„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 on how to focus our resources
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!“ (in german: „Konzentriere dich auf das Wesentliche!“) 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 it : 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?
So 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. So 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. :)
Btw. there is a nice 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.
2. 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. So try to set up the right environment by: disabling phone-calls or instant massages, keep other persons for interrupting you, stop interrupting you yourself :)
3. 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 .
Hello Myrko,
I’m having trouble with this one. My problem is that I can’t focus. „How to focus? Just do it!“ to me sounds like „How to be successful? Just do it!“ in terms of helpfulness. I lack discipline completely. I am motivated, I know where I want to go and what I need to do in order to achieve it, I have a task to do but I find it almost impossible to work on it. I feel like I just can’t muster the mental strength. I feel like I don’t „want“ to do it, although I really do (and this has nothing to do with false motivation, more with a brain misconfiguration, probably related to ADHD). Do you have any suggestions how to learn to be disciplined if the „easiest“ task of „just focus on one thing“ appears to be completely impossible?
Adderall. Or is it possible you’ve obsessed over „where you want to go“ so deeply that you’ve allowed that goal to become a seemingly inseparable aspect of your identity? I’ve learned two „truths“ relative to your question, and I think they apply perfectly here. 1) Some people require the extra boost of medication to focus due to either a lack of discipline or a lack of abundant dopamine (motivation). 2) Sometimes we can become so obsessed with an idea of who we „are“ and what we „need“ to do that we can lose sight of our true „path“. Your intuition is able to guide you in finding your „path“ by motivating and demotivating you. This is often confused with a mental disorder or learning disability, when in reality… well, you get it.
I am 17 and am inspired to be a writer,,of influential books that will help people find solutions to personal problems and love relationship….but I just don’t know how to gather information and articles that make sense
I’m learning about this kind of focus because its required in specific for fighting games where you have to be very aware of all aspects of what is going on as well as in writing where you have to be very aware of what the other characters are thinking as well as what is important in the surrounding area.
Good focus is needed to excel in those areas especially in fighting games where everything is in real time and there’s no real way to slow down what’s going on you just have to focus hard enough to notice at that speed.
Then you can comprehend what’s going on get the victory and move on.
Unfortunately I have realized its not just my imagination but you NEED to do the activity for a long time to get into the REALLY good focus but I now realize its not just me and answers my question.
Dear Mykro,
I am currently 15 years old and I have a burning desire and will to become a motivational speaker, self help coach, life coach, entrepreneurship in fiance. But I do not know how to do it. I want to build a website, write books, gain experiences from working with other clients and form my own startup. But I do not know where or how to start. Can you please help me with it? Can you help me get started with my dream. I kept asking myself the same question. I know what I want but do not know how to get it right now. Please give me some advice for me feeling so uncertain and asking the same question over and over again.
I would love to help you. I am 27 years old and on a similar path. I know you posted this years ago, but if you somehow get this message, feel free to email me at ambersignore@gmail.com.
Hi Myrko,
Thanks for the Great Article. could you please suggest 1 good book on Developing focus as a essential part of life.
Mental focus has always been a stumbling-block for me. I would let unimportant things distract me from concentrating on what was most important at that time. But with Myrko’s advice and guidance I believe I will over-come my mental confusion. Thanks, Nelson Coy
You’re most welcome Nelson. Remember that focus is also a habit that needs to be practiced to get better and easier.
also „ability of self-leadership“ might be an excellent new post for you, maybe the keys. I’d like to read that.
Cheers,
Zack
Myrko-
Great post man. Wish I would of come across it years ago. Just read this week in some Taoist philosophy that there was a difference in thinking and thought: that thinking was related to ones station in life and thought was everything else; when not thinking focus on the breath. Goes with what your saying; focus, plus it avoids some traps eh?
Interested in reading this because I was sitting down at the computer to try and find the motivation to put together some Item Codes for Quickbooks. I don’t know if you are familiar but it is the organized code for all the services that need invoicing. I do tile as you might remember and there are multiple services associated with installation that vary from job to job. Also there are differing pay scales associated with different contracts and job types. It is standardized but it is hierarchical and branched fairly wide. Not the mental organization skills you develop dealing with Euclid and Pythagoreas. I know the information best and need to and can do it but I am running up against a wall as to how. I have a budding picture but I just can’t bring myself to run with it. Seems like a lack of vision hindering focus. I thought about just doing it but am worried that it won’t make sense, or be cumbersome, to others using the system. Any suggestions or thoughts?
Zack
I have the same problem of Harkoko.. I simply forget simple and complex things in a minute. I can’t maintain my attention easily so I suppose I have short term memory. I have lots of mistakes doing things that dont require any mental effort and that make me feel annoyed and disapointed..
Hope you can help me, I am commit to fight and take advantage of my own potential..
I need to focus at work, What do I need? Focus?? Cant Focus, I tend to forget things in Seconds. Unable to pick up words from what my Boss Says/ Demands… :( Feeling very annoyed, Its my new Job.. dont want to loose, because of Silly Mistakes….Please help me Focus..
Harkoko, thats sounds like you are a little nervous. Try to calm down and center yourself in knowing that you have everything you need inside. Focus at the moment in front of you.
Also try to see the big picture and understand how what your boss says fits in there.
It’s easy to implement our mental focus on right thing right now but consistency on that thing is the major issue
Regards
Murtaza Lokhandwala
Thanks for the good article Myrko…I remembered my old school days when I achieved good results at age 15…my mom told me to concentrate on one thing at a time…when I used to tell her that I have so many subjects to study ….she came back and used to tell when u study Mathis don,t think of chemistry or physics also when reading history don’t bother about a math problem that you could not solve and the next day i practiced it. I used to get very good results in my studies…it is simple thing that needs focus every minute……
@mitiku wolde, you can signup for The System here.
I am very intersted to follow your program so that I need to be your member
Great article! I really enjoyed your explanation of „Flow: Being in the Zone“
Thanks for sharing!
This article is very helpful & lightening ! i’m grateful that i have read this. I like your view on how could we develop our focus… we can start to concentrate on the essentials. In addition, i find PRACTICE is the most attractive word in the hole article because PRACTICE will resolve all problems that we face, plus keep away from Blocking the Mental Focus.
(still i have some difficult in English, if you find any mistakes)
Splendid advice on focus Myrko.
It all boils down in our ability to focus on one thing at a time.
Hello Myrko,
I would like to ask you if you are from Serbia or Balkan generally.I have read you texts and its sound very intresting and creative.
Auc sprichts du Deutsch oder nur liest besondere Bucher der Deutsch Schriftstellers ?
Sg aus Belgrad
Goran
Hi myrko, Thanks for posting this blog, the way you explaining is fantastic, And you said the process of „Blocking our mental focus“ is good actually, even though after reading this focus is important, I started into my personal life, the things is very easily clarifying into my self, Now iam searching for a job, defenetly this will help for me and as well as many readers. Thanks once again myrko.
VENKAT.
And also when we want to do a task ,we should recognize that is it suitable for us i mean we should see our ability,do we have potential and knowledge of it this can help us not get frustration
Excellent post,I think when we have fear of the result of task and ask ouseLves what other think about our task and its result,and may be other donot accept them or refuse them ,these things give a negative energy and can distract us,so first we should empty Ourselves from ego and think this task and its result donot define our character ,and it doesnot show that i was a good or bad person or it doesnot show determination or any other characters, it is the task that i like to do it,and the result of it show me what i have done and i must recognize what to do in order to improve my task
dm, have you read the whole article or stopped at paragraph 2 and made a comment?
There is a 3 step process for developing focus and flow in the post. The answer eventually is practice.
Talks about „If we master our mental focus“ and repeats „offcourse“ a lot …
but doesn’t really say how to master our mental focus.
Great resource on developing mental focus, someone said Focus is
Following
One
Course
Until
Success
Indeed this article has opened a new page in my business. Thanks for this lesson, Am going to put it into practice right away.
Awesome Carol!
Interesting issue @John. Are these problems related or more or less unrelated, where you have to refocus anew? If you have to focus new maybe it helps to find a common overarching theme or thinking pattern / solution approach that you can use again and again. Then it would be a little easier to get into flow, I think.
I have certainly found it’s true that when you get into the „zone“ it’s incredible what you can accomplish. My problem is that I’m in a field that is intellectually demanding – I’m constantly facing difficult problems that have to be resolved and worked through. That’s when I find focus is difficult – sometimes the way to solve the problem is to think about something else and let the subconscious do its work. But that very quickly leads to distraction and losing focus. If I try to retain focus on an apparently intractable problem I’ll sometimes fall asleep, literally. Hard to focus like that! If I could find a solution about how to retain focus in an intellectually demanding activity it would be very helpful.
Hey Lisa, Thank you! The reason why I think single-tasking always prevails multi-tasking when we have something meaningful to do, is that we can use all of our attention. That also means that from my personal experience only then we reach this great depth and flow.
Excellent post, and I also agree with your view on multi tasking.
Though even while ‚multitasking‘, we always still prioritise one task over another and do not hold all of them at the exact same value. So in multi tasking, the laser-sharp mental focus is really, really important :)
You’re welcome prakash! Thanks for expressing your thoughts on it.
I would like to say thank you.i have been searching about focus for 11 years. but i could not find right way but i got it today. thanks a lots lots lots.
Great article Myrko, I think like any other thing you need to practice it to get really good at it. If you can’t practice everything that Myrko talk about try some, but be consistent and soon your focus would surely improve.
After reading this article,I am realizing the benefits of being focussed. From now onwards, only focus focus and focus. Thanks Myrko for such an enlightening article!!
thanks I will try to do this
You’re welcome Padma!
Your information is too good, I have read all the courses from day one
thanks a ton. Will try to implement . Once again Thanks o lot
Padma
really inspiring articals for personal development…..thanks.
Indeed mental focus does not only improve productivity but it as well help regenerate the otherwise waning internal strength wearied by multiple tasks which are to executed by the same mind,thus focus helps one to develop in-depth knowledge which brings inner satisfaction
The Covey quote is good advice, but for many of us, focus is difficult without medication and a controlled environment
I have just realized that it has been my mental focus that I have lost last semester. It never occurred to me that that was the exact issue. I was thinking it surrounded more so self-control, but mental focus is bingo! I express so much gratitude and I thank you so much for helping me with my personal distress.I know what directions I need to take in order to get back on my fast lane. I thank you so so much!
Mohamed, welcome :) Multitasking, ah yes… I think it is both a blessing and a desease.
Do you know those real-time strategy games (like Starcraft) where you manage a base, a fight, resources and training of new troops? I’m the guy doing it all at once, switching back and forth and keeping it all running. But, there is the other guy focusing only on the one fight in the game and totally beating me (called Micromanagement in opposition to Macromanagement).
Multitasking is a great skill, but you have to be able to leave it aside and focus on one task if it’s necessary. I think in managing ourselves it’s also important to have both, again like Yin and Yang: you have to find the right balance between both and know when to apply which.
I think in the field of management multitasking is more a desease than a blessing. Yes, it is great to have the capacity to keep control over many projects, but is it really control? Am I really making progress? Am I creating something significant? Or am I deluding myself with action instead of results?
I think 1. deciding what to focus on is important. And to have a broader perspective to see all opportunities is very helpful. But then 2. narrowing focus on the execution of the decision is all or nothing.
Great article. I enjoyed reading it, however I was wondering where does this leave ‚multi-tasking‘? isn’t this another skill in its own right which one should aspire to – which could be needed in certain jobs?
Multitaksing is akin to cooking (an example my mother always use) in that you should lit-up all four hob units so you can cook the rice whilst frying the chicken!
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that one!
regards,
Mohamed
Hi CG Walter, nice to read you here. I look at your latest post now … :)
Focus on the right thing. I like that. Don’t work against yourself—
Great work, Myrko.
blessings to you and all you hold dear,
CG
CG Walters’s last blog post: Not an Answer, But the Scenery Along the Way
Yes, I think balance is often a necessity, as well as here. If we go completely to extremes there are shortcomings to anything. Full focus is alternated with broader orientation.
I enjoyed the conclusion to this article. It is true that while we try to develop mental focus, we also must maintain some flexibility and tenacity. If we can develop a balance with these factors, we can achieve much more and with quicker success.
Exactly, focusing on several things comes similar to not focusing at all, at least if we look at the results afterwards (if there are any). :)
Like your post about focusing. One of the biggest challenges I had in my past was that I had too many tasks on my plate. I did a bit there a bit there, but didn’t really finish most tasks completely.
I have since started to have tasks list and stay with one task at a time. First finish this and then start with the next one. It is much easier to focus and you are able to produce much results.
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