Recently read an article on entrepreneur.com that describes focus as having physical, mental and emotional aspects, and as most of us have experienced at one time or another when working towards a goal; focus can be easily lost. But with a few action steps in place, you can take today to improve your powers of concentration and your ability to stay on task. PanAtlantic look at the article and discuss the ways in which focus can be harnessed and understood better.
Coaching and working with hundreds of entrepreneurs chasing their dreams, every single day, managing director Justin Cobb of Pan Atlantic has heard this fair share of the words “I just can’t seem to stay focused.” As the article so clearly puts it, when it comes to working toward a goal, there’s always some form of distraction: family issues; health issues; kids — the list goes on. We look at focus as a problem that we need to fix. We try to fight it with diaries, schedules, calendars, reminders, and highlighters. But the reality of it is, that unless we understand the emotional and mental issues that are causing us to struggle with focusing on a goal or task, then we will never fully take control and take back our focus.
The article on entreprenur.com puts focus into three main categories; Physical, Mental and Emotional. All of which are being spared some form of nourishment and attention.
Physically
Your brain consumes 20 percent of your energy, not a large percentage, but a great demand, if you’re short on energy, your greedy brain is going to be the first organ to notice. So here’s what might be causing you to loose focus physically:
Digestion of nutrients and minerals
Hydrate more frequently
Eat more water-containing foods — like apples
Mental
It is advised that once you have addressed your energy issues, the mental aspect of focus comes next because focus is a muscle that strengthens with use and should often be flexed. In order to increase mental focus, you need to determine and eliminate controllable distractions. Justin Cobb of Pan Atlantic firmly believes that the more you are in control, the greater focus you’ll have. Here are a few distractions to cut out or limit immediately:
Social media
Aimlessly surfing the web
Texting
Compulsive email checking
TV
Negative or unproductive relationships
It is surprising how much time these distractions consume without your being aware. Once you can understand how these distractions are stalling your focus, then you can make positive changes and begin to focus better, you should encourage focus building activities like; meditation, reading, regular exercise.
Emotionally
Justin Cobb of Pan Atlantic knows too well that emotions and business are usually kept very separate, never mixing the two when working on your goals as they can be hard to control. It is surprising how many people become unfocused due to emotional issues far and beyond their business, something they thought they were managing and had no idea it was affecting their focus at work. We can try to improve our physical focus and declutter our mental focus, but if there is an underlying issue in our lives, this could be rotting at the core of the problem, and you will become emotionally blocked from focusing. Once you have established the problem, you immediately need to take action toward a resolution.