Ways to Force Your Focus
Focus doesn't have to be elusive
Ways to Force Your Focus
When you choose to wear a hat, you tell yourself to Indistractably focus on that action. However, if you allow work ideas and concerns to continue racing in your mind, you will be less efficient at work and achieve little outside of work — a double dagger. Here are three ways to force your focus:
Persona Creation
Day Block / Time Block
Goal Setting
First, this hat-wearing concept allows you to create different “personas.” The best advice I gleaned from Atomic Habits was to develop a habit and become the person you want to be. If you want to be an athlete, when you wake up daily, tell yourself you are an athlete and train like one. If you can embrace this idea, you will become that person. It has worked for me to become a triathlete. I prepare for every day and say, “What’s my goal as a triathlete today?” This can also work as a father, sibling, tutor, or anything else you’d like. Be the person who is the habit. It will force your focus.
Second, you need to set aside appropriate time to be that persona. As a tech entrepreneur, I must code, do sales, and fundraise. Further, different personas require different tasks and thoughts. So, the best way to execute these is first-by-day blocking. Items requiring a similar thought process should be lumped together in windows. For example, I am a writer in the morning and do my best deep work then. I’m a business development guy in the afternoon setting up calls, meetings, and doing some tasks.
Here is an example of one workday for me where. Some days, I flip around the first two morning blocks.
6-9 AM: Deep Work — Write & Read. (Goals: Finish Leading by Michael Moritz, Outline next blog posts, write)
9-12 AM: Workout + Fuel + Transition. (Schedule workout on Training Peaks by Purple Patch). Fuel: 100g veggie, 50g protein (Protein shake is okay if no cooking is needed, no fast food). No carbs to reduce afternoon drag.
12-5PM: Meetings, calls, bills, finances, quick tasks. (20-30 min each). (Apple, banana, carrots, for afternoon snacks)
5-6PM: Fuel. Dinner. 200g vegetables, 75g protein, carbs (dependent on cardio)
6-9PM: Events, Read/Study Language, Daily Review, Planning / Vision board tracking
I’ll discuss time blocking in the following email. In the meantime, try day blocking this week.
Check out minute 17 of this video by author Nir Eyal, who wrote Indistractable.
Last, try some goal setting. I’ve gone back and forth on goal setting, but I firmly believe that goals advance agendas. Whether it's what I want to achieve as a triathlete, which books I want to complete in a certain amount of time, or what I need to finish at work, goals often focus the mind. Set an achievable and controllable goal. It has to be both of these. If you pertinaciously concentrate on a goal, you will drive out the noise, the new ideas, and what is not essential. When you attain it, you’ll feel accomplished.
A sense of accomplishment rarely rears its head in startups and businesses. That’s because there is, quite often, no end game. So what is a victory? What is success? When can I stop and smell the roses? Make a goal, crush it, and get some dopamine and smell some damn roses. Goals force your focus.
In the following emails, I’ll discuss what you can control, how to create dopamine hits, and a deeper level of time-blocking and transitions.
Last, please give me some feedback. Let me know if anything resonates or if I can explore a topic further.