But you can train it.
Every athlete knows it: You can’t fake speed.
When race day comes, you can have the best gear, the best mindset, the best nutrition and sleep, but without speed, you’re never going to win.
There is only one way to gain speed: By training.
Hard. Purposeful. Consistent training.
It’s the same with focus. You can’t fake focus.
Focus is not an operative mode you can switch on and maintain on command. It requires training and a commitment to use and maintain it.
If you don’t exercise your focus in your work and personal life, your ability to focus will inevitably deteriorate. Like a runner who stops exercising, your capacity to sustain focus will slowly but surely diminish.
Everyone should care about focus. It’s not only the primary mode of earning for knowledge workers but also the instrument through which we experience our lives.
If you can’t focus, you will struggle at work and miss out on precious time with the people you love.
Focus can be trained.
Here’s a three-step proposal.
Read
Reading recruits multiple brain regions and makes them coordinate to operate at different levels of abstraction. See The Reader’s Brain for an in-depth discussion.
Reading daily, no matter the content, is an excellent way to keep your brain nimble and able to focus.
Disconnect
Constant access to information and entertainment is one of the primary forces eroding our focus.
Checking the news while waiting in line at the supermarket might seem harmless, but it reinforces our brain’s need for external stimuli. The result is that when the time comes to sit down and give your full attention to writing that report due tomorrow, your brain will keep wanting distractions, and your performance will suffer.
To compensate for modern life and work necessities eroding your focus, make sure every day has periods where you are disconnected. A walk without podcasts in the background. A tea on the couch without scrolling. Journalling with pen and paper instead of an app.
Focus Time
Reading and disconnecting are like maintenance exercises for focus. But to improve it, you need to push yourself. This means actually focusing on cognitively demanding problems for increasing intervals and, of course, without distractions.
The next time you pick up a deep-work-worthy task, set a timer and see how long you can stay focused on it. That will be your focus time baseline.
Once you have your focus time baseline, aim to increase it over time. Let’s say by 5 to 10 minutes every week. That is, every week, challenge yourself to work with intense focus on a cognitively demanding task for an interval 5 to 10 minutes longer than the previous one.
Ninety minutes seems the gold standard to aim for intense, sustained focus. Longer than that, the brain fatigue will catch up on performance. I haven’t been able to find solid research to back that claim, but I can say anecdotally that ninety minutes, two hours max, is my upper limit before needing a break.
I’ll admit my suggestions are not “scientific.” They are not backed by a randomized controlled trial to show their effectiveness. Or even a comprehensive theory on how the mind works and why those exercises foster focus. But I can vouch for the regimen’s effect on my focus, and I’d love to hear how that works for you.
Regardless of how you improve or maintain it, the fact remains: You can’t fake focus.
Given how critical this skill is for our personal and professional lives, we ought to go to great lengths to protect and nourish it.