Focusing takes discipline. This requires you to ignore what external distractions and factors and keep your attention on the “thing” you are set to do. To focus, you must avoid temptations and avoid reinforcing behaviors that cause you to lose focus.
How do I Increase My Focus?
This is a question that many should be asking themselves but are unable to, because they do not have time to even think. People are so distracted nowadays by social media, the internet, and behaviors that have become a part of their normal routine, that they no longer are really aware at what the problem is.
In order to increase your focus, you must first be aware that you lack focus.
Lacking focus includes not completing tasks. Choosing to do something other than what you need to do. Stopping or quitting what you are doing because you make an excuse. Or not even starting because you have othr options that seem like they are “easier” and more “fun”.
Increasing focus only happens when you allow your brain to be rewarded by the focus.
What I mean by this is, your brain rewards you no matter what you choose. This is how we build routines. I am not a medical professional so you should do your own research but if you consider dopamine and understand how it rewards you or makes you feel good when you do something or achieve something – this is what you need to obtain while you focus.
Increasing your dopamine as a reward for your attention is the key. This can only be obtained by actually doing the work.
Do not reward yourself with an increase in dopamine by doomscrolling or avoiding what needs to be down. Power through.
The brain is a storage unit. It is programmed based on what you feel, what you think, what you hear, and what you do. If your brain has become used to you procrastinating because of whatever feeling you have when it is time to work, you are already programmed to do something that you shouldn’t do (that is where the lack of focus is).
The only real solution to increase your focus is to power through. You have to force the new behavior. And after a few times, the brain will begin to disassociate the negative behavior with the focused action because that is what you are choosing.
What you must know about this way of increasing your focus is that it requires repeated action. Practice if you will.
If you only do it once or twice, then revert back to your old ways and say “it’s just this time…” the brain will fight the change. Because you are feeding it the wrong action and reminding your brain of how and what it should do when you are confronted with a certain task or feelings.
You may not realize it because few consider it or even think about it. But some of the behaviors you now have – which include the lack of focus – is not because you were “born this way” but because the behavior that you currently have (the default) has been strengthened over such a long period of time that it is difficult to change.
The Best Way To Increase Focus
There is no easy way to change. In anything. It is uncomfortable and often difficult. It’s easier to go back to what is normal – which is what you are trying to get away from. You wouldn’t be reading this article if otherwise.
In order to increase your focus, you must force and replace the existing behavior with what you should be doing, or at least something different.
Understand that when you start to do something different, the mind and body will try to resist you. If you let your brain control you, rather than you controlling your brain, you will be fighting an uphill battle.
It takes active thought and realization that your mind and body are trying to trick you into doing what you have always done. Whether it is the voice in your head that says this isn’t fun or go do that other thing instead, or if you all of the sudden come up with a bunch of other things you need or could be doing, or you start getting tired…or anything else…you must resist.
It won’t always be this way. If you can resist enough, and again, it won’t be long, then the brain will retrain and reprogram itself. So if you force the focus now or at least hold off on stopping…then you will begin to increase your focus.
Power through. That’s the key.
The Reward For Focusing
This is what you want. The reward. And you must know that there is a reward in order for you to really increase your focus.
The reward may not be an outcome. What I mean is you can’t expect to win or get an A or be successful just because you are focused. This stuff is part of what you can get from being focused. But this isn’t the reward that need.
The reward you need is the dopamine from doing what you are supposed to do. And you will get this each time you focus and stay focused until either you complete your task or you push yourself a little more to stay focused for a little longer.
This is how you can increase your focus. By being rewarded with more dopamine for doing what you are supposed to do.
How Is Being Focused Fun?
Like anything, you enjoy doing things you like. And you like things not only because things are fun, but because they make you feel good. This goes back to how your brain works.
So you can make increasing your focus fun when it becomes a game or when you start resisting the urge to lose focus. Because your brain will reward you with the dopamine.
It’s that sense of accomplishment you are after.
To Increase Focus To Get More Done – This is What You Have to Do
We all have our own baseline of focus. For some it’s hours. For others it’s 10 seconds.
Social media and smart phones haven’t made things easier. Attention spans have shrunk so much since short form media has been introduced.
It is a behavior that was not normal years ago. Just a few years ago, trying to make a 30 second or 3 minute video seemed impossible and daunting because “how can you fit everything into such a short video?”
If you can remember then vs now. You will see that people have adapted. And they have changed. Not only their behaviors but their beliefs.
So you now have to fix that. Just like you changed your past attention span to being really short, you have to change it back to being larger (or longer).
Your body and mind will resist. We already know this. And we said this above. What you need to do is push past this resistence. Because it will come, and it usually comes at the same amount of time, each time. And unless you resist, you will continue to go back to what you do when that resistence shows up.
Like anything. No pain, no gain. So you actually have to force yourself to just do a little more than last time – with your focus – in order to increase it.
This thinking and logic carries over to everything you do in life.
If you need more help with increasing your focus, whether that is to study, to do work, or for anything else in your life – we have self help guides and structured frameworks and models that you can use to increase the success of increasing your focus – make sure you check them out in the resources page.