Cultivate silence to focus

Our world gets interrupted on average every 10 minutes by notifications and whatever we’re focusing on is reprioritised. We pickup our phone about 40 – 150 times a day.

That’s not focus. We’re being owned by a device.

It’s said that any interruption of flow or your daily work, then requires 40 minutes to get back on task and concentrating.

I know when I’m drawing that I try to put the phone completely away. A vibrating phone and notifications interrupt creativity.

Here’s a few tips to reducing that loss of focus and flow:

1. Cultivate silence. It might be uncomfortable at first, but silence will eventually bring calm and then peace to your mind
2. Create a comfortable space
3. Surround yourself with things that make bring you happiness
4. Reduce clutter
5. Clean off your workspace desk
6. Ask people to give you quiet time
7. Review your phone usage. Most phones have some kind of analytics that measure your app usage, times device picked up per day. Assess what’s taking your attention, and take it back
8. Keep your devices on silent all day. Turn off all notification besides emergency contacts. Vibration, lights, everything off
9. Leave your phone at home or in your bag for a full day. Try a half day at first if it’s too much

One version of silence or peace, is when your thoughts stop racing, you’re mentally and physically calm and at ease, your heart isn’t racing, there’s no loud noises and your environment is relaxing. Your version may be different, you might need music to be at peace.

But whatever your version is, it will hone your ability to focus. And vice versa, when your peace is continually broken, interrupted or taken by other distractions (whatever they might be), you’re ability to focus and get things done is reduced.

Silence, or your version of calm and peace will exercise that muscle of switching into flow and focus. And with focus, you get things done.