Focus is one of the main expressions of mindful self-discipline.
It is a force multiplier in your work.
When you focus on what you're doing,
You get more work done,
You get better work done,
And less time.
You also end your day feeling more satisfied with yourself and with your work.
Focus is an essential element to get you into a state of flow,
Which is a state of fulfillment and total engagement.
Whether working from home or in the office,
Focus is essential.
When working from home,
It can be even harder,
Because our home environment is typically not created to facilitate deep focus.
The main obstacle of focus is task switching and distractions.
And of course,
Distractions are a form of task switching.
Every time you interrupt your concentration to look at the notification on your phone,
To respond to a quick message,
To talk to somebody,
Or search something random on the internet,
You're dissipating your attention and training yourself to be distracted.
We need to reverse this cycle,
This habitual cycle,
By having a time of the day where we are focusing uninterruptedly on our most meaningful or our most cognitively demanding task.
I call this technique the power hour.
So here's how it works.
You choose an hour of your day for you to practice deep focus.
Put it in your calendar so you're reminded to practice it,
And so that nobody books a meeting at that time.
Then you put your phone on airplane mode,
Close the office door,
Turn off all notifications from your computer,
And start a timer for one hour.
During that one hour,
You work on your most valuable task,
The one that is most meaningful for your role.
Alternatively,
You can tackle your most cognitively demanding task,
The one you have been procrastinating on for ages because you didn't have the headspace for it.
You then work on that task for one hour non-stop.
During this hour,
You don't multitask,
You don't take breaks,
And you don't indulge in any distractions.
Zero exceptions.
It's a time of exclusive focus,
Almost like a type of meditation.
Make a resolution to stick to those tasks until they're done,
And then stick to them until they're done.
In the meantime,
You snooze whatever distractions come.
One way to do the power hour is to commit into a specific task,
For example,
Write a thousand words,
Regardless of how long it takes.
Another way is to commit to a time period,
Such as write for an hour,
Regardless of how much actually gets done.
The second option is easier and more schedule-friendly.
It's what I personally follow.
While the timer is running,
You do nothing except the tasks that you have decided to focus on.
It doesn't matter how small is the period of time you decided to start with,
But only that you focus exclusively with no exceptions.
I recommend one hour.
That's why I call it the power hour.
During that power hour,
You are inflexible with all distractions and interruptions.
And this is the only way this is going to work.
Of course,
Please be mindful about this.
If there is a risk of something going really bad,
If you don't act,
Then make an exception.
But otherwise,
No distractions and no interruptions are allowed.
The key element to overcome the challenge of distractions is actually awareness.
When your focus and a distraction comes up,
You have the option to indulge in it or not.
Every time you indulge in it,
You are training your mind to be scattered.
Every time you refrain from it,
You are training your mind to be disciplined and focused.
The problem is that we are often unaware of these daily choices,
And we just mindlessly go from one shiny object to the next.
Let me illustrate this with an example.
Suppose you are doing important research for a project,
Be it personal or work-related.
Then one of the following things happens.
Your phone dings and flashes with a notification of an email.
Will you take a quick peek or will you remain focused?
You get a phone call from a family member.
Will you pick it up for a quick chat or will you remain focused?
You see an ad on your favorite search engine promoting the new,
Effortless way to achieve your goal for just one dollar.
Will you click or will you remain focused?
An interesting idea about an unrelated project pops up in your head.
Will you stop what you're doing and jump into that,
Or will you leave it for later and remain focused?
You suddenly remember a delicious food item you have in the fridge.
Will you walk to the kitchen for a quick snack or will you remain focused?
You always have the choice to remain focused and disciplined,
But you're not always aware of it.
And when you're not aware of it,
You can't choose it.
So know that you have the power to snooze every distraction.
You may not be able to do it every time,
At least not yet.
But having a clear intention to do so would definitely help.
A lot.
Another thing that helps is to make sure that your physical and digital environment are more focus-friendly.
You do that by removing all possible distractions.
This could mean clearing up your desk,
Turning off phone notifications,
Working out in the basement of your home when there's no wifi,
Turning off the TV while talking to your partner,
Etc.
You may have strong willpower to resist temptations,
But if possible,
It's often better to just not have them around,
So you can save the cognitive costs of registering them just to then go and ignore them.
So in this brief talk you learned about the power and importance of focus.
You learned that the main obstacle of focus is task switching,
And that every form of distraction is a type of task switching.
You then learned about the power hour,
Which is having one hour uninterruptedly dedicated to your most meaningful task or your most difficult task,
With no interruptions,
No breaks,
No exceptions.
You then learned about snoozing distractions,
Which is the ability that you have to be aware of every distraction that comes up,
And then to make a choice to let that go,
To let that pass,
And to remain focused.
Working remotely requires you to develop the skills of self-discipline and focus.
Using the power hour and snoozing distractions,
Which are key components of mindful self-discipline,
You'll be able to cultivate your powers of focus and get more work done in less time.
