The power of focus

The power of focus

I used to think that being focused meant being switched on to a goal 24/7.

That it required me to be consistently taking in information through podcasts, videos, books and more.

And that’s literally what I did.

Every task, every car journey, and every gym session was accompanied by some audio in the background.

I was consuming information all the time but not allowing my mind the space to process it all.

Ironically it led to me being the opposite of focused, with a cloudy mind full of information and it was taking away from my attention to tasks and conversations with people.

My attention was scattered in a million places and it meant I wasn’t showing up as my best self in anything that I did.

As I started to recognise this, I thought I had a concentration problem and started resorting to guided meditations with apps like Calm and Headspace.

Although it felt great when I was meditating and I was completely tuned in to being present, that mindset quickly evaporated once I started getting on with my day!

Things change when I started to slow down and limit my information intake.

Instead of having podcasts on all day, I limited them to 30 minutes per day.

The rest of the time, I would focus on whatever it was I committed to with 100% of my attention.

The results took me by complete surprise.

Not only was I able to get things done quicker with fewer mistakes, but I was able to unlock a new sense of creativity that I had never experienced before.

Solutions to business challenges that I was facing came a lot quicker, and new ideas kept springing up out of nowhere!

It made me realise how I was solving problems all wrong.

Thinking about it wasn’t good enough if my mind was clouded.

Almost like having access to ￡1 million, except It was only accessible through 1 million separate bank accounts.

What’s interesting is that when things changed with my focus on tasks, my level of presence also changed in conversations with friends, family and clients.

I had a newfound ability to listen and give people my attention in a way that I could never have done before.

And as a result the depth and quality of conversations that I was having increased massively.

Now that I’ve experienced what it’s like to live life with a higher level of creativity and attention, it’s hard to imagine why I ever I’d lived so much of life plugged into my earphones.

As a possibility, how could extra focus improve the quality of your life?

If this article resonates with the challenges that you are facing, then feel free to reach out, I would love to hear from you.