April 30, 2025 l Business Mirror
To be successful in business and personal life, the need to focus cannot be overemphasized.
Innovations bring along more distractions, particularly of the digital kind. If one lacks discipline, enough to control the use of time and avoid distractions, a lot is wasted on unnecessary activities. There’s a need to wisely use time; and one of the important ways is the need to learn to focus.
There are many strategies and tools to help one focus but the most popular today includes the following: the 90-minute method; the use of notes or whiteboard; and, software tools such as time tracking applications, tasks applications such as Todoist and audio streaming services. The latter provides the right music to align with the natural rhythm of your focus period.
The use of notes is effective for me. This is where I write down—in my mobile phone’s notes app, on a paper or notebook near me or on a whiteboard—the things that come to my attention when I try to focus on completing something. I also try to have a pen and a notepad beside my bed so that when I remember something important, I can just write it down before or upon waking up.
These are also times when I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea coming to mind. Writing down the items that distract me when you I to focus on something or when I try to go back to sleep releases it from my brain. Not only do I gain some sense of control but doing so even releases my creative juice.
I try as much as possible not to open my Facebook or Messenger during times when I have to complete a work since most of the time these are personal messages or posts. If the messages are important, I know the sender will likely call me, especially from family members.
For business communications, I use Viber or WhatsApp. I open the latter two apps after completing a task or after a focus period. I usually disable notifications from other mobile apps. I avoid opening non-business messages and non-urgent business messages. I avoid reading these messages so that I will not be obligated to reply right away. As much as possible, I read personal messages after work or during breaks.
I wrote this article as I travel for a two-week stay in the United States. I snuck into a restaurant to focus on writing. The need to focus when you travel is of utmost importance because of the challenge of several distractions. But I try to focus and write down ideas and whatever comes to mind during travel time. Thereafter, I just have to insert these in articles I write during a focus period.
According to a 2015 study by Microsoft Corp., the average human attention has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds in the last two decades due to the rise of digital distractions and the prevalent use of social media. It is even more challenging, in the advent of the rise of the use of technology, since people are allured by the digital distractions.
Research shows that continuous exposure to bite-sized contents, coupled with the fear of missing out (FOMO), has lessened the attention span. This also further erodes the ability to focus. This can also lead to the culture of multitasking which in turn leads to decrease in focus, making it more challenging to sustain concentrated mental effort.
Understanding the need to focus and the ability to control the use of technology with the right strategies, will not only help improve a more positive relationship with technology and a more efficient and productive work life but a happier and a more enjoyable work and personal life.
So, how’s that for a better life?
***The views expressed herein are her own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of her office as well as FINEX. For comments, email wimiranda@inventormiranda.com. Photo is from Pinterest.