Focus: My best blog till today.

Focus:

So focus is the topic that I am going to write about today. I have stayed focus for quite a long period of time this week. I have had focus blocks through which I stayed focused. Now the reason I thought it's quite interesting to write about focus is because I myself follow it very often. Last week I had around 1400 minutes of focus. The best part about focus is that I feel so good and happy after being focused. 

Benefits of staying focused: 

There are quite a few benefits of staying focused at what you are doing. 

1. Increased Productivity: As one remains focused, its natural that they will feel more productive to get the important things done. This increased productivity will eventually make them more successful in life. One thing at a time.

2. Feeling happy: As you complete one task, you will feel that you did something hard today. This releases dopamine from your brain which will make you even happier. 

3. Increased Confidence: When you complete one task, and you are competent in something, its natural that you will feel more confidence in your life. This confidence will be reflected in not just one area, but in all areas of life. You will feel more confident in your social life as well. 

4. Better quality of work: When you are focused and you are thinking of one thing and one thing only, you will do a better quality of work as well. There was a time, where this blog was just a thought dump. But slowly and steadily it's become a great piece of work. 

5. Blur out the world and focus on important things: By the definition of focus itself, it means that you are blurring out everything and focusing on one thing at a time. This type of life gives you a deeper and more meaningful understanding of life.

Focus attracts love:

This might sound like a long shot, but I genuinely believe that focus in life can make you more attractive, not just romantically, but in friendships and professional relationships too. Here’s why: focused people develop qualities that are rare and magnetic.

When you practice focus, you build reliability. People see you as someone who follows through on commitments, and that builds trust. You also develop discipline, the ability to stick to your priorities without being pulled in a thousand directions. That discipline signals stability, which is highly attractive in any partner. And then there’s self-mastery, the quiet confidence that comes from knowing you can direct your own mind and energy toward something meaningful.

These traits, reliability, discipline, and self-mastery, are universally appealing. They make people feel safe, respected, and inspired around you. Whether you’re dating, deepening a friendship, or leading a team, this kind of focus will naturally draw others toward you.

Even if you start small, just one focused hour a day, you’re telling the world that you value your growth. And that’s something people notice.

Deeper life: 

Focus will give you a deeper life. Imagine having your day broken down into blocks of time. 1hr each. You read for one hour without context switching. You write for one hour without context switching. You exercise for one hour without context switching. Not using social media. If you want to contribute to the society you give that one hour without context switching. Notice how I am using the word without context switching. Because that's the antithesis of focus - context switching. The more you focus one one single task at a time, the more likely it's going to be finished. The more likely you will get the joy of doing something creative. The more likely you are going to benefit in your life in the long term. 

Examples: 

Aamir Khan: 

While one might doubt me on why are you using a bollywood actor as an example. I was watching a video on youtube where an actor was talking about Aamir Khan and how he would ask people to put their phones in a basket once they enter the set. They can talk about the character, they can talk about the story of the movie, they can talk about what scene they are about to do. But they cannot go and check their phones during the time that they were shooting. Naturally, it was a bit uncomfortable for folks in the initial time. However, as and when time passed by, it became that this was more and more comfortable and Aamir Khan could produce some great work. 

Cal Newport:

The author of the book deep work himself talks about having his writing blocks scheduled in the morning. The way he defines the writing blocks are, the writing blocks are writing block, there's nothing much there. It can be any writing, from the new yorker piece that he writes or the book that he is writing at the moment. He does not think of writing as different pieces of information. In fact the way the talks about writing is that, it's a lot of thinking. Not just writing. 

Bill Gates think week: 

When Bill Gates was the CEO of Microsoft, he would have think weeks. These were solo retreats that he would have to spend time with himself and the direction his company was moving towards. During this time, he would think and strategize on what to do next. This made him one of the biggest CEOs of the 20th Century.

How to have a focused life: 

1. Stretch out time: Imagine that you need to. When working on a project, don't think that you need to complete the project today. If a project is going to be completed within 3 days, stretch that time out to 5 days or more. 

2. Be comfortable with silence: There was a period in my life, where I wanted to speak about everything. Now I am comfortable with silence and just being. Not every word needs to be spoken. So don't break the silence. 

3. Use timers: Decide on a time at which you will get up and do other things. Typically, what I do is that I stick my legs to the ground and decide that I will not move from this position for 1hr and keep a very clear time at which I am going to get up and do other things.

4. Write your distractions: One way to feel less distracted is that you write all the distractions that can block you from doing the necessary task. Once written, write down the solutions to the distraction. But make sure that you don't do a particular thing more than one hour. Cal might suggest more than an hour but I would recommend not more than an hour at a time. 

5. Going on dates without distractions: When I talk about a focused life, I am not just talking about work. I'm talking about everything that life curtails. If you have a girlfriend or you are going out socially, focus on them completely. Be that one hour, 2 hours whatever but keep your phone off. 

6. No distractions while watching a movie: When you are watching a movie, you don't need any sort of distractions. Just watch the movie, laugh, cry but don't use the phone. Don't talk to other people. Just watch the movie. 

7. Go on retreats often: An interesting observation about my team mate Anzo. He usually talks about going on retreats. This weekend I am going on a retreat. What he means is that he would want to be alone. Not worrying about anything else, but just being. This helps you recognize and strategize what you want to focus on during the next few months.

Why is the idea so powerful: 

Most of the people in the world are distracted. Let's call them 90% of the people. Now when you are focused amongst the top 10% people in the world, it's natural, that the 90% of the people are not doing the hard things. It's the top 10% of the people who are doing the hard things. Whether that's going to the gym. Having focused hour blocks. Watching a movie with focus. Going on dates with focus. No one is doing this. This will give your life plenty of opportunities. You will be ahead of most of the people in the world just through this one idea. 

Too mechanical?

It often happens that one can complain about getting too mechanical with life. I have had a focused life in the past 2 weeks or so and there are times where my focus lapses. When the focus lapses, I feel less confident in other places as well. I don't know what it is really about a man, but staying away from screens is the best things that you can do. Moreover, remember this is not a set formula. It's not like everyday you would be focused towards a particular goal or outcome. In fact it's equally important to be outcome independent. So stick your legs to the ground and focus well. 

The truth is you can have emotions. But you need to have them when it's time for it. Imagine you want to date, and there are some girls in your life that you want to date. Have a focused set time for that too. Whether it's 3hrs or 4 hrs, remove the distraction of the phone. Just focus on the other person. Plan the date, and move forward in the direction of that date. 

Adhoc activities: 

The same method that you used for work and studies, use that for a vacation. Plan things like watching the sunset with your girlfriend. While chatting is still that one thing, I am not sure if it will work with this methodology. But decide a 30 minute block and chat with the friend or the girl you wish to. Try it out. If it works, great. If it does not, that's an experiment too. Have a timer for self care too. 

Focused Mindfulness: 

This methodology that I am talking about is called Focused Mindfulness. You do one thing at a time. If you are talking to a waiter, do that one thing. If you are listening to the music, simply listen to the music. If you are writing a note, simply write the note. If you are walking down the road, simply walk the road to accomplish something. While I find it difficult to walk without having a problem but try that. While talking to your manager, just talk to the manager, no phones, no tv screens, no prompts, literally nothing. 

It's hard: 

The thing about focus is that it's hard. That's the reason its so attractive. Not everyone in the world would be able to do one thing at a time for a long period of time. There are just so many distractions one can get into in the world. So to be the top 1% it's quite important to focus.

Challenge: 

Take one task, anything. Be it planning a vacation, cleaning, writing code, or reading a book. Now set a timer for one hour to make sure you are focused on that task. Until the alarms off, you can't take a break. No matter what happens, you stick there, because it's hard. Slowly and steadily you will start associating yourself to an identity of a focused person and that's why you will stick to it. 

How do I slow down?

This is quite an interesting thing. Slowing down is a practice. Forget the timelines and focus on the 1hr blocks. That way you will know exactly what you should be doing at what time and your mind would not wander to different places. I fall back to the idea that how you do one thing is how you do everything. You want to slow down in life, slow down in driving. Slow down in cleaning. Slow down in self-care. Slow down in moving or walking. Slow down playing cricket. Slow everything down. Slow down the mental chatter as well. Slow down talking.