What are Focus and Concentration?
LIFE SKILLS WE SHOULD BE TAUGHT FROM A YOUNG AGE
Just while writing this article, I have probably distracted myself at least 10 times: to grab a sip of coffee, to look at my phone as it shows me Whatsapp notifications, to check out the sunglasses I have had in my basket for three days now, to get the laundry out of the washing machine, to switch on the light in the room - you get the gist….
I believe I speak for most of us, when I say that we’ve been hearing the instruction to ‘focus’ or to ‘concentrate’ since we can remember. But what I don’t remember is anyone making the effort - with their full concentration and dedication - to teach me what it means and how it’s done. Not my parents, not my teachers, really nobody I can think of.
Today I tell myself to concentrate and to focus all the time. But do I actually do it? Well….barely. We live in an environment where focus is of utmost importance, yet hardly anyone does it or knows how to do it well.
So let’s start with the basics: What does ‘to focus’ actually mean? According to Oxford Languages, it means to:
- adapt to the prevailing level of light and become able to see clearly.
- pay particular attention to.
And what does it mean ‘to concentrate’?
- focus all one's attention on a particular object or activity.
So what I understand here is that I start with focus and with enough practice I get to concentration. And here is the magic word: Practice!
How can we do something well if we haven’t practised it and if we hardly see it around us? The simple answer is: The majority of us cannot. And so there is no way around it. We need to practise it.
Some might ask, why should we practise it? Is it even important? Multi-tasking is also important. And the focus we have right now is enough for the world we live in today. For some of you, this might be the case. It is not for me and here is why.
Whenever I reflect on my achievements at the end of a day, I feel way more satisfied when I conclude that I worked on something in more depth and without constant distraction. That realisation I get sometimes when I’ve been working on or doing something with such devotion and concentration that I completely lost track of time and my surroundings - these moments are very rare for me but they feel incredibly satisfying and often this is where I produce work and outcomes that I really like when I reflect on them.
On the other hand, I frequently get really annoyed at myself on days where I’ve been distracted - where I’ve done bits of all sorts but nothing properly: I would attend meetings but not make an effort to give my full attention to the topic at hand, I would work on a task for way longer than I intended to because I constantly ‘multitasked (also known as the disguising term for ‘faffing, procrastinating, distracting’). These are the days where I feel unaccomplished and unsatisfied.
The ratio between time invested and targeted outcome is just not balanced and therefore unfulfilling.
Now this is not to say that we constantly have to live as if we have to deliver something all the time, we really don’t. But even when I sit down to meditate or lie down to relax, I tend to drift off in thoughts of the past or projections of the future - completely distracting myself from my intention, which was to do and think of NOTHING.
FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION ARE ACQUIRED SKILLS.
It can become a vicious cycle that is difficult to snap out of, especially when so many of us have way more training in distracting ourselves than ‘focusing all our attention on a particular object or activity’, as the definition mentions above.
The good news is that it’s never too late. We can start practising now, tomorrow, in two years - any moment is an opportunity to practise focus and concentration.
Imagine: Every time you manage to concentrate for an extra second because you reminded yourself that you are practising to get better at it, is one additional second towards feeling better and more accomplished.
Whatever activity you do after reading this article, see if you can commit all your attention towards it for a little longer than you usually do.
And when you catch yourself ‘multitasking’, see if you can convince yourself to drop your secondary activity and go back to your task/situation/project at hand.
Try adding a 5 minute relaxation for yourself once or twice a day. Lie down and focus on just that. Try and try again. If you drift off, come back. Drift off again, come back again. If you stop doing it for a month, two, three or more - it’s alright. Be patient with yourself and try again.
Keep trying because anything worth pursuing takes time, patience and practice. Focus and concentration are acquired skills. They are not reserved powers to a selected list of humans; there are merely under-appreciated abilities to contentment and success.
