5 Ways to Fix Your Focus During Lockdown
If you are having difficulty finding focus right now, join the club! You are not alone.
In this article, I will share with you the top 5 motivating factors to keep you focused on the future.
Because to have focus is to have a vision.
In order to have a vision, you need to have a sight of what it is you are trying to achieve.
Is it any wonder that you’re having trouble focusing when the vision of the future is unknown?
We are in turbulent times. A time when we are being asked to stay home, to work from home, to study at home, to exercise at home, to eat at home.
We are being exposed to people’s pains, their frustrations, their losses, and their fears. It may or may not be firsthand, but it is inescapable – unless of course, you can live without internet, a phone, a radio or a TV, and are happy to hibernate for the next few months.
At some stage, you will ask yourself – what’s the point? What’s the point of keeping fit? What’s the point of eating healthily? What’s the point of putting on my make-up or fixing my hair? What’s the point of working so hard?
The point is that there is a future! And you have the capability to create the future you want. Here’s how:
Focus on the feeling
Our motivating factor is usually something material. We create vision boards with houses, holidays, cars and other things we aspire to have in order to help keep us motivated toward achieving a goal.
At the moment, it’s difficult to visualize abundance or a perfect career or perfect home when you can’t quite fathom how to create it. You may be feeling at a loss of what to visualize right now or feeling lethargic in general.
My suggestion is not to focus on the material aspects of things, but consider the feeling that that ‘thing’ would give you.
How would you feel to have the perfect job? How would you feel to have unlimited money? How would you feel to be a best-selling author? How would you feel if you were living in your dream home?
Engage in that feeling and carry it with you throughout the day. In reality, it’s the feeling we are truly seeking – be that freedom, fearlessness, fun, or anything else, so this technique will take you there even faster.
Focus on your wins
By the time you reach the end of your day, you may reflect back and think you hadn’t achieved much. In reality, this is not likely to be the case, but is a common perception, partly emphasized by the confinement of being at home.
It is possible that you may not have been as productive. You may not have been able to do as much work as you normally do due to the kids getting under your feet, or the distractions of social media, or the need to stop and cook food rather than ordering take-out.
Whatever the distractions, it is all too easy to go to bed thinking about what you didn’t get done rather than what you did. The most powerful way to motivate yourself is to reverse this. No matter how small, there is bound to be a win in there somewhere, so tease it out of you.
I challenge you to list three wins at the end of each day and see how they make you smile and drive you forward as the days go on. You may start with something small, like the win being 20 minutes of exercise, or getting a good night’s sleep, or having a constructive phone conversation. Dig deep – and once you get started, the successes will start to flow.
Focus on routine
It is all too easy to drift away from your usual patterns given your change in circumstances. You may have stopped setting the alarm clock, not bother with your morning rituals of exercise, juicing, journaling, meditating; not bother with getting dressed up, fixing your hair, putting on your make-up or shaving (or both). Any or all of these behaviors will affect your ability to focus and self-motivate.
Now, more than ever, when the world as you know it is in chaos, is the time for you to create order in your surroundings. Get up at the same time on weekdays. Go to bed at a reasonable time. Eat at the same time as you would have if you hadn’t been at home. If you are home-schooling, stick to the timetable your children have at school.
Exercise at the same time you may have normally gone to the gym. Speak to your friends or explore social media at the same time you would have before – this may be in the evening after work, or a dedicated hour in the day. It is all too easy to lose a routine and spend so much more time on unproductive behaviours, rather than productive ones that will leave us feeling good.
Create a whole family timetable if it helps and get your family members involved in both sticking to it and in holding each other accountable. Let your friends and colleagues know what you are planning so that they also respect your availability.
See Also: 8 Positive Morning Routines to Transform your Day
Focus on helping
This is a time when we may feel powerless, frustrated, restricted, trapped, controlled, worried or full or fear to name but a few possibilities. It is a time when we may be reflecting on the value that we bring to the world. We may be seeing doctors and nurses fighting to save peoples’ lives while we remain at home, and it would be completely understandable if we started questioning our own purpose.
Firstly, we all have a purpose and we all have value and gifts to offer, even if it may be challenging to engage in them with the same passion right now.
A strategy to help you shift towards this passion is to ask yourself what can you do to help? It is only human nature to feel good about ourselves if we are helping others, so how can you help? It may be helping to look after those in your household or helping your neighbors by buying groceries for them.
It may be helping your community by being part of a volunteering group. It may be helping your more isolated relatives by checking up on them or getting them set up with technology. It may simply be acknowledging who you are, the responsible role you are playing by staying home and how this is helping so many.
Whatever the specifics may be, focusing on how you can help and how you can serve will help you feel better.
Focus on gratitude
It is understandable if, at first glance, you think that there isn’t much to be grateful for right now. You may be experiencing loss in an aspect of your health, freedom, finances, relationships or professional life. Having said that, there is always something to be grateful for.
It may be the time you now have to start a new project, the time you have with your partner or family, or the time you have to exercise. It may be the space you have to think about things or it may be the richness of connection with your loved ones. These are just a few possibilities to help your creative juices start flowing.
If you have never practiced this before, there has never been a better time to start than now! The feeling of gratitude is highly energetic. It allows us to focus our attention on the good that is around us. By doing this, we energetically resonate at a higher frequency which then attracts even more of what we want to us.
You may want to start with a gratitude journal where you list everything you are grateful for each day and notice how the list increases once you focus your attention on it. You may want to get friends or family involved and set up virtual groups where you share your gratitude.
This is a great way to engage with others. It also gives you ideas for yourself. It is far more powerful than having someone give you a hug and say ‘cheer up’. It’s your very own virtual and long-lasting hug!
Focusing on:
- how you want to feel
- what your wins are
- creating a routine
- how you can help both yourself and others, and
- what you have to be grateful for are all ways in which you are able to shift your energy.
See Also: 5 Benefits of Journaling To Inspire and Motivate You
The feelings of worry and frustration are also a kind of energy that sits inside us and yet doesn’t serve us in a positive way. Engaging in some or all of these five tips will help you to elevate your energy level, increase productivity, feel better, help others feel better and empower yourself. That, in turn, will help you be healthier by boosting your immune system. That has to be a win-win!
