How can I remain focus?

Hi there,

Companies have actively made their products as addictive as possible. So remember that you're not alone. That said, this is probably the wrong forum for this question (try Reddit). 

Me personally? I refuse to ever download TikTok or other apps that I know are the Covid-equivalent of apps (i.e. supercharged trasmissibility/addictiveness). I know that the outdoors and people make me happy so I go and do that. When I have to work, I simply work (I view tasks as goals and feel good when I complete them).

There are a lot of tactics you can use here, but the key is to start trying!

Hello!

I am not sure this is the best forum for this… we can only give tips on what works for each of us personally. 

I would actually research that in a more open forum, less dedicated to success in consulting. 

Cheers, 

Clara

Hi there,

I am not sure you are posting on the right forum. In any case, the easier way to fix your problem would be to delete the apps that create addictions. In this way, you are not at the mercy of your willpower anymore.

You may suffer initially but then you should quickly see the benefits in terms of focus.

Best,

Francesco

When you want to quit an habit, you need to build a new habit to replace it. You also need tactics to “nudge” you in the right direction.

So deleting the apps, putting your phone away from you, setting up an alarm for every 1h (so it reminds you of keeping focuses) are short term fixes. You can add staying one day away from your phone (go out and leave it at home) or getting a dumb phone :) (or just one where you have no apps at all).

You can add some type of tracking on when you were focused to give you some “feel good” dopamine every time you meet your “focus” goals (e.g. every time you were able to remain focused for 30 mins you “get a point”, and you keep track of how many points you get every day, and try to set up a competition of breaking your own record, or of making a chain of x days with y number of points).

A very popular technique for this is the pommodoro technique, as it tries to make sure you get focused for 25 mins in a row (so it's not a huge effort), and then you get a break.

Also beware of being tired. The more tired you are, the more difficult it is to avoid the “auto-pilot” mode that gets you to spend an enormous ammount of time on your phone.

But ultimately you need to find other habits to compensate. Either books, time with friends, or a different type of social media (such as Preplounge Q&A - and so much more useful than facebook).

Hope this helps - everyone struggles a bit with this, and finding a great solution is hard - but if you feel you are out of control, some professional advice may help. If not for anything else, just having someone to whom we are accountable on our habits sometimes goes a long way.