

you to remember what you read more thoroughly. To a
higher degree, practicing mindfulness may help you to take
more control of what you think about, enabling more space
for learning new things, remembering what you have just
read, and increasing long-term memory.
New To Meditation

Of the participants in the study referenced earlier, they

were all new to meditation. That means that anyone can
start feeling the benefits in several weeks.

At first, you might think your practice is actually making

you more distracted. That’s because you’re increasing your
awareness of everything, particularly distractions. As you
learn to concentrate and focus on your breath, you will
notice more thoughts because you are aware of them.

It may seem as if a thousand things come to you during

this time. But this means your attention is actually working
better. You will notice brain wandering and how easily you
can get distracted from just sitting and staring at the wall.

Imagine driving to work. It’s a pretty familiar route, and

you know what to expect every day. You see the same trees,
signs, roads, and highways. This is how the brain works.
The more you think about something, the more it becomes
ingrained into your brain, the more you know no other
way. The more you are used to racing, uncontrolled
thoughts, the more aware you will need to be in order to
stop them.

How to Meditate

There are many ways to practice mindfulness meditation:

breathing techniques, visualizations, and more. You can
find some in my article I wrote earlier this year — Why
Mental Breaks Are Important — and here are a few more:

60 Seconds

Take 60 seconds to focus on only your breathing, nothing

else. Do this several times a day. Over time, you can
gradually extend this duration or simply double it every
day. Don’t think you’ve failed if you begin thinking and not
focusing on your breath. It takes years of practice to be able
to have one minute of alert, clear attention.

Conscious Observation

Pick an object and devote all your attention and awareness

to it. Don’t study it or analyze it — just observe it for what it
is. It can be a pen, a cup, a Penn State T-Shirt, or a dot on
the wall. It’s essential to practice this, as it gives you an
alert, “awake” feeling, and puts you in the present moment.
Notice how you don’t really think of the past or future
during this exercise.

Slowly Count To 10

Count to 10 in your mind and catch yourself to see if you

are thinking of anything you need to do, a thought from the
past, a story you’ve created, or simply forgetting to count
completely. If you catch yourself thinking, start over. You
can start out doing this a few times until you feel
comfortable meditating.

Eat Slowly

Buddhists and Zen masters truly sink into the present

moment by eating slowly. It is a concept they have been
teaching for a very long time. Mindful eating can slow
down your meal and help you to really appreciate the food
you have in front of you. Pay close attention to the taste,
smell, what the food looks like. You can repeat affirmations
in your head like “I am grateful to be eating this wonderful
meal.”
Chapter 3 – How to Develop Your
Attention to Detail Skills

We all know that attention to detail is important because it

helps prevent mistakes and makes success in the workplace
easier. The problem is that being attentive to detail can be
nearly impossible when you’re at work and your boss and
colleagues keep distracting you, or you’re one of those
people who just can’t focus.

But, there are methods and techniques which you can

apply that will help you become better at paying attention
to detail. Below you’ll find 10 effective ways you can
develop this powerful skill in the workplace.

Get Organized

It makes sense that when everything is chaotic, details will

slip. The first step to take to improve your attention to
detail at work is to get organized. Now, getting organized
doesn’t mean that you need to tidy up your workspace and
waste time going through your stuff, but it does mean that
you need to start using your calendar.

Mark down appointments and meetings to ensure you

won’t forget about them and note any details or thoughts
you have about each meeting. Then, plan each day by
making a note of deadlines and important dates. Bullet
journals are all the rage now, and I’m fairly certain that
once you watch this Buzzfeed video about creating your
own, you’ll be motivated to make one as well.

Make Lists

Many people are under the impression that being

organized and having lists hinders creativity, but that
couldn’t be farther from the truth. Making lists can boost
creativity as it takes away a lot of the stress that goes hand
in hand with multi-tasking and it allows you to prioritize
and allocate time for every task. You become more focused
on what you’re doing which is the main ingredient to being
attentive to detail.

Making lists can be a fun activity in itself, although you

should be careful not to become too attached to your lists
because that can be counterproductive as well. And
although there’s nothing wrong with traditional post-its
and hand-written lists, why not go for an app that will
remind you when it’s time to do something? There are
many apps available that can do so much more than a
traditional list.

Limit Distractions

One of the reasons why we tend not to pay attention to

details is because we are distracted all the time. The
question, of course, is how to limit distractions? Most of us
work in open plan workspaces which make distractions
inevitable; there’s always someone getting up, talking to
someone, etc. You’ll need to learn how to detach yourself
from the rest of the office and mentally isolate yourself.

Research has time and again shown that people who listen
to classical music (Mozart in particular) can be more
productive, so it’s worth giving it a shot. I’d strongly advise
against listening to music with lyrics as this will just end up
adding to your list of distractions. It’s also important that
you turn off phone notifications and if you have an
extension that pops-up every time you get an email disable
that as well.

Limit the time you spend checking your email and create a
space that helps you relax and focus. Some of my favorite
playlists for focusing include Morning Coffee and Music in
the Workplace.

Take Regular Breaks

You probably already know that our brains are a muscle

which mean that they need their downtime as well.
Overworking your brain and working straight from 9 to 5
without taking a break can be incredibly counter-
productive. For our brain to be able to pay attention to
detail, it needs to be well-rested, so it’s crucial that you
schedule regular breaks.

Get up as often as you can and walk around the office,

while you should also give yourself mental breaks. Spare a
few minutes to read your favorite blog, or to look up
recipes for dinner. Going back to work with a refreshed
mind can make your brain more focused which can help
you spot any mistakes or just make it easier to pay
attention to detail.

If you are worried that taking regular breaks might not go

down well with your boss, well you don’t have to share that
piece of info with them, do you? All they need from you is
results; you can keep your breaks to yourself. These
awesome websites for wasting time at work will let you
have a nice little break while never leaving your desk.

Play Focus Enhancing Games

Coming back to the concept of the brain as a muscle,

exercising your brain is just as important as giving it time
to rest. Think of an athlete, for example; they train day in
day out to increase their stamina and improve their
performance. Similarly, workers need to train their brains
to perform at their best.

The easiest and most entertaining way to do that is by

playing focus enhancing games like cards or spot the
difference. Of course, there are also lots of apps that can
help you improve your attention and focus like Peak (get it
on Android and iOS) and Elevate (get it on Android and
iOS)
Be Present

One of the main reasons people tend not to pay attention

to detail is because they are just not present when
performing a task. With all the distractions, stress and
pressure most employees deal with it’s easy to understand
how someone can zone out, but it pushes you to produce
poor quality work which can be disastrous for your
reputation and your career.

The best way to remedy this situation is to identify the

reasons you are so often not present and find solutions. If
it’s because you’re bored at work, well maybe it’s time to
move on, if it’s because your workload is too heavy and all
you do is think about how long it will take you to do
everything then you may need to have a chat with your
manager about delegating your tasks.

Embrace Your Routine

Too much routine can kill you, but a lack of routine makes
you undisciplined so find an in-between that’s ideal for you.
The reason routine can be beneficial to developing this skill
is that it forces you to do the same things over and over
again which means that as you’re familiar with going
through the motions, you’re much more likely to pay
attention to smaller things, i.e., the details. Routine
basically helps train the mind and you should therefore
learn to embrace it.
Prioritize Quality

One of the main reasons most people’s work suffers is that

speed is more important than quality. But, it’s important
that you prioritize quality because not doing so could cost
you your job, reputation and your career. If you have too
heavy a workload, talk with your manager and make your
case. Do they value quantity over quality, or do they have
more long-term plans that will require setting better
foundations?

Come Up With A Personal Rewards

System

I’m not going to lie, being focused and paying attention to

detail is hard for me as well. My mind tends to wonder
more than I’d like to admit and one of the best tips I ever
got was to create a rewards system for yourself. We are all
kids at heart, and we all like to get rewarded when we get
something right, the problem often is that our bosses
couldn’t care less, so find ways to reward yourself.

One way is give yourself breaks, say for example that

you’ve spend x amount of minutes completely focused at
work, why not give your brain a rest afterwards? Another
way is to spoil yourself each ten-twenty mistakes you’ve
spotted because you were attentive to detail. Whatever you
choose to do, it has to be something that’s meaningful to
you.
Be an Active Participant in Meetings

One of the reasons many of us don’t pay as much

attention as we’d like to detail is because we are not
involved with our jobs. If you care about your job and you’d
like to change that, then a great place to start is by
becoming a more active participant in meetings.

Meetings are where decisions are made and being able to

voice your opinions gives you the opportunity to become
more involved which can help make you more enthusiastic
as well. Developing this skill is crucial for employees,
especially those who are just starting their careers.
Identifying methods and techniques which will help you
improve your attention to detail can be a vital aspect of
your career development.
Chapter 4 – Best Ways To Increase
Your Energy, Focus and Productivity

There are never enough hours in the day. We can never

seem to find the time to accomplish everything on our to-
do lists. Whether those things are work-related, family-
related or goal-related, we just don’t seem to have enough
time or energy to get them done. That’s why we all seek to
become more productive. We want to be able to manage
our time better to get more done and open up more free
time.

Because of this universal importance, there is now an

entire industry that is dedicated to helping people become
more productive. There are hundreds of apps and
programs you can download that will help you change your
behaviors, set priorities and goals, and practice mindfulness
to tune out distractions. There are countless productivity
gurus with books and articles about his or her philosophy
about how you get more done in less time.

All of these strategies and tools do have value. They would

not be in business otherwise. But with all of the
information out there, becoming more productive now
seems like a complex formula, when really it is quite simple
when you break it down.
3 Components of Productivity

Being more productive comes down to how you manage 3

factors: your time, your focus and your energy. Managing
your time is about making sure that you are working on the
highest priority tasks within your unique schedule. It
doesn’t matter if you’re focused and energetic if you’re not
working on the right things at the right time.

Managing your focus is about tuning out all distractions

and giving your full attention to the task at hand. It doesn’t
matter if you’re working on the right task and have a lot of
energy, if that time and energy is being wasted checking
your email and Facebook. Managing your energy is about
having the drive to get the task done. It doesn’t matter if
you’re working on the right task and you’re fully focused, if
you don’t have any motivation to do it.

Managing your time is a very personal thing. We all have

unique schedules and unique ways of prioritizing. Your
ability to manage your time goes beyond the scope of this
site, but managing your energy and focus directly relates to
how you use your willpower. So I have listed 8 proven ways
that you can increase your energy and focus to become
more productive:

Eating Healthy

To exert mental energy, our brains burn through a

chemical known as glucose. Any food that contains calories
will give your brain glucose to work with. But not all
glucose is created equally. Sugary foods will cause a quick
spike of glucose, giving you mental energy for the short-
term, but will cause a subsequent crash that depletes your
energy just as fast.

The best thing you can do is keep the glucose level in your
bloodstream steady. This will give your brain a consistent
reserve of fuel to exert mental energy for the long-term. To
accomplish this, researchers suggest a low-glycemic diet.

This includes:

Lean Proteins

Nothing fancy is required – just lean cuts of beef, poultry,

pork and fish.

Nuts

Specifically nuts that are high in omega-3 fatty acids like

walnuts, pecans and cashews. (Note: this does not include
legumes like peanuts).

Fresh Fruit

Fresh fruit is preferred over dried fruit because dried

fruits have a high concentration of sugar in them. This will
result in the glucose spike for the short term and lead to a
subsequent crash. Some good choices are bananas,
blueberries, apples and cherries.

Vegetables

All vegetables will help build your long-term willpower,

but specific veggies that pack a willpower punch are root-
based. These include sweet potatoes, carrots, squash and
onions which will all give you some serious mental energy!

Sleep Better

As a society, we are chronically sleep deprived. We all

know we need to get more sleep, but it's not that easy. Just
like it seems there are not enough hours in the day to get
things done, it also seems that there are not enough to get a
full night's rest. So here are scientifically proven tactics that
will give you more energy without extra hours:

Completely Dark Room

The best way to get more energy from sleep without

increasing your hours in bed is to achieve total darkness.
Under these circumstances we are able to achieve a deeper
sleep and give our brains the ability to rest and recover
better.
Naps

Other research suggests that it’s the amount of

consecutive hours you spend awake that matters the most.
So even taking a 20-minute power nap has huge benefits
for your self-control!

Build A Reserve

Although this is not a fail-safe strategy, catching up on

sleep has been shown to reverse some effects of sleep
deprivation. Getting more sleep on the weekend will create
a reserve of energy that your brain can use for willpower
during the week.

Exercise

There are incredible benefits of exercise on your

productivity. Research shows that those who exercise
regularly have more energy, more ability to focus and have
greater health (you can't be productive when you're home
sick!).

The best part is how little exercise that is required in

order see all of these benefits. The most important thing is
to make a plan that is consistent, not overwhelming.
Whether you can exercise 1x/week or 4x/week, it doesn’t
matter. To see the benefits, you just need to set a plan that
you will not fail.
 The next thing many people may be thinking is what type
of “physical exercise” should you be doing? Kelly
McGonigal, a health psychologist at Stanford, gives a very
good answer to this question.

“What type of exercise are you willing

to do?”

Although there are many different physical benefits based

on the type of exercise you choose, the brain doesn’t really
care. As long as you’re not laying down, sitting, or standing
still, you will see the willpower benefits of exercise. So
don’t set a rigorous and intimidating workout routine if
you're just getting started. Start small and be consistent.

Make Progress, Not Perfection

As humans, we have an incredible ability to visualize. This

helps us be more creative and innovative, but it also leads
to being perfectionists. Being a perfectionist is not
something to boast about. Striving for perfection leads us to
procrastinate projects because it doesn't feel like "the
perfect time" to get it done.

We have all felt this way. Whether it was an important

work project or simply cleaning out the garage, if it didn't
feel like we could do the job perfectly, we put it off. To
overcome this natural tendency, we should strive for simply
making progress. Studies show that spending just 10
minutes on a project is enough for us to begin to immerse
ourselves in it and make it "feel like the perfect time".

The Chunking Technique

When it comes time to work, sometimes we can get

completely overwhelmed. Just like trying to be perfect can
lead to procrastination, so can focusing on how big a
project is. This feeling of being overwhelmed leads us to
become more stressed and drains our focus on the task at
hand.

Chunking is the process of taking a large project and

breaking it into manageable “chunks”. This is the method
used by endurance athletes to help them endure the long
hours of exerting themselves, as well as productivity
consultants to help people break their long-term goals into
short-term, manageable chunks.

A chunk can be task related - breaking the larger task into

smaller, more manageable sub-tasks. Or it can be time
related - such as spending 25 minutes on a task then taking
a 5-minute break. There is no single "best way" to break up
a task. It depends on what works for you and the project.

Avoid Using Willpower Unnecessarily

Your willpower is like a muscle - the more you use it, the
weaker it gets. And you use it for all acts of self-control. The
same willpower you use to increase your focus, is also used
to deny the donuts in the break room.

To become more productive, then, ensure your

environment is free of unrelated willpower challenges.
Remove distractions like unhealthy food, chats with friends
and Facebook. The more willpower you exert trying to
resist or ignore these different temptations, the less you
will have to remain focused on the task at hand.

Using Your “Want Power”

None of the tactics above will give you the same focus and
energy that having a great purpose will. It doesn't matter if
we eat right, sleep well, exercise and tune out distractions if
we don't really care about what we're working on.

A genuine desire to do something gives us focus and

energy that seemingly comes out of nowhere. This happens
when we remember what we truly want, which triggers a
response in our brain that strengthens our willpower. This
is known as our "want power" and we can activate it in 2
ways:

Set Reminders

Setting reminders for yourself about what you are truly

working for is one of the best ways to increase your want
power. When doing the day to day tasks of a project, you
can lose sight of the big picture very easily. So setting
reminders will help you keep your goal in mind and
increase your “want power.”

Be Inspired Daily

We all have different things that inspire us. For me, it's
Leonardo da Vinci's first painting. It gives me motivation to
go over every detail of my work, even when that task is
boring. Yours could be an inspirational speech, a video, a
great leader or any number of other things.

Whatever your inspiration is, ensure that you can turn to

it on a daily basis. This will help you keep going - especially
on those days when you feel like you just don't have the
willpower to be productive.

Conclusion

Our lives are too short. We all want to squeeze as much

value out of them as we possibly can. This has led us to
seek innovative ways to produce more great work in fewer
hours. Unfortunately, this has led us to overcomplicate the
process of becoming more productive. Becoming more
productive simply comes down to managing your time,
your focus and your energy effectively.

The 8 techniques listed above will help you increase your

energy and focus, but by far the most important is the
reason why you are working in the first place. There is no
productivity method on earth that can triumph over a deep,
genuine desire to create great work. No matter what that
work may be.
Chapter 5 – Sports That Can Help You
Improve Memory & Concentration

In order to be more successful at school or at work, sport

is a great tool to increase your ability to concentrate.
Whatever the chosen sport activity, it will allow to fully
ventilate the mind and release tension.

How to Focus?

When millions of things are going on in your mind it is

hard to focus. Many times when you are doing something
very important, a random thought out of nowhere will pop
into your mind. This thought might take away all your
attention while your important work is still on the table.
This is unfair but what to do. The mind is a wanderer and it
will jump from one thought to another and the process
goes on.

This ability of mind makes it hard to focus on the work

you are doing. So what should you do increase your focus?
Well, the answer is Mindfulness. Being mindful means
being aware of your thoughts and what is happening in the
present moment. This awareness can actually help you in
bringing your focus to the task you are doing.
Listed below are 5 simple mindful exercises which can help
you in increasing your focus.

Mindful Exercises To Increase Focus

The Hand Exercise: Grasp your hands tightly for about 10

seconds and release them. Now focus on how your hands
feel and stay focused for as long as you can or till that
feeling goes away.

The Mental Focus Exercise: Place an object in front of you

and start focusing on it. Stare at the object as long as you
can. Keep a check on when your mind begins to wander,
acknowledge the thoughts which it brings and then lovingly
bring it to the object you were focusing. The longer you are
able to focus on the object, the more your mindfulness will
increase. This, in turn, will enhance your focusing abilities.
You could also focus on your breathing.

The Music Exercise: Play your favorite music and listen to

it carefully or rather say mindfully. Pay a close attention to
how that music makes you feel. What emotions does it
bring out? If some memories start surfacing then how do
those memories make you feel? You can even engage with
your emotions to know where they would take you.

The Sense of Smell Exercise: Try smelling some strongly

smelled substance such as coffee beans, perfume etc. Now
pay attention to what that smell does to your nose or brain
and what feelings do they evoke.

The Movie Exercise: While watching a movie pay

attention to how you get engrossed in the movie. Observe
closely what emotions does that movie bring out in you and
take a note of it.
Chapter 6 – Brain Foods That Help
You Concentrate

Listen to the buzz about foods and dietary supplements,

and you'll believe they can do everything from sharpen
focus to enhance memory, attention span, and brain
function.

But do they really work? There's no denying that as we

age, our body ages right along with us. The good news is
that you can improve your chances of maintaining a
healthy brain if you add "smart" foods and drinks to your
diet.

Ginseng, Fish, Berries, or Caffeine?

Listen to the buzz about foods and dietary supplements, and

you'll believe they can do everything from sharpen focus to
enhance memory, attention span, and brain function.

But do they really work? There's no denying that as we age,

our body ages right along with us. The good news is that you
can improve your chances of maintaining a healthy brain if
you add "smart" foods and drinks to your diet.

Caffeine Can Make You More Alert

 There's no magic bullet to boost IQ or make you smarter --
but certain substances, like caffeine, can energize you and help
you concentrate. Found in coffee, chocolate, energy drinks,
and some medications, caffeine gives you that unmistakable
wake-up buzz, though the effects are short-term. And more is
often less: Overdo it on caffeine and it can make you jittery
and uncomfortable.

Fish Really is Brain Food

A protein source linked to a great brain boost is fish -- rich in

omega-3 fatty acids that are key for brain health. These
healthy fats have amazing brain power: A diet with higher
levels of them has been linked to lower dementia and stroke
risks and slower mental decline; plus, they may play a vital
role in enhancing memory, especially as we get older. For
brain and heart health, eat two servings of fish weekly.

Add a Daily Dose of Nuts and Chocolate

Nuts and seeds are good sources of the antioxidant vitamin E,

which has been linked in some studies to less cognitive decline
as you age. Dark chocolate also has other powerful antioxidant
properties, and it contains natural stimulants like caffeine,
which can enhance focus. Enjoy up to an ounce a day of nuts
and dark chocolate to get all the benefits you need with a
minimum of excess calories, fat, or sugar.
Add Avocados and Whole Grains

Every organ in the body depends on blood flow, especially

the heart and brain. A diet high in whole grains and fruits like
avocados can cut the risk of heart disease and lower bad
cholesterol. This reduces your risk of plaque buildup and
enhances blood flow, offering a simple, tasty way to fire up
brain cells.

Whole grains, like popcorn and whole wheat, also contribute

dietary fiber and vitamin E. Though avocados have fat, it's the
good-for-you, monounsaturated fat that helps with healthy
blood flow.

Blueberries Are Super Nutritious

Research in animals shows that blueberries may help protect

the brain from the damage caused by free radicals and may
reduce the effects of age-related conditions such as
Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Studies also show that diets
rich in blueberries improved both the learning and muscle
function of aging rats, making them mentally equal to much
younger rats.

Benefits of a Healthy Diet

 It may sound trite but it's true: If your diet lacks essential
nutrients, it can hurt your ability to concentrate. Eating too
much or too little can also interfere with your focus. A heavy
meal may make you feel tired, while too few calories can result
in distracting hunger pangs. Benefit your brain: Strive for a
well-balanced diet full of a wide variety of healthy foods.

Vitamins, Minerals, and Supplements?

Store shelves groan with supplements claiming to boost

health. Although many of the reports on the brain-boosting
power of supplements like vitamins B, C, E, beta-carotene, and
magnesium are promising, a supplement is only useful to
people whose diets are lacking in that specific nutrient. Some
researchers are cautiously optimistic about ginseng, ginkgo,
and vitamin, mineral, and herb combinations and their impact
on the brain, but more proof is still needed.

Get Ready for a Big Day

Want to power up your ability to concentrate? Start with a

meal of 100% fruit juice, a whole-grain bagel with salmon,
and a cup of coffee. In addition to eating a well-balanced meal,
experts also offer this advice:

• Get a good night's sleep.

• Stay hydrated.
 • Exercise to help sharpen thinking.
• Meditate to clear thinking and relax.

Tips to Manage Your Hyper-focus in

Pictures

ADHD can make it hard for you to ignore distractions and

stay on track. But the flip side of attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder is that it can make you concentrate so intensely, you
block out everything else. It’s called hyper-focus. For example,
you don’t notice the hours flying by while you plug away at a
project or practice the piano. Some people call it getting into
“the flow.”
Chapter 7 – How to Increase Your
Attention Management

Attention management is a two-part concept — it’s your

ability to deliberately dial in your focus when needed, and
to choose wisely when deciding which tasks deserve that
focus. In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing, technology-
driven world, complete and unwavering focus is extremely
hard to come by. ADD runs rampant. New gadgets are
constantly completing for consumers’ attention. Even well-
educated adults struggle to focus on what they’re reading
or watching for extended lengths of time.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to manage your

attention better. And you should, because increased
attention management means better focus, better
comprehension and, ultimately, more fruitful results in
everything you do. With dedication and drive, you can build
up your attention management skills and become a
Productivity Ninja who causes others ask, “How do they do
it?” Here are five ways how.

Take Control of Distractions

It’s hard enough to focus on your task even in a quiet,

controlled environment. So don’t add to the struggle by
surrounding yourself with distractions. For some, music
and noise are the big contenders. For others, it’s the
temptation to play on their phone or computer. Whatever it
is that prevents you from getting down to business, get rid
of it. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to lock your phone
away in the company vault. In fact, studies have shown that
being away from one’s phone actually causes many people
mental anguish and frustration — the biggest distractions of
all.

Instead, allow yourself allotted times for distractions. For

instance, maybe each morning at 10:30, you take a 10-
minute break to play on your phone, scroll through
Facebook or chat with your friend down the hall. Once your
scheduled distraction break is over, it’s time to get back to
work. As long as you’re consistent with your break-taking
routine, getting back to work will actually turn into habit.

Forget About Multitasking

Just about every job post today lists “multitasking” as a

desirable trait. What employers really want, though, is
someone who can get all of their work done, and on time.
As modern psychology reveals, you’re more efficient when
focused on a single task, as opposed to splitting your focus
between several.

In fact, psychologist Daniel Goleman deems multitasking

nonsensical, as it really only means giving partial attention
to two tasks when you’d get more out of focusing fully on
one and then the other. So rather than trying to multitask
— or, more accurately, split your focus at the expense of
each task you’re trying to complete — prioritize instead.
Make a list of the tasks you need to get done, and figure out
which one deserves your attention first and foremost.

Once you’ve declared a winner, let go of those other tasks

and channel your concentration into the one you’ve
prioritized as number one. Yes, you’ve got multiple
deadlines. But if you’ve prioritized well, you’ll get all of
your projects done, and sooner, if you focus your attention
on one piece at a time. Moving away from your
multitasking habit can be difficult. Luckily, our Productivity
Ninjas can teach you how to do so in one of our Time
Management Workshops.

Connect With Others

People often feel uncomfortable if you seem too focused

on them during a conversation — maintaining unwavering
eye contact, for instance. Somehow a well-intentioned gaze
can quickly turn into just plain staring. But that doesn’t
mean you shouldn’t use some attention management skills
to better connect with the people around you, whether
they’re colleagues, clients, friends or acquaintances.

Studies have shown that giving the right kind of attention

during an interaction increases the listener’s engagement,
which in turn adds a deeper level of comfort to the
conversation, builds a feeling of trust and allows you to be
more persuasive to the listener. To build this great rapport
with those you want to connect with, channel your focus
into these behaviors during conversation:
 Maintain eye contact, but not in the creepy, unblinking
kind of way. Really listen to what the other person is
saying. Notice the other person’s body language — note
whether they seem uncomfortable, intrigued or
disinterested, and then respond accordingly Subtly mirror
the other person’s movements. Just like any new skill, these
actions may feel unnatural at first, but keep at it and you’ll
be boosting your professional and personal relationships in
no time.

Practice

Practicing any mindset actually causes the neural

pathways in your brain to reroute over time. With enough
practice, you can literally rewire your brain, which, in
layman’s terms means you can permanently change bad
habits. Overcoming distractions, flipping your “focus
switch” on and off at will, communicating with more
deliberate attention — these skills don’t develop overnight.

They take some nurturing. So? Practice, practice, practice!

When you find yourself struggling to concentrate on a task,
give your head a little shake, then say to yourself, “Okay,
it’s time to focus.” It may sound silly, but declaring a goal to
yourself — whether silently or aloud — actually helps to
reinforce those good-habit neural pathways you’re trying to
build. Likewise, when you find your mind wandering
during a conversation, take a deliberate blink and reset
your attention on the person speaking.
Rest Your Brain

With any kind of prolonged mental focus, you’re going to

feel worn-out. Reading for two hours straight can
sometimes feel as exhausting as running a mile. Use that
mental energy wisely, and recognize when it’s time to take
a break. When you’ve been working on a particular task or
project for one, two, four hours, and you start to feel like
your forward progress has plateaued, it’s time for a little
break. Grab a drink, pace around the office — do something
that physically gets you away from the task and allows your
mind to rest.

There are quite a few legitimate reasons to take mini-

breaks. As far as productivity goes, it’s very simple — when
the mind is in a relaxed state, it can make connections that
you may have missed by trying to force continued
concentration. The same thing happens on a larger scale,
too. When it’s time to go home for the night and wind
down, take full advantage. You’ve been exerting your mind
all day, and it needs some time to recuperate. After a good
night’s rest, it will be ready for another full day of focus.

Use That Awesome Brain of Yours

No matter how much you struggle to focus on a given day,

your awesome brain has the potential to learn new,
healthy, productive habits. It just needs a little boost from
you. Try out a new habit tomorrow, and keep practicing!
Chapter 8 –How To Develop a Laser-
Sharp Mental Focus

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can

immediately command when we focus all of our resources
on mastering a single area of our lives.” ―Anthony Robbins

I can remember when I was about the age of 14 out of

frustration I wrote on a piece of paper: “Concentrate on the
essentials!” It was about some trouble with friends in
school. This sentence somehow gave me direction to know
what is important and worthy to think about and what is
not.

To use the mind fully is an essential in personal

development. If we improve our skill to focus on anything
we want to accomplish we can dramatically improve our
productivity and the results. To actively direct our mental
focus on only one thing at a time means to not focus it on
all the other distractions that are constantly around us. It
means to have the ability and also the discipline to say yes
only to the most important thing at this moment and to say
no to all the rest. Now, how can we develop a clear and
powerful mental focus?

First: How to Focus on the Right Thing

One of the key aspects of using the mind efficiently is

knowing what we want and then concentrating our full
attention on it. By learning how to focus your mind on one
single task, it is amazing how effective you can be.
 In business there are the principles of leadership and
management working together. In my experience I see
leadership answering the question “What do we do (and
why)?” and management answering “How do we do it
(most effectively)?” Or as Stephen Covey calls i: 1. Begin
with the end in mind and 2. First things first.

I mean you can develop the skill of focus to a great depth,

but if you are focusing on wrong things you will do wrong
things very good – but nothing more. For instance, you can
play a computer game to a ridiculous high level of skill or
get obsessed with a certain person or other fan-based
material. But you may achieve absolutely nothing regarding
your overall life-goals by doing that.

On the contrary: you most certainly move your mental

focus away from what is really important to you. I call this
skill the ability of self-leadership, the ability to decide the
right things to focus an. It can be done very well by
developing a personal vision and creating personal goals
from there. This is a key if you want to be successful.

In the spiritual terminology Deepak Chopra said it nicely

in Creating affluence, Intention (goals) transforms while
attention (focus) creates. Of course, the skill of mental focus
is applied also in everyday life and enhances our abilities to
deal with the world, so it is beneficial whether we want to
use it to create what we desire or just to be effective in
what we do. Alright, being clear about what it is we need or
want to focus on, how can we do it at the best level?
The Importance to Direct Our Mental
Focus

If we fail to direct our mental focus from the inside, our

focus will get caught by the outside. Then we will not act
but we will really react to the demands of the outside
world. Of course, this is necessary and the outside world is
a kind of a feedback system, but if it gets out of balance and
we are reacting more to the outside then from the inside
continuously, stress is the sure thing that will follow.

If we master our mental focus we become able to act into

the world and by that tend to create the environment we
want around us. If we fail to do this, the influence of the
environment (including other people) will get bigger on us,
which means: we are not in control of our life. By taking
control over our mental focus we also become able to focus
on the good side of life and not so much on the bad sides of
life.

You may say this is deluding yourself or it is not being

objectively, and to a certain degree that is true: it should
not end in ignorance. But is watching the murders and
catastrophes in the news an objective use of your mental
focus? Or is it also possible to put our focus on something
that is more empowering and where we actually can do
something about? It is very important to actively direct our
mental focus and develop this skill to a high degree. It is in
direct relationship to our level of success and also joy and
fulfillment.
The Process: How To Focus

If we apply our attention on something or a task we

concentrate all of our mental power on this task and
therefore are able to be most effective. It is the process of
creation, of conscious creation. If I take my task or goal at
hand and direct my focus and actions on this single task, I
focus with intensity on getting it done, getting my desired
outcome. The key here is to simplify to that degree that we
can focus single-mindedly on that one task. If we do so, all
of our power will be used.

The Easy Guide to Stay Focused looks

like this:

1. Select your one task

2. Put all your attention to that one task

3. Stay with this task if possible uninterrupted, until it is

finished (!)

Flow: Being in the Zone

If we do this with great intensity and for a certain period

of time we come into a state of flow. In sports many call it
The Zone, when you are so focused that you become one
with what you do in the moment. Time vanishes. It is like
we totally forget anything around us. In that state we are
most effective and that surprisingly without too much
effort. For me it is without doubt the greatest and final kind
of mental focus we can achieve.

How Can We Come Into The Flow?

1. Focus with intensity on your task, dive totally into it and

become one with it

2. Do it for a reasonable period of time, at least 1 hour,

better more

3. Avoid any distractions by creating the necessary

environment

For me this often means in the evening or weekends when

I have time to be totally alone with myself. It is a great
source of very deep creativity – it is almost like creating
natural perfection – you can’t do wrong – it flows. There is
a beautiful book about the state of flow by Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi called “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience” if you are interested in it.

What Is Blocking Our Mental Focus?

1. No motivation or fuzzy motivation

This goes back to the introduction of this article since a lack

of motivation to use your mental focus is nothing else as a
lack of clear goals. If it is fuzzy what you want to create
your focus is also scattered.

Too Much Distraction From The

Environment

Phone calls, colleagues or other people with demands,

unfriendly environments, those things can make it pretty
hard to focus on what we want to do. Try to set up the right
environment by: disabling phone-calls or instant massages,
keep other persons for interrupting you, stop interrupting
you yourself :)

Mental Blocks

If we are unsatisfied with what we do in any way, maybe

because someone else said we should do it or maybe it is
just not the right thing we are working on, we are really
resisting it and this keeps us from being effective. It is
important to commit to what we do fully in order to get a
good result.

Focus On A Larger Scale

Until now we talked about mental focus on a level of daily

routine. Focus can and has also be applied on a larger scale
if we talk about our personal resources or even resources in
groups. Steve Jobs from Apple on how to focus your energy:

“Apple is a $30 billion company, yet we’ve got less than 30

major products. I don’t know if that’s ever been done
before. Certainly, the great consumer electronics companies
of the past had thousands of products. We tend to focus
much more. People think focus means saying yes to the
thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at
all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that
there are. You have to pick carefully.”

That means if you have so much opportunities in life and

so many things that demand our attention, the one skill to
select what we focus on and what not is critical. It also
comes full circle to the first intro of the post.

Pitfalls with Mental Focus

When we learn how to focus our mind and use it

effectively in everyday life it is important to also keep a
broader perspective. This can be achieved by weekly or
monthly reviews of what we do and where we are going.
Sometimes it is necessary to redirect and be flexible by
adjusting. It is called keeping balance.
 Recommended Home Courses

Download Free Kindle With Every Paperback Purchase

To Access Links Directly

Deep Zen Meditation

Isochronic Tones & Binaural Beats For Meditation

Meditation Mastery

Are You A Non-Fiction Book Junkie?

Access Over 150 Non-Fiction Niches

For Free at Our VIP LibraryBox Today

Yes, I Want To Receive Free Books

In My Favorite Niches