When you think of reigning in your focus what comes to mind?
Most likely it’s a list of techniques that look something like this…
The Pomodoro Method
Time Blocking
Minimizing distractions
Planning your day the night before
“Eat the frog”
Protect your mornings
And the list goes on.
There’s an abundance of techniques to improve your focus and get more done.
I use a lot of these daily.
But in the past 6 months, I’ve noticed a few senior things.
Without them, everything else suffers.
You see, there are 2 ways to look at productivity.
First, you have active techniques. The ones that help you manage tangible blocks of time.
Then you have everything else that isn’t directly related to a defined task or time block but affects you as a person.
Which in turn affects everything else you do.
It’s these seeming outliers that most people write off as unrelated.
In fact, they’re the first things we sacrifice when time is of the essence and we need to get more done.
Focusing on these 3 areas will have a trickle-down effect that almost automatically solves for long-term sustainability.
I’m going to try something a little different here.
I personally find it incredibly useful to see how others think through problems and find solutions.
I’m going to illustrate that here.
Let’s start with the King (or Queen) of these, sleep.
Sleep
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of shortcuts with this one. And out of everything you could do to improve your overall mood, motivation, and happiness this is the most important.
I had a bit of a wake up call (pun intended :)) with my sleep this past year.
For months I was waking up between 3 and 4 AM. No matter what time I went to bed!
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to stay in bed longer.
So I started going to bed at 7:30 every night.
After months of battling it out, I took a few more significant steps.
First I decided to resubscribe to Whoop. I had a subscription before but I didn’t see a ton of value in it because I only used a small fraction of the features.
I finally just bit the bullet because I consider sleep my new sport, and my Whoop 100% keeps me accountable for my sleep goals.
Every day I get a sleep score. The key metrics I pay attention to are:
- How long I slept
- How well I recovered depending on how much physical strain and stress I had that day
- How consistent my bedtime and waketime are
- How much deep sleep (REM) I got
Numbers don’t lie.
I know when I have a sleep score of 90% or higher I feel infinitely more refreshed and have an easier time tackling the day.
As for sleep hygiene, here’s a short list of non-negotiables that keep me in the green.
- Keep a cool room – I set my AC to 68 at night – I’m not a big AC guy. In fact, in Austin, I keep my AC at 74 during the day. But keeping a cool room at night is huge.
- Block as much light as possible – Room darkening shades or an eye mask will do the trick. Here’s the eye mask I use when I travel.
- Eliminate any noise – If eliminating noise isn’t possible, use earplugs.
- Consistent bedtime – This one surprised me. Getting to be at the same time every night was and still is a game changer. Have a standard bedtime and meet that every night within 30 minutes on either end.
- Stop eating 3 hours before bed – Eating too close to bedtime is one of the sneakiest sleep disrupters. Have a consistent cut-off with food.
- Only drink coffee (caffeine) in the morning – I see you rolling your eyes. I get that this can be a tough one. Making sure you stop caffeine early in the day may suck at first. But you’ll get used to it and you’ll have more energy in the long run.
Solving for these 6 things is sufficient. There’s a lot more you can do but I’ve found these to be the biggest needle movers.
If you want to give Whoop a try, you’ll get a month free when you join using this link.
Connection
In my experience, this is the easiest to let fall by the wayside.
I’m a solopreneur and someone who requires a pretty controlled environment for focus. That combined with the fact that I go to bed earlier than the sun doesn’t exactly leave a ton of space for connection.
But I started noticing this when I made exceptions on my bedtime. On the nights where I made plans to spend time with friends, I slept better.
I had no idea I was starving for connection until I filled that cup.
It was so significant that I’d wake up feeling like I got the best sleep I’d had in months.
So naturally I started solving for this immediately.
I did this in 2 ways.
First, I decided to develop a deeper friendship with people I was already close with but didn’t put as much effort into it as I could.
I make sure I check in with these people often, plan movie nights, dinners, workouts, and runs. A variety of things a few times a month. Nothing crazy.
But in between that, I make sure I check in with them and make it a point to see how I can support them and just listen when they need it.
Second, I include people in on my training.
I typically train solo.
Historically, running and weight training is a place I go to clear my head. But that’s shifted a bit.
So now I make sure I run or lift with a buddy once or twice a week.
This has made a huge difference.
Not only do I feel more connected with these people, but I feel more grounded and centered all around.
The reality is most of us are already doing things on the daily that we can do with others.
Taking that little bit of extra time to plan and meet up goes a long way.
Movement
There was one line from Kelly McGonigal’s book The Joy of Movement that stuck with me.
Movement is how I make sense of the world.
Movent is my keystone habit. It’s the one thing that makes everything else better. I discovered years ago that if I cut out movement then I’m in deep shit.
I’m negative.
Everything sucks.
I’m reactive.
It’s not pretty.
So for me, movement means doing fairly strenuous activity 6 days a week.
But if I’m not training for something and I have to cut it short, I know that 3 of those sessions can be 30 minutes.
Guess who made those rules?
I did
You don’t have to stick to some insane workout schedule where you’re working out to depletion every day of the week.
In that case, working out wouldn’t support your focus, it would take away from it.
Find the sweet spot for you.
It may be as simple as taking a 30-minute walk every day and doing some weights 3 days a week.
Or even just walking.
It could be doing a yoga class a few days a week.
It doesn’t matter what it is, but find something.
Having a movement practice will not only make you more productive but it will also make you healthier. I don’t think your doctor (or anyone else for that matter) will argue with that.
If you’re battling challenges with focus, procrastination, or just not feeling into your work, give these a shot and see what happens.
It’s quite possible that your lack of focus has nothing to do with how you’re doing your work but that you’re trying to create from an empty cup.
The intention is not for them to take the place of tried and true productivity techniques, but to put you in a state where you’re no longer battling the clock or your focus to get things done.
Until next time,
Jeff Agostinelli
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