Today, while surfing casually through several websites across the Internet, a thought suddenly popped up in my mind. I realized that i was not being as productive since past few days, as i had been before. Trying to analyze the reason behind this, i found out the main reason for this loss of productivity.
The answer is focus.
Focus means concentrating our attention on something. Well, that's what the dictionary says. I think, it means to give in our whole body, mind and soul to doing a specific task. It doesn't mean just concentrating. Focus implies concentrating 100% on a single task that we are doing currently, at the present moment.
When i am completely immersed in doing something, i am able to do things in less time and with more accuracy. I am sure this applies to every one of us here.
If i go back and try to recollect the few times when i was highly productive, the reason behind them seems very obvious and also simple- i did my task with full concentration without thinking of anything else.
Whether it was succeeding in an interview or winning a game, the one thing that was most essential was giving it everything i had, without worrying about the results and without getting distracted by the surroundings.
Even though we know this, still, it's so easy to lose our focus and get distracted by other less important things. The reason this happens is, by nature, human beings prefer to do things that are easy to do or will give them some kind of instant pleasure.
So, while doing our work it's very natural that we think of checking some social networking site or read some article or do anything else for few minutes. But, instead of returning back to our work in few minutes, we end up spending too much time on these distractions.
This happens because we always prefer to take the easier choice. Focus requires some effort on our side. But, once we get completely immersed in what we are doing, it becomes a bit easier.
But, how do we focus our mind to concentrate only on one task for extended amounts of time, say 30 minutes - few hours continuously?
There is one solution that works for me. By removing every possible distracting thing from our sight. When the only thing visible to us is our current task, then it becomes much easy to concentrate on it.
For example, while writing this post on my PC, i have turned off sounds, switched my mobile to silent mode, disabled other apps that show notifications. So, the only thing i can see right now is the window on which i am typing.
When we turn off every possible distraction, it takes less effort to concentrate. I can work for hours like this without any outside interference. This automatically increases my productivity.
This is true for every kind of work. Sometimes, we can't control everything and there are bound to be distractions. It becomes little difficult to concentrate in such circumstances.
Still, we should always try to keep the distractions as minimum as possible. Also, with regular practice you will find that it's possible to focus even when there is chaos around you. It's worth taking extra efforts in developing such habit.
But, distractions are not limited to what we see. A major source of distraction is our own mind. New thoughts continuously come to our mind every minute of the day.
When our mind itself is away, there is no chance of concentrating on our work. Taming the mind requires much more practice and is probably the most difficult thing to do. But, this too is possible with regular practice.
With experience and practice you will be able to control your mind from distracting thoughts and will be able to recognize them as soon as they arise in your mind. Once you master this then even outside disturbances won't have any effect on you. You will be able to give your 100% anywhere, under any circumstances.
Developing such good habits requires some efforts from our side. If you have never done this before, it would probably require much more effort. But, once you develop these habits you will feel more satisfaction from yourself and the work you do.
I am so glad i realized this again today, and hence am really excited to write this post. If you think i have missed something, please let me know, Upvote and feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.
@ememovic