Focus Routine
Focus Routine - Intro
Focus is a basic cognitive skill, which helps you maintain concentration on an activity.
Without focus we would be lost in the stimuli that constantly surround us.
Focus is an essential skill for business success and goal achievement. In a study with potential and established entrepreneurs, it was shown that being focused and action-oriented improves effective planning and decision making, and therefore success in business. This can be even more important than personality traits.
With the following habits, you can improve your focus and be more productive.
Habits
Morning
Box Breathing
DESCRIPTION - Box breathing trains your autonomic nervous system. By focusing on your breath you are strengthening your parasympathetic nervous system and CO2 tolerance. This should help you make better decisions, keep you calmer and more focused.
ACTION - Choose a quiet place every day and practice box breathing. Exhale, inhale, hold, exhale, and repeat.
6X / WEEK
Best Time of Day: Morning
Afternoon
Take Fish Oil
DESCRIPTION - Some Omega fatty acids present in the fish oil help to improve communication between the neurons in your brain. This makes them work faster and more effectively. This enhanced mental performance can improve your focus so that you can spend less time on distractions and move towards accomplishing your goals and objectives. FAO recommends a daily dose of 250mg, as supplements and/or foods like walnuts, soybeans, almonds, brazil nuts and salmon, shrimp, yellowfin tuna, herring, and sea bass regularly.
ACTION - Eat these fatty acids daily, as a supplement or in foods such as walnuts and salmon.
3X / WEEK
Best Time of Day: Afternoon
Evening
Meditation
DESCRIPTION - Do you have trouble concentrating on a task or activity? Practicing meditation helps you avoid distractions and focus on the task at hand. Meditation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, making you feel calmer and more focused. To practice meditation, take a few minutes each day to be silent. Focus on one thing only, like your breath. Relax your body, breathe, and avoid anything different from the thing you are focusing on.
ACTION - Take some minutes each day to practice meditation and focus on one thing only.
6X / WEEK
Best Time of Day: Evening
Reading
DESCRIPTION - Not only do you learn new things when you read, but also reading is a great way to train your focus because you have to keep your attention on what you are reading. Set a goal to read just a few pages a day consistently and watch your focus improve. Try to increase reading speed and avoid distractions and you will strengthen your focus.
ACTION - Set a goal to read a few pages every day consistently.
5X / WEEK
Best Time of Day: Evening
Any Time of Day
Focus Training
DESCRIPTION - Focus is a skill that can be improved by training. To do that, try sitting in a chair and put a blank piece of paper in front of you. Visualize the numbers from 1 on that paper. Challenge yourself to count to the highest number possible, while visualizing each number on the piece of paper. Try to do it without getting distracted. Train your focus daily and set a new challenge each time. Over time your focus ability should improve. You can also play some games that improve focus, like double n-back and chess.
ACTION - Count the numbers from 1 on a piece of paper in front of you without getting distracted.
4X / WEEK
Best Time of Day: Any
Focus Timer
DESCRIPTION - The Pomodoro technique is based on the fact that people work better in short sprints rather than longer time frames. When using this technique you need to work for 25 minutes without interruptions and then take 5-10 minute breaks. Many believe that they accomplish more by working like this. Try the Pomodoro technique to see if it's effective for you.
ACTION - Try to work for 25 minutes without interruptions and then take 5-10 minute break and then repeat.
5X / WEEK
Best Time of Day: Any
Why Core Habits are Important for Focus
Plus Core habits
Sources
ExpandCollapse- Reduced Symptoms of Inattention after Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation in Boys with and without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. https://www.nature.com/articles/npp201573
- Meditation and attention: A controlled study on long-term meditators in behavioral performance and event-related potentials of attentional control. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26659014
Focus on concentration. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/focus-on-concentration - The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5455070/
- Train Your Brain to Focus. https://hbr.org/2012/01/train-your-brain-to-focus
- Poor reading skills may involve a failure to focus attention. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19996811
Improving word reading speed: individual differences interact with a training focus on successes or failures. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3443357/ - The Surprising Power of Impulse Control. https://hbr.org/2014/02/the-surprising-power-of-impulse-control
Time-Chunking and Hyper-Refocusing in a Digitally-Enabled Workplace: Six Forms of Knowledge Workers. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5076381/
Time Management: A Realistic Approach. https://www.jacr.org/article/S1546-1440(08)00581-4/fulltext - #116 – How Meditation Soothes Your Nerves. https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/meditation-relaxes-your-nervous-system/
- Psychological Determinants of Entrepreneurial Success and Life-Satisfaction. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5486516/
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