How To Get "Clean Focus", Clarity and Eliminate Distraction

Warning: This are nothing more like personal notes for myself which I am sharing with public via this blog post. So, critics talking about the right grammar, punctuation & language. Please stop it! Go somewhere else if thats an issue for you but, IF THATS NOT THE CASE please read further. Organisation: the process of ordering parts into a whole, into a system that produces the results we want

Stephen Covey: “Time management is a misnomer. The challenge is to manage ourselves.”
Getting yourself to behave the way you want so you get the results you want to create. TOP PRIORITY We are living in a new world: information overwhelm. They are hacking away at our ability to create long-term, sustainable results. We must eliminate a) distraction, b) interruption and c) friction from our lives. These categories include email, phone, text, etc. If we are concentrating on something and we’re interrupted, it takes our mind something like 20 minutes to return to the same level of concentration as we had before the interruption. The Inner Butterfly Effect:The “butterfly effect” was described in the movie Jurassic Park. (In short, One thought that triggers a whole net of other thoughts and completely takes you off track; storm of butterflies all flying through your head.) It is also referred to “chaos theory.” In our context, we are referring to the domino effect that one thought has in producing many subsequent thoughts (imagine the dominos aligned in a triangle, not a line). We need to avoid the trigger of thought or stop it when it begins. We can stop the “Outer Butterflies” by simply turning off our email alerts, phones, etc. Turn off all e-mail alerts. If you get interrupted, it takes about 20 mins of time to get back to the same state you were before. The real power of the mind is to focus on one thing for an extended period of time. If you are constantly interrupted, you lose that ability and you get addicted to interruption. Phone, text messages, email – those are the big ones. “The Monkey Mind”: One thought triggers another and another; term from Buddishm; illusion that we are in control – the illusion keeps it happening. With the Inner Butterfly Effect you got to notice what the triggers are. 1. you can avoid the triggering things 2. if it happens, catch yourself, divert and stop The mind’s greatest talent is the ability to concentrate on one thing for a long periods. Try scheduling your interruptions. Have a time set aside for email and phone calls. Let your contacts know your schedule so they don’t get upset. Things are either important or urgent but not both. We are addicted to our struggle. Stop this behavior. Multi-Tasking:This is very inefficient. One study showed multi-tasking lowers your immediate IQ more then what smoking marijuana does to your brain. Schedule multi-tasking as an interruption. We have different conversations going on. 1-on-1 in real time, Instant Messenger which is a little bit slower and then text messages and e-mails which are time-apart. And all those are happening at once. Increasing Productivity: We need to develop our “focus” muscle like any other muscle. We should work in blocks of 90-120 minutes or more. Proper State:  1. Being in the “zone” is a physical energy 2. “Flow” is intellectually engaged. 3. “Enjoyment” is the underlying emotional tonality All these three are necessary to be in a productive state. We all want to have “Clean Focus”; its the ability to focus on one thing with clarity. We must have “clean cuts” to have clean focus. “Clean Cuts” means stopping one activity before starting the next. We don’t want to have open loops and unfinished business – if that happens it actually robs your energy in the present state. Any unresolved conflicts also affects your “Clean Focus”. It’s having too many  windows open on your computer or your browser tab, everything slows down. Switch the channels from Mental to Physical or to emotional tasks. Don’t go from one mental activity to another. Again, maintain “Clean Cuts.” Humans are creature of habits: 99% of thoughts, emotions, actions are the same everyday! We can create “Productive Routines” regularly. Do this consciously. Humans can only handle one new ritual/habit every 30 days. We have three parts of our brain: the physical, mental & logical (The Triune Brain). So, you can learn a new sport and a language at the same time because they use different parts of the brain. An emotional activity can be like spending time with your loved ones. Why only one? Change of routine is what causes the most stress in our lives.  Consider the most stressful experiences: death of a loved one, divorce, moving, holidays, etc. They all involve change in routine & habitual patterns. It takes 30 days for a new habit to become part of our normal routine. Habits have gravity (like gravitational pull). We need to develop “escape velocity” to overcome the gravity of our old habits. The first 10 days we experience “defiance”. The next 10 days we experience “resistance”. Then, the final 10 days we experience “acclimation”. Now the new habit has gravity. “Will Power” is the rarest and most precious form of energy. We have the most of this energy in the morning; before the day has robbed us of it. So the morning is the best time to start new habits. The Ultradian Rhythm: Different from Circadium Rhythm, Ultradian Rhythm is another natural cycle of the body. For example, when we wake, we are focused for 90-120 minutes before we become distracted/sleepy for 20 minutes. This cycle continues throughout the day. Take advantage of it. I will focus on a task for two hours (two 60 minutes). Each 60 broken into 50 minutes focus, 10 minutes break. After the 60 minutes cycle, I take 30 minutes break. Again, we want a clean cut before the break. You can also nap during the break. Make sure its a short nap. Imagine if you focused on one task for 60 minutes per day; perhaps the most important task or the task that would ultimately lead to the most financial success. Where would you be in 10 years? Lastly, Renewal:You need to actively renew yourself physically, emotionally, and logically. If you don’t, your body will fall into a state of disrepair. Take 1-2 days off every week. Take 1 week off every 90 days. The spirit in your must be renewed. Go enjoy yourself doing personal activities. And when you do them, they have to be clean focus. Physical renewal: exercise, yoga, relaxation, massage, sleep. Emotional Renewal: laugh, repair relationships, spend time with people that make you feel great, cry, enjoy your emotions Mental renewal: educate yourself, take your mind to the next level, relax it – meditation. Do not read the news or watch some stupid TV stuff. Education stuff is fine but keep TV low. Renewal of human spirit is the number 1 priority – do things that get you more in touch with your mission, your contribution to the world – make it a ritual. I think now of health and wellness as the ultimate way to leverage your time, your relationships, the quality of your life and your overall success. Nothing will give you as high Return On Investment. The healthier I get, the better the time of my whole life and capacity I have. The quality of time gets dramatically increased based on our level of health and wellness. Pursuing your peak health might be the most fulfilling thing you can do in life. You have to look past the cultural stuff and things that it says on packing of food, so on. If time allows, I will continue writing further on each section of the topics discussed here. If you would like to know or discuss anything more about anything here. Feel free to comment below.]]>

One comment

  1. Everyday I try to avoid multi-tasking. The point about Ultradian Rhythm is something I will pick from this piece.

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