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No focus meds here but I often find a quiet room where no one can find me to do hard thinking. Empty offices are ideal. Or out of the way conference rooms. I leave my iPhone behind and tell no one where I am. Just me and the minimum amount of stuff I need to do my work. It’s amazing what filtering out visits, phone calls, and emails, can do for productivity.
I have found myself wondering whether I have a medical condition that hinders my focus but, in reality, the issue might be the very device I am supposed to be working on—the laptop! I like the idea of escaping to a conference room with some papers and a pen.
I know you might think I’m some crazy hippie, but I have been diagnosed with ADHD and I started a regular meditation practice 3 years ago. It trains your brain, kind of like a muscle, to focus when you want it to focus. If you DONT think I’m crazy and want to learn more I would be happy to talk about it. Adderall is a bandaid to the problem (which comes with side effects) and meditation is a cure.
Nope this is real. It's science. Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Really. Someone reported my comment on a thread about drugs .... only lawyers
I started working with a psychologist and we are working through effectiveness and efficiency methods. I was surprised to not only keep my focus, but also shaved off time to do work by adjusting really simple things:
- Purposefully set a time to wind down every night to give you enough hours of sleep where you feel rested
- Avoid being on your phone or anything digital an hour before bed (studies show that the light emitted from devices triggers the brain to believe it must be more awake due to the amount of blue light mimicking daylight)
- Over 3 working days, tracking your energy level on a scale of 1 to 7 starting from when you wake up to when you go to bed in 90 minute intervals. Over the course of 3 days, assuming you stay consistent in the type of work you do, you can identify a trend on when you have the most energy. For those hours, avoid scheduling meetings and conference calls since those are your max energy hours with the greatest potential for focus. Use those hours for doing the work that needs your greatest concentration. The lulls should be reserved for lower energy work like calls and emails and meetings. Or more creative things like brainstorming since you put up less barriers to creativity since you’re less energized.
- Use the ability to pause emails being delivered in Outlook for 30 - 1 hour stretches if you can get away with it. (Start with shorter periods). You’ll find that those periods where you are not distracted by the email notifications will result in 30 minutes of uninterrupted and focused work.
- Crazy to say, this actually started working for me and I’ve dropped my caffeine intake for sure
James Horner playlist
Rum and coke seems to be a favorite. No soft drinks though!
Sounds like law school all over again 😄
I avoid the hard stuff and use a couple aromatherapy sticks from Maven Bath and Candle Co - It’s All in Your Head and Wake Up Call
Start your week by thinking about what you need to accomplish. Only do things that help you accomplish those tasks and keep the list short.
Block out time in your daily schedule to only focus on one task at a time and give yourself just a couple of breaks to answer other distractions.
Your ability to focus is directly related to how much you have going on - your brain only has so much room so start with priorities.
@logan bryant - any of these meditation apps actually worth it?
OTC I recommend L-theanine with your morning coffee. It’s an active ingredient in tea that promotes a calm, focused effect.