Why is it so hard to focus?

Since we love instant results for our work the fact we may not see results for a long time definitely makes me less motivated to do the work. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do something which can take a long time on its own to make happen.

I think your driving force and goal is also a big part of you're willingness to get to work. If it's something you really want, but not really, it's going to be hard to do. If it's something you're passionate about you're probably doing that work right now.

The secret to discipline is remembering what you want.

So... what do you want?

What works for me is to resolve to only buy new things with new money. No credit cards, no financing, no dipping into the savings account. My big purchase this year will be one of the new Corvettes when they come out - I'm a vette enthusiast on my fourth right now, I've had one since I was 19 and traded up every couple of years. My current one was the first one I ever paid cash for, and that was in 2009. My plan was simple: I was determined to pay cash for that car, but my resolve to only do it with new money meant I had to MAKE that money starting at the time I made the decision. I created 3 new products, one was a dud, one was sold to another company for about half of the cost of the car, and the sales I made from the third one filled in the gap.

Not to pat myself on the back or sound like I'm bragging or anything, but it would be a lot easier to write that check today than it was in 08-09 - but I am committed to my "new toys come from new money" focus, so in order to treat myself to a 2014 Corvette I have to create something that will make enough money to do so.

Obviously I've been doing this for a while and my tastes have become more expensive, but you can apply the same strategy to anything... maybe it's not an $80,000 car, maybe it's a $2,500 vacation or a new livingroom set. Whatever it is you want, if you can resolve to only pay for it out of "extra income" you'll find your ability to focus is proportionate to how badly you want that shiny new thing.

ya it sure can be hard to stop getting distracted. but you gotta flex your decision muscles and say no to the distractions and yes to the work.

You can print a photo of something that you really want, a destination or anything you want to do and write something like, "you are not getting this if you don't actually do something"
Hope it helps

My question to you is:

Do you have a solid full time income and you are wanting to do IM part-time?

If so, that is the issue.

To be self-employed is much more difficult than working for others. When you have a job and a boss, you know subconsciously that you have to do a goog job, if not you will be fired.

But, when you are your own boss, there is none to report to, and be accountable for and it is easy to drift away from your focus.

So, find someone who is like a very strict school teacher, for you to show your progress or teach someone what you learn everyday and help them learn a new skill, and the benefit to you is, you become better at what you are doing.

Hope this helps.

The Power of WHY is a big motivator."If your why doesn't make you cry then you are not ready to live"-Unknown source. For me, i have discovered that reasons like health, family, wealth, recreation, charity, community service etc are important to remain focused on the work at hand or else i stand to lose. No room for fear, whatsoever!!!

Hey Nameless, really great and common question for many people I agree.

People who find it easier to focus on what needs to be done will always have one of two things present in their lives:

- A compelling enough reason to move towards their goal (and therefore get the work done); OR
- A compelling enough reason to move away from what they don't want anymore (and therefore are also driven to get the work done); AND
- Occasionally, it's a combination of both.

I don't know you, so I can only go on what you say, but I would strongly suggest that you just don't have enough of anything compelling you in anyone direction and in fact either life is comfortable enough, or you may even be feeling overwhelmed with the tasks ahead. Either reason will lead you to do 'other things' with your time.

Example: Seriously ... have you ever finished a really tough day and can't wait to get a cold beer inyour hand and in fact all you think about is getting home or getting out to get that beer? My point being, when the feeling is compelling enough, you're constantly thinking about it and taking all necessary actions until you get that coldy in your hands! That's a clear and compelling goal towards something you really really want and you won't stop until you get it. Get clear about that stuff and make sure it's compelling for you and you'll wonder what freak of focus has taken over your body!

The fact that you have time to consider that you might fail with whatever task you do is an interesting insight which tells me that you literally play that whole scenario out in your head before you even get to the task itself ! Wow - you are still working hard! "I feel my efforts will be for nothing".

I want you to remember that it's really important for you to understand that EMOTION, will always follow MOTION. This means that whether you physically get up and do something (motion) or you run a scenario in your head thinking about doing the work and it not working out (motion) - these activities will return an equally compelling emotion. " I think one thing I can attest to my non-focused mind is that, I feel my efforts will be for nothing." Do you see how you used the word 'think' - you've just run an entire movie (actions, motion) in your mind and the result is that you feel (emotion) your efforts will be for nothing.

On the Contrary: Your post in fact tells me that you have an amazing ability to focus already - the challenge is to get your mind focusing on the right things. Next time you're sitting down on the couch I challenge you to consider running different movie in your head - one that is you doing the tasks and those tasks having a high return for your business. I guarantee you that if you did that everyday for a week or two - your feeling of defeat will change to optimism and at the very least - open to the possibilities that that work can bring for you business.

Lastly, remember that in the online business world, completing new tasks and trying new things is a constant learning path for all of us - and whether it returns results or not - you've just gained some amazing knowledge for yourself and your business. Try to look at each new task as an adventure and enjoy the ride .. remembering that each ride you take gets you closer to where you really really want to be.

I'm an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Practitioner Coach (really means language and behaviour specialist) with well over a decade of Coaching behind me - and I just mention this because that's why I point out specific words for you in my response to you. These provide amazing insights into what's happening for you, without having to physically be present with you.

I hope you can take away something of use from this post.

All the best.

One word: Discipline.

"Your current safe boundaries were once unknown frontiers." ~ Anonymous

#1: Set aside 1 hour to do something worth while that takes about 1 hour's time.

#2: Divide your hour into 10 minute intervals. Focus like Crazy for those 10 minutes on 1 single task, and finish it within those 10 minutes. Set a timer at 10 minutes.

#3: After 10 minutes, take 2 minutes break.

#4: Focus like Crazy for another 10 minutes.

Repeat until done :-)

~Olav

We live in an ADHD world - if most of today's adults were back at school, they be prescribed Ritalin due to their inability to focus!

There's so much trying to get our attention. If you don't have a purpose, how do you know what to pay attention to an what to dismiss.

Take WF as an example - many people suffer from SOS (Shiny Object Syndrome) and buy products on all sorts of topics, hoping it will lead to instant success and the Internet Lifestyle. The way to avoid this, and to focus on the few things that will be of use to you, is to have a purpose and a strategy for achieving it. Then you will know immediately whether a new shiny object is relevant to you or not. Believe me, as a former SOS addict, your bank balance and your family will thank you!

The gurus won't thank me for saying it, but a purpose, a strategy and a plan removes the need for 95% of shiny objects and wil allow you to focus! In addition, I've showna lot of my clients that meditation and mental focus exercises can strengthen their ability to focus but that, as they say, is a whole different story!

Have you tasted success before? if yes, then just think about it before you procrastinate. Just think about the loads of money you could make if you just stick to your plan. What I personally do to avert my attention from cats in the Internet is I set up a work flow and I stick to it oh and did I tell you that I party hard on weekends? party hard but work harder

You've got to do these three things :

1) Identify your optimal productivity strategy.

This means determining the ideal environment, location, and other conditions that when met you can be your most productive.

What time of day do you find yourself least distracted and able to get your thoughts and actions to flow ? Early in the morning, mid afternoon or late at night ?

What kind of location and environment enable you to feel comfortable and focused so that you get through the work you need to get done without giving in to impluses, thoughts and feelings that distract you ? Is it your home office, bed room, a library, a quiet coffee shop, etc ?

What are the conditions and circumstances in which you feel the most capable of being able to sit down and get shit done ? after you eat a meal ? after you work out or meditate ? after the work day is over and the rest of your day is free ? after hanging out with friends ?

Figure these things out, in great detail. If you're not sure what they are they try a variety of different scenarios until you get a better idea of what works best for you.

2) Do your optimal productivity strategy consistently and make it a habbit. This will help you create new experiences of being focused and getting work done for you to build on. Doing this will enable you to get much more done in a couple of hours than you would normally otherwise be able to do, once you've clearly identify all the proper aspects of your strategy.

Other people in the thread have mentioned really useful things about the power of desire and habbits. Consider and make use of those too.

3) You need to neutralize and release your current belief ("it's hard to focus") and install a new belief that empowers and propels you towards completing your goals.

Your current belief is causing you pain that you are running away from by procrastinating and until you do something to remove the pain or fear you have, you're not going to get very far.

Think of your body as a computer. Your brain is the CPU. Your beliefs are the software that makes things run. All beliefs affect our behavoir by driving us towards what we don't want or away from what we don't want. The pain of doing something hard is greater than the pleasure of getting your work done, so you're avoiding the work.

You've probably thought this belief "why is focusing so hard?" / "focusing is hard" many thousands of times. But that's ok. Most people think an average of 60,000+ thoughts a day so you have plenty of oppportunity to neutralize it by reframing it - putting it into a different perspective. When the belief "focus is hard" starts to trigger your procrastination you have to think a different though - you have to reframe it enough times (along with doing your optimal productivity strategy) so that your new belief will eventually replace the old one and cause you to feel good and get you taking action towards your goal. Thinking or saying something like "even though focusing can be a challenge, I still find ways to be productive and get my work done on time." or "the more effort I put into focusing the more I can get things done easily and effectively."

These are just some generic examples of reframed beliefs. Word your new belief in a way that makes you feel good, strong, effective, etc. Keep it short, simple and positive. Make it your mantra. Your mind will believe anything you tell it enough times, regardless of the content and your belief will lead to action bad or good, based on the meaning and how it relates to your values and attitudes.

Do these things and you can change your situation dramatcially in a matter or weeks or days. Good luck & be well.

While I don't necessarily dispute the soundness of Dan's advice (previous post), it seems to me that if the problem is that you can't focus, then going through the steps Dan proposes is yet another thing for you have to focus on before you can get round to focusing on your major tasks.
In my experience, as a poor focuser, I would find Dan's method fairly challenging and may well decide to revert back to bumbling along with my 50% or maybe lower focus 'score' rather than get distracted by having another task to focus on.
The only thing that really gets me to focus at say 90% is genuine external pressure from situations involving others - for example a recent court case I was involved in where the deadlines were set by the court and the stakes were pretty high.

Lots of distractions, that could be the reason. It is advisable to choose not the SEXIEST secretary you could get, otherwise you loss focus and then your business.

It doesn't take real focus to watch the news. I eliminated that from my life for good when I realized that watching anything on a screen doesn't qualify as doing something, but instead it is allowing someone else to do something to you.

So I made a conscious decision to stop allowing the news (both radio and TV) to take time away from my life. It's too previous to give it away like this.

If you find it hard to focus on work, try to alternate between work and helping others. Find a need and spend some time helping out without expecting anything in return. Helping others reach their goals might be the best way of achieving your own.

Tudor

The biggest two obstacles for me: over-planning and multi-tasking. You can't multi-task. Whether or not you believe that, it doesn't matter. Treat that as if it's true. Each night make a very specific list of what you'll do the next day, example: write 1 600 word blog post on diet topic x, write 1 400 word ezinearticle for a backlink, cold e-mail 3 clients to offer services. Then the next day you focus on #1 and only #1, then #2 and only #2, and so on. While this sounds simple, it's effective. And you find quickly it takes a lot less time to do something than you originally thought. Amazing how 600 word articles take only 12-15 minutes instead of an hour or hour and a half when the TV isn't on.

I have felt this way a lot in the past. What changed over the years was the thought that 'Everyday we live, every moment we breathe, we must move forward'. Getting carried away by insignificant things and not doing anything at all keeps us in the same place and in time moves us backwards. This is not how you want your life to turn out.

Different techniques work for different people and it may take time to learn what works best for you.

Personally I've found that treating my computer as the office/business helps tremendously. I don't surf the Internet for entertainment, I use it as a research tool. I don't click video links, use IM/Skype for business, and I rarely visit message boards. These are distractions that can suck up hours of time and leave you feeling drained without ever having touched any real "work."

When my work is done, I turn the computer off and redirect my attention. This often involves a walk through the garden to decompress if it was a super productive day. I might also wash dishes, cook something or just have an in person conversation.

The tv doesn't come on until late in the evening and Netflix is used once or twice a week after 7 pm only.

When I had a landline it was unplugged during focus hours. Now I generally ignore texts if I'm busy and thankfully the phone rarely rings.

During the day I may glance through news or email if I'm taking a brief break. I generally look at headlines and summaries only because nothing requires immediate attention when it doesn't generate revenue.

In my world, work/business activity pays the bills and put food on the table. As someone noted above, you wouldn't spend hours reading the news if you has to get to work, right? When push comes to shove you dig in and get it done.

Yes, I agree with you but when you have family and yourself to support. You have no choice but you have to be focus to achieve goals and make sure there should be no room for failure. Because when you're focused you have more chances to reach your goals.

Hard work is exactly that, hard.

The times in my life where I've had the most focus were the times when I had the most to lose if I failed.

It was easy to be lazy when I was single. When the bills are already paid and 3 cute female friends invite you to blow off work and go hang out at the beach all day, it's an easy "Yes"

But today, married with 3 kids and wife is a stay at home mom, I know it's all on me and there are other people who would have to deal with the consequences of my inaction. That alone is motivation.

The trouble I had wasn't with that - it was when things were on auto-pilot. Money was coming in, bills were paid, savings account balance was adequate, so "why work"? It's why I developed the "new toys from new money" discipline. It keeps you sharp, focused, and goal-oriented when you create a system of rewarding yourself for progress.

Nameless,
I know I have felt like that many times in my past. Gradually, I came to realize, simply by taking baby steps at first, that EVERYTHING I did towards my project that was productive and "not missed" by the Universe. Even the smallest good effort matters and adds to your assured success. It all adds to your overall work performance and what that performance leads to is the fulfillment of your desires over time. (Persistence)

Research a way to get yourself working productively for as much time as you can handle to start with. Small tasks accomplished quickly and accurately is the key at first. I feel no good effort is ever wasted but will come to some reward in time.

With so many successful Warriors in this forum, you have a powerful indication that good focused effort wins the day eventually.

I wish you good luck dealing with the demon of distraction!

PS Sir / Ms, Have you considered challenging your mind to come up with a different forum name? "Nameless" does not strike the spark of interest. It gives the impression of indecision. If it's like this for you too, use that as a tiny goal to accomplish a small new part of your overall goal. I suspect you will feel like you have begun to take charge of work habits then. Again, good luck.

I hear you and definitely feel the same way. I agree with you it is mainly because of the fear of failure. I found myself constantly shift myself from what I should have been focusing on, because if I focus too much, I will be stressed out. To shift my focus sometimes help me relax and keep myself going towards my ultimate goal. However the fear of failure makes me shift too often. Therefore I was thinking very hard how to deal with the situation.

Recently I had some minor success by publishing my goals and my track records. For example, I decide to lose weight, so I started a tread on this forum to talk about and keep track of my daily calorie intakes on my Facebook page and also tweet about it, by doing so, I feel like I am facing the public and had to kick myself to focus back over and over again. Try this and see if it's working for you.

I really understand this thread since I have this problem before on how to focus and sometimes I ended up frustrated. What I did was I listed my goals and checked what goal is at the top priority
and listed what motivated me to finish the goals in no time. Made a planned schedule,
even though some were not followed but along the way, I manage to really
do the task efficiently and it has become a part of me to finish my goals on time.
And now I can't even sleep when some unfinished task is at hand. Anyway, I just felt sharing since this thread is about focus.
I always remind myself what I could give if I will put myself on focus regardless of what I could get and I feel refreshed knowing that I could give more if I can focus on what I have as a potential.

I remember this one quote from someone...
"If you can't overcome the desert, the desert will surely overcome you..."

Strive on where you are weak now, and it will become your strength.

I can relate to you. I find it hard to focus on my job sometimes especially when working in the Net because there's so many things there that can catch your attention, many sites to see and news to read. However, I always remember my purpose. My purpose for working is to earn money, to earn money because I plan to do this and that,..Now if I lose focus, how can I earn my money? How can I accomplish my plans? so, when I started to lose my focus I tried to remember my purpose.

I was actually just quoted in a Forbes article on this subject (8 Ways to Dig Yourself Out of a Rut). Some of the other answers may be beneficial for you guys.

8 Ways To Dig Your Way Out Of A Rut - Forbes

Just don't do a 30 year mortgage whatever you do, they're a scam. 15 year fixed is the way to go.

I think when your working on a project it's easy to get distracted by other products you see browsing around. You think to yourself, why don't I just do this instead? You end up doing this so much that you never finish anything, which is why you make no money. Keep going with it!

One of the problems that people have with focusing is information overload. It esamds that no matter wher you turn these days online, there is alsways some new information on a particular niche or topic that you need to read and such.

However, what you need to remember is that not all information is credible and honest information. Some of the information that you read online is just plain bogus and untrue. That is why so many people can't focus, and the other reason why so many people can't focus is that their attention spans are next to nothing.

I find that more and more people these days ahve very short attention spans and if something isn't immediately going their way or is in their favor, they immediately loose interest and move onto the next thing and continue to do so until they find what they're searching for.

Because it depends on your working environment. If it is silence then you can really focus on things you are working with.

Sorry for my bad english, i´m german. Fokus is not so hard. Just make Afformations everyday in the morning and in the evening, go to sleep with your Afformations and very soon you will find the best results for your LIFE. Many years i used Affirmations and this sucks, do not realy works good.

AFFORMATIONS get fast the best results!
I did it now 8 Weeks everyday and night, since three weeks ago my life changed so cool. Now i´m earning much more then 10.000 $ in the last three weeks, years before i earned only 1.000 $ the month. It comes overnight and i´m very happy, first i pick up a new computer!

My Afformations for Freedom:
Why is my life now so wonderfull?
Why do i earn more than 10.000 $ every Month?
Why do i find everyday the right people, to help me to get success?

Good Luck!!!

Well, this is one reason why I always have the TV OFF.

I can't multitask and do all of my work in complete silence or just listening to meditation music only, nothing with words that will distract me..

lol... and don't even get me started on those darn Youtube videos. That will make me totally lose my Focus so I tend to avoid Youtube all together.

Its hard for me to focus when I am not sure what will bring the best results.

If I knew for sure that a certain action would definitely bring more success than others, then I would feel confident about focusing on it.

I am learning though that in any given moment when I tune into what action seems the most inspiring, fun and effortless, then most often, that will bring the best results.

When I start doing something that people say should work, but I am just really bored or frustrated with it, then I just let that go and move on.

I've learned not to keep doing something I don't like, just because it is something that "should" be done.

Nothing new. We all have this fear of failure. But hey, if you love and believe in what you do it won't matter!

To me failing means that there's still something out there I need to learn about. That I still have a purpose doing the same thing tomorrow. What you must fear is that you start getting good at it and the things you use to love doing makes you feel boring.

Purpose is crucial and passion is innate. This is key to focus! It should be natural not persistent.

It is hard to focus because there are other things that bothers our mind. There are confusions, worries, problems that will become factors that's why we are having a hard time focusing.

You answered your question

The fear of failure is the reason you're not focusing. Just go through the fear and take action. You will fail sometimes. So what? As long as you learn from your errors and persist you will succeed.

Cheers,

Gary

Start meditating man, it does wonders for clearing your mind.

Just sit with your eyes closed for 20 minutes and observe your thoughts.

Simple and very effective.

We lose focus for one reason and one reason only. FEAR.

Fear of a missed opportunity, there is something better you should be doing, could be doing?

Fear that whatever you're trying to focus on is not going to yield the results you want.

It really does come down to that.

My suggestion when I start to lose focus is to literally take myself above the situation. Completely break the state you are in ... go for a walk, go get a sip of water, close your eyes and meditate for 5 minutes ...

And get back in touch with why you want to be focused on that thing in the first place.

Don't just let things distract you. Be purposeful. Have an intent. When you see that start to happen, you need to RESET and recommit.

And by the way, the mind can really only focus on one thing for about 45 minutes without needing a break for at least 5 minutes.

Trust me, I can sit here all day and "work" ... but it's not without a little email checking, texting, facebook, doing THIS forum, etc...

If you figure out what's in it for you to focus ... what will you have as a result ... PICTURE yourself having that ... even if it's a small thing ... and then just commit to a small about of time ... your mind WILL develop the habit of helping you focus more and more.

Even if it's 15 minutes at a time ... just challenge yourself to stick with something for even 15 minutes at a time, and you'll be impressed and amazed with what you can accomplished when you truly do focus all of your attention and energy on that one thing.

Desire will push you to motivate yourself and focus on things you needed to be done.. Its a simple thing of discipline.. you will learn from it yet I know that sometimes we dont have focus when we actually need them..

motivators said:
people will move toward their goals because of 80% avoiding pain and 20% attracted to pleasure.
I learned from offline MLMers, they got rejected over and over again but still they are willing to do the presentation and the follow up ! Why? They don't want to fail their family and dreams.
They're serious about it.
Are you?

We're naturally lazy. I'm aware of this but, I realized focus is a skill that you can develop. So, you just have to practice focusing and being disciplined and after awhile it becomes a part of you.

I try to compare the result I will get if I focus on the important tasks to whatever is distracting me. Usually, the distraction won't make me any better, smarter, or stronger so I get back to focusing on the important task because it will either improve my financial situation, my intelligence, or my discipline.