Focus in the Making

Note: This is the fourth article of a new series I'm writing titled In the Making. If you enjoyed this article be sure to check out the previous three articles and stay tuned for all future articles.

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“Okay, focus. Speed. I am Speed.”

Lightning McQueen

Introduction

Picture this. You are writing an article about focus in the dead of night, fifty-nine minutes till the clock announces the new day. Struggling, you grind a five minute essay while referencing and outsourcing your pains to an innocent audience. Sound familiar?

Focusing is an extremely important skill that will not only impact your general attention span, but will also increase your work rate and interest levels.

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What is Focus?

So what is focus exactly? In the modern day, it has been oversimplified to the meaning of ‘being able to pay attention for long periods of time’, but focusing is actually a lot more than that. It’s being able to use your undivided attention to interpret and comprehend information. This can be done on many layers, from understanding the meaning of the words to understanding the deeper meaning of the entire message.

Focus is also the determination to get something done in the space and time provided to a good standard with minimal distraction. Those who can do it to a professional degree often excel further than those who don’t simply because they have the will to get things done. The ‘never giving up till it’s over’ attitude.

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How is Focus Achieved?

There are many methods to improve your focus. If you’re starting out, turn your phone off and have the good sense to not turn it on. This will allow you to focus solely on the task at hand.

Another similar thing you could do is to turn off the ringer and vibrations on your phone which means that unless you’re looking at your phone, you wouldn’t notice any new notifications that may cause your attention to wander.

You could close your door and limit noise input. Noise cancelling headphones also apply the same result. By limiting one of your senses, it allows your other senses to heighten and work to a better degree.

If you’re working in a book, only have that book open. If you’re working on a computer, only have that tab open. Flicking through tabs and reading other material is a very common habit of distraction and it is important to eliminate it early to minimise damage to focus levels.

As you get better, you will start to be able to focus on your work with the distractions in the room but at the start, you have to be sure to manually eliminate distractions to encourage a better working environment.

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Good and Bad Effects of Focus

Here are some pros and cons of focusing, because believe me, there are traits for both categories.

Pros:

• Faster production rate

Focusing allows you to work on something at a faster pace due to fewer distractions. Fewer distractions will also allow you to finish the work at an earlier time than with more distractions.

• Better quality result

Focusing on your work or project often results in a better done job, whereas with distractions you often miss small details which could be improved upon.

• Better foreign response/reliability

Recognition for dedicated work as well as a better job done on said work is very beneficial to your image and work ethic, especially if it’s coming from your boss or superior. You are also shown off as a reliable person that can get things done on time and to a good standard.

Cons:

• Less quantity of work done

Focusing one one piece of work at a time rather than multitasking means that less is done in a period of time. This can be destructive sometimes, especially if time is of the essence.

• Less fun

Unless you are one of the ‘I love my work’ kind of person, you will likely not enjoy focusing on work as much as if you sprinkled other stuff on top of it. This is not necessarily important though, especially if you are trying to improve your work or impress at a job.

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Conclusion

As you can see, focusing is a skill that is not fun, but absolutely necessary. It is the ability to knuckle down and get things done. The oxymoron of this article is, I procrastinated through 99% of it. However, the reason I was able to publish it to the state that it is is because for half an hour, I just focused and wrote until it was good to go.

As proven by many studies from smart people, focusing is an art, and is an extremely useful skill to have, so I urge you to take the tips from this article and apply them to your daily life.

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