Nothing happens without focus. Don’t try to do everything at once. Take it one step at a time. — Dave Ramsey
I’ve been spending time looking into folks with learning disabilities and came across Tom Cruise and John Chambers. I don’t think Tom needs an introduction, but John was the CEO of Cisco for 26 years. Both are open about having Dyslexia. One thing caught my attention for this weeks article is how focus helped them.
Tom trained himself to focus his attention and became very visual, creating mental images to comprehend what he read. And John used a small machine that blocked off lines of text after he read them, so his vision wouldn’t jump around and cause him to lose his position.
I’ve had a mixed experience with my ability to focus through the years. Early on in my career, it was easy to be hyper focused on learning how to build apps and building them. Later on, I ran into headwinds that made focus difficult. That difficulty led to exploring a variety of habits to help center myself on what I wanted to get done.
These are the habits that have stuck with me, and that I hope inspire you to try something different or to challenge you’re already trying.
Environment
It’s less about being obsessive about my environment, but more about making sure my environment isn’t creating a distraction. Being married to an Interior Designer for over 20 years helped me pay attention to this even more. Your environment drives your feelings and mood--from the colors on the wall to the decor you put on your shelves.
I’m the type of person that loves a good quote, so the ones that catch my attention go on my wall. I also don’t like a ton of clutter, so I make sure to organize the space in a way that feels overwhelming or distracting. Pay attention to what works for you and lifts your spirit.
You don’t have to make a ton of changes to your environment at once. Start small and work through your space one wall at a time. This is something I constantly tune as I notice things that could help. In fact, I’m in the early stages of thinking about an office remodel that involves a living green wall.
Meditation
The ability to focus isn’t a state you morph into by snapping your fingers. I recognized early on that I needed to train my focus muscles, and meditation became one of the habits I picked up along the way. Once you practice meditation enough, over time, you might find it becoming less of a daily habit and more of a once-a-month habit. Early on, I took guided meditation sessions through the Calm app and highly recommend it. Guest passes are usually for 7 days, but it’s 30 days right now! Two of my favorites are the Daily Jay with Jay Shetty and Train Your Mind with LaBron James.
There's going to be a lot of doubt if you've never engaged with meditation before. If you want to be a power lifter, you're going to be hitting the gym more than a few times. It's going to take some time to get into meditation, so make the commitment and trust the process.
Daily priorities
Breaking down the needs of the day is crucial in my world. As a knowledge worker, you can get overwhelmed with the never ending task list. Every morning I gather the top 3 priorities of the day, and pat myself on the back for even completing one of them. I’ve recognized how important it is to win the day, and a minor victory is a victory.
Every morning, I also set the stage with easy wins. These easy wins are like getting the engine started and revved up. They’re designed to be simple and give me 5 immediate wins:
Wake up when I say I wanted to the previous day
Brew a cup of coffee and take daily supplements
Workout for 30-60 minutes
Write a page in a morning journal
Read 5 pages
Those are some easy wins for me that prime the subconscious and sets the tone for the day. When it comes to productive working time, I chunk the day into 30-90 minute working blocks. When my timer goes off, it’s time to grab the dog and walk around for a bit outside. I highly recommend a visual timer that sits on your desk and has one job. I use Time Timer to add some fun color to my environment.
Prioritize sleep
Waking up and starting the day feeling like a garbage truck slammed into my brain is not the ideal way to kick start the day.
When I went through a medical challenge in 2023, I began to put a lot of focus into the quality of sleep I was getting. The focus zeroed in on how much sleep I was getting and what was the quality of the sleep. It became a critical ingredient in helping me set the stage to focus the following day.
Do you track your sleep? Have you noticed where on the dial you land? It would be cool if I woke up completely rested after 6 hours, but I know I need 7:30 of quality sleep. I’ve also looked at factors leading up to sleep that influence that quality. I’ve learned to stop drinking coffee by 10 AM, so most of the caffeine can get out of my system by bed. I also recognized that I need to avoid late dinners—give myself a 1-2 hour window of time between eating and sleeping.
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Prioritize exercise
We need to go on more walks.
Exercise is one of those things that became non-negotiable in my world over the years. Finding ways to move—that you enjoy—sets so many positive things right in the body that helps your concentration and mental sharpness. But we’re dealing with a mind that shouts, “No, you don’t need that. It’s safe and comfortable right where you’re at.” We’ve become a little too comfortable.
I frame it in a positive light that helps me stick to the habit. What can I do today to set a positive stage for tomorrow? While it has many positive benefits for me in the near term, a big motivator is that I don’t want to reach my 60s and 70s in a broken state.
There’s no need to feel like it has to be a 30 to 60 minute grind session at the gym, lifting weights and destroying personal records. Find activities that you enjoy and commit to moving every day. The things I focus on are walking, hot yoga, riding a Peloton bike, and going for a light jog. I’m winning the day if I’m getting fresh oxygen and blood pumping through this body, and I get a chance to connect with nature and the community.
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus — Bruce Lee
Saying No
Finally, I’m relentless when it comes to saying no to things I don’t want to do. This helps me focus on the things I care about in life. It can be easy to say yes to everything because we want to be helpful, but how about being helpful to ourselves? We’ve got one life, and life is short enough. If the ask doesn’t align with our dreams, why give up our energy so freely? That’s only going to end up derailing our ability to concentrate on the things we do care about.
I’ve had a good reminder on my wall for years—the Holstee Manifesto:
Identify and learn what doesn’t matter, and what you can ignore. Do what you love. It’s your short story.
