Mastering Focus: Three Ancient Keys to Unlocking Deep Work

As a founder or CEO, you’re already trying to keep more plates spinning than any person should reasonably be expected to manage.

You’ve time-blocked your schedule; you’ve closed the office door and got your go-to Spotify playlist rolling. You’re locked in.

Head down, productivity up, all the way up!

——— A few moments later ———

You’re staring out the window…

At your phone…

At the wall…

Thinking about fifteen other things you need to do by the end of the day, week, month, year.

You redirect, and redirect again, but manage to eke out a maximum of twenty minutes of concentrated work before getting distracted again.

The day becomes a maze of false starts and frustration until you hit 6pm…or 7, or 8.?

You head home in a cloud of guilt, wondering what happened and if you’ll ever be able to break the cycle.

Focus: Easy to fake, tough to master, and loaded with comparative shame.

With a whole www.orld of tools, tricks and techniques to boost focus, the cart’s WAY out in-front of the horse.

A Dreamfuel we like to keep things very simple, and very, very effective. In a business world that rewards mind over matter, we often overlook the power of the body in sending signals that direct and inform our productive state.?

From anxious to awe-struck and everything in-between, it’s most commonly our bodies, lead by the central nervous system, that communicate to the rest of our system about how we should be responding to a given circumstance.

The truth about focus is that it’s a state defined by a calm, secure, safe, serene nervous system. Our breathing, belly, and body are relaxed. Only in such a relaxed, calm state can we safely block out all other sources of stimulation or - from the perspective of the nervous system - threat, put the blinkers on, and truly focus.

If you struggle to maintain focus, here are the three keys to take you from distracted to dialed in according to our ancient advisor, the central nervous system.

1. Block out distractions

Yes, we know, it’s pretty obvious. But you MUST understand that, from a primal perspective, anything in eyesight that’s a competing priority will be coded by your nervous system as a threat, by which I mean is competing for your attention. That’s automatically going to elevate your adrenaline and cortisol and edge you out of focus.

So clean up your workspace, close down open tabs, and turn on the Do Not Disturb.

2. Limit caffeine

A little java goes a long way, and more than a little will derail your deep work faster than you can say Frappuccino. Where deep focus is concerned, caffeine may as well be a tiger with a temper, prowling your periphery. Caffeine from any source will jack up your adrenaline, cortisol, heart rate and blood pressure, pulling blood and nutrients out into your arms and legs ready to run or fight. Not ideal if composed concentration’s your goal.

We're not saying it’s a no-no, but if focused concentration is what’s needed, consume in moderation.

3. Slow your breath

If there’s one thing you take away from this post, let it be this. There’s no greater influence on your mind and how you perceive your situation, than the breath. Of course, thoughts and past experiences matter, but the direction they go in tend to be driven by the unconscious signals we’re sending the mind, via the body, chiefly through the breath.

If we can slow our breath, focusing on nasal breathing anytime we’re not exerting ourselves, and relax and expand our bellies when we inhale, we’re sending messages to the nervous system and the mind that everything’s ok, that we can relax, that we can turn off the hyper-vigilance, blocking everything else out and focus on our one key task.

At Dreamfuel we teach a technique called paced breathing, for which clients take between 5-10 minutes to sit, relaxing the bodies, and breathe with a 4-second inhale, 6-second exhale tempo for the entire time. Bellies nice and relaxed, eyes softened or closed entirely, smoooooth breaths, in and out of the nose. Woo-saa

The mind responds to the cues that you give it. Overload it with stimulus and threat and it’s the doldrums of distractibility all the way. Give it the cues to let it know it’s safe, and it’ll dial in to whatever you need it to.

Get started improving your focus with our free workshop:

Exciting news! Next week we’re running our next Dreamfuel community call where we’re going to be diving deeper into stress-free focus with some awesome practical tools that our expert coaches will guide you through to guarantee top-tier focus whenever you need it.

Click here to register.