Does it constantly feel like you’re starting and stopping when it comes to your aspirations? When we’re consistently being pulled in so many directions, it can be difficult to stay focused on our long-term goals. With the right self-care plan, you can boost your focus by paying attention to what matters and ensure that you are progressing toward your long-term goals. For tips to master your time and focus on what matters most, check out this other article I wrote.
How to Boost Your Focus
You know I love a good rabbit hole. If you’re interested in learning more about focus and concentration, I recommend that you check out this comprehensive guide by James Clear. It breaks down what focus is, why you can’t focus, and offers practical strategies to improve focus and concentration.
While I enjoy a good hack now and then, I find that a holistic approach offers a more organic and sustainable solution to boost your focus long-term. In other words, at the root of your success and ability to focus is a solid foundation of self-care. To boost your focus, invest in a self-care plan that covers these four dimensions:
- emotional
- physical
- psychological
- spiritual
A Solid Self-Care Plan To Boost Your Focus
The neuroscience is clear that you must regulate your nervous system—both your body and your brain— in order to function optimally. Further, psychology tells us that we must provide adequate attention to our physical and psychological wellness. All of our cells run on adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is powered by mitochondria.
Essentially, everything we do from walking and breathing to talking and thinking is fueled by our brain mitochondria’s ability to make ATP. Fortunately, you can train your brain cells to make more ATP. Moreover, you can eliminate toxins and provide your brain with the raw materials to build ATP. Hence, you can condition your brain to produce more energy and experience a significant increase in your productivity and mental clarity to boost your focus. Learn more with NY Times Best Selling Author Dave Asprey here.
1. Get Enough Sleep
Adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. Even more important is the quality of sleep you are getting. Deep sleep supports short-term and long-term memory and overall learning through the increase of glucose metabolism in the brain. Other benefits of deep sleep include:
- energy restoration
- cell regeneration
- increasing blood supply to muscles
- promotion of growth and repair tissues and bones
- strengthening the immune system
When you don’t get enough deep sleep, the quality of your sleep suffers and can lead to conditions such as:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- heart disease
- diabetes
- stroke
Only 25 percent of your total sleep is deep sleep and decreases with age after 30 years old. To improve your sleep, stick to a set bedtime schedule each day and avoid certain behaviors before bed like exercising and drinking caffeine or alcohol.
2. You Are What You Eat
Nutrition can have a major impact on your mood, ability to focus and cognitive health. In fact, eating a balanced diet can improve your attention span, prevent cognitive decline, and keep your emotions at bay [ever experienced being hangry?]. Your brain will function at its best when you eat a nutritious and balanced diet that include fatty acids, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.
If you want to boost your focus, limit your intake of refined sugar [I know this can be hard!]. Refined sugar can be the culprit of mood swings by affecting neurotransmitters (like serotonin and dopamine levels) in the brain. Insufficient levels of neurotransmitters can lead to depression and lack of focus. At the other extreme, excessive levels can cause anxiety and restlessness.
To prevent mood swings and cognitive decline, and boost your focus throughout the day, reduce sugar consumption to keep your blood sugar balanced. Instead, drink plenty of water and consume a combination of quality carbohydrates [bring on the veggies, moderate fruit and whole grains!] and good protein sources daily to decrease spikes or dips in your blood sugar, which can impact your mood and focus. Learn more about how to eat your way to focus and concentration here.
3. Boost Your Focus By Boosting Your Energy
There is plenty of literature about how exercise changes your brain functions. As an example, exercising has been shown to decrease gray matter thickness in the superior frontal cortex [this is associated with improved mathematical ability]. Exercising also increases blood flow to the brain, which leads to increased neuroplastic function in the hippocampus and improved memory function in people of all ages. Furthermore, exercising creates brand new neural mitochondria and improves the efficiency of energy production of your existing mitochondria. Last, but not least, exercise even improves mental health.
When it comes to focus and concentration, most research has been done on young people, but there is also evidence in adults. The research shows that physical activity has a positive effect on concentration, with acute bouts of physical activity producing an immediate effect on concentration that lasts around an hour. Even more promising, higher levels of fitness demonstrate superior concentration. Thus, it’s beneficial to not only engage in regular physical activity in general, but to systematically create opportunities to be active across your day.
Short bouts of moderate physical activity are best for improving concentration immediately following exercise. This could look like going for a brisk walk in the middle of your day. Ultimately, the best type of physical activity is one that you enjoy. If you spend a lot of time sitting at a desk during the day, incorporating regular activity breaks will help boost your focus.
4. When You Look Good You Feel Good
Sometimes, simply looking good can boost your focus. There have been numerous studies on the effect of one’s appearance, both on their performance and how they’re perceived by those around them. Moreover, there is evidence that suggests that a person’s self-confidence will have a significant effect on their productivity, self-efficacy, and overall workplace happiness. While it’s not necessary to be ready for the catwalk everyday, it’s worthwhile to invest in a regimen that promotes healthy hygiene practices, dressing appropriately for the setting [perception can be reality whether we like it or not], and engages in regular self-pampering.
5. Write It All Down
One of the best ways to boost your focus, maintain momentum, and sustain steady progress toward your long-term goals is to put your thoughts down on paper [or capture it digitally on your computer, phone, or an app]. Sometimes even the most innocuous thoughts can be the seeds of great ideas. By writing your thoughts down, you can recognize patterns in your thoughts that can benefit you in any number of ways. In addition, when you write your thoughts down, they don’t drain unnecessary energy, so that you can focus on the task at hand. Here are some practical strategies for clearing your mind:
Stream of Consciousness
Try beginning your day by engaging in a stream of consciousness activity each morning. Think of this activity as giving your brain a good washing by clearing out your mind. There’s no need to even write in complete sentences. Simply engage in what you might consider a brain dump of sorts where you release any thoughts that come into your mind. You might find that you vacillate between documenting dreams or to-do items, expressing disappointments, ruminating on ideas, or engaging in affirmations. Let it be what it is and release it so that you can focus on your day.
Affirmations and Positive Self Talk
Create opportunities every day to encourage yourself. Show yourself kindness and self-love by writing encouraging words to yourself. This can be done through journaling, leaving a post-it note for yourself in the office, or writing a message on a whiteboard on the fridge. Sometimes we lose focus due to distractions such as self-defeating thoughts. By taking a time out to talk to yourself like you would a good friend, you can regain focus to complete the task at hand.
Practice Gratitude
While not specifically tied to improving focus, practicing gratitude can have a significant positive impact on your wellbeing [I wrote about it here]. Stress physically changes parts of your brain that regulate attention and focus, which can lead to memory function loss. In addition, your planning skills can suffer. Practicing gratitude can be an effective way to manage stress. As a result, gratitude increases coherence between different brain networks, which can help you be more decisive and increase your mental resilience to stress.
6. Track and Monitor What You Care About
You can’t pay attention to what you don’t see. If you have long-term goals, you’ll be most successful when you routinely carve out time to make progress toward those goals. One of the best ways to track and monitor your progress is through the use of a habit tracker. High performance demands that you measure, quantify and track your progress. As such, habit tracking is a simple tool to keep you focused on long-term goals and hold you accountable. Download my free monthly habit tracker Monthly Habit Tracker.
7. Follow Your Biology Instead of Fighting Against It
We all have different natural rhythms and preferences for how we work best and are most productive. Instead of forcing yourself into a schedule that doesn’t cater to your productivity, design your day around when you thrive at particular tasks. As an example, you might structure your day to do deep work tasks in the morning [if you’re a morning person like me], but schedule meetings and responding to emails in the afternoon. Similarly, you might find that you are at your best late at night. To boost your focus, do your challenging and thinking-intensive work during your ideal times for productivity.
In Summary
It can be tempting to rely on hacks for improving focus. However, by following a solid self-care plan, you can lay the groundwork for a solid foundation to systematically boost your focus. Regardless of the self-care plan you choose, it will serve you best if it covers your emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing. Design a plan that ensures:
- adequate deep sleep
- nutritious meals that limit refined sugar
- daily exercise
- looking your best
- putting pen to paper
- habit tracking
- working how you work best
CHECK-IN
1. Where do you struggle the most when it comes to sticking with a self-care plan?
2. Which component of your self-care plan do you find most beneficial to boost your focus?
3. What’s missing? What other strategies do you use to boost your focus?
2 thoughts on “Boost Your Focus With This Self-Care Plan”
I think I am doing well in my self care plan. I like my routine and I don’t feel I am adding more to my plate. I have been able to make it fit into my daily routine. For me what works best is exercise and doing mindful activities. They cal m me down and make me more focused and more aware of my feelings.
My self-care is always the first to go. But, I’ve gotten better at recognizing the slippery slope and don’t let myself drift too far. Mindfulness is a big part of my success in this area. I’m glad you have a found a steady self-care plan that works for you 🙂
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