When I started my blog, I discovered a lot of things about myself that I never thought I had. For one, I’ve come to know that even after more than a year of writing, I still get a lot of ideas for a topic. This is one of my initial fears. That writing twice a week may soon backfire on me because I’ll find myself without nothing to write anymore. Well guess what, I’m surprised I still produce a lot even up to this day.
I was also afraid that I was going to lose interest at some point because knowing myself, I easily get tired of doing something over and over. I surprised myself once again because I’m still here, producing content and products with my interest still at its peak.
I also found that I can’t write when there’s too much noise. I can’t write in front of the TV and I can’t do it with music playing in the background. I get distracted easily especially if the song is something I’m familiar with. I tend to sing along to the tune and lose my ideas in the process.
This is the reason most successful people look at multi-tasking as ineffective compared to focusing on one important task because you can accomplish more if one task has your full attention.
Life can be noisy too. There will be times when so much negative things are happening around you that you get lost in the middle of all of it. You lose your focus because you don’t know which one to take care of first.
When life is at its toughest, when adversity strikes you from all corners, the worse thing you can do is panic. Even worst is to let all these setbacks eat you alive. You have to find ways to get your focus back. You have to regroup, come up with a plan, and get back into the game.
This is what timeouts are for in games like basketball or baseball. If everything’s not going the way you expected and you’re all over the place, you need to take the time to regain your composure or lose the game altogether. Here are 5 ways on how you can get your focus back when problems are kicking your butt.
1. Meditate
What’s the best counter for noise?
Silence.
And this is what meditation is all about.
Get into a room and be all by yourself for five to fifteen minutes. Do an Indian sit, with your back straight and your shoulders square. Close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Listen to the sound of your breath as you inhale and exhale. AWESOME RIGHT?
Meditation helps put everything back to perspective. It helps clear your mind of all the negative energy and helps you relax and be calm until you can get your focus back. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to regain your composure. Sit in complete silence so that your brain can entertain more ideas after.
I never believed in meditation before. I thought it was all fake but since I began doing yoga and discovering its power, I’ve been meditating almost everyday especially when I’m all stressed out from work.
2. Go Off-line
It’s funny how technology has changed the way people live their lives nowadays. It’s like everything we need is at the edge of our fingertips. Sometimes all I could do is put a touch of humor into it especially within our household.
Every time I arrive home from the office, my children and wife have all been used to meeting me at the door and giving me a kiss. The little ones would even take off my shoes and socks and bring me my slippers and that never fails.
UNTIL…
Well, there was this one night when I came and everyone was busy. No one even bothered to look at me and I was pretty sure they didn’t realize that I was actually there already.
Why?
Because my wife and daughter are both on their smart phones while the little ones were busy playing the tablet. I just laughed it off. I wanted to drop one of our frying pans so they’d get startled but the kitchen was quite far.
Aren’t you amazed at how social media has made us slaves?
I won’t be a hypocrite and say that I’m not, but can you even last a day without checking your Facebook?
Can you spend the whole day without looking at your smart phone to verify if got tweets?
Probably not.
What we don’t realize is that technology and social media can also be the source of our stress (apart from our damn jobs!). Maybe not as heavy as what we get from work or traffic but they do add to the things we worry about.
Set a day to go off-line, and when we say off-line, I mean no smart phones, no Facebook, no Twitter, no tablets, and no social media whatsoever. Go back to the basics. Turn off your phone if you have to so you can lessen the noise in your life and spend time getting back your rhythm. Sometimes, this is all what you need to get back into the game.
3. Talk to Someone
If you’re beginning to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, it can be helpful to hear other people’s perspective or advice, Talk to your spouse, a trusted friend or a mentor if you must.
Sometimes, we just have to hear another person’s take on something for us to realize that we are looking at it in the wrong way. If you’re stuck in a rut with all the problems you’re facing, just confide and let it all out. Hearing other people’s opinion or take on something definitely works especially if it’s coming from someone you know who does not sugarcoat and tells you what you need to hear instead of what you want to hear.
4. Do something that brings you comfort
Sometimes, you just have to get away for a couple of minutes or hours from all the issues you’re going through for you to get your focus back. You just have to set your attention away from the stress by doing something you love or enjoy doing.
I know I’ve mentioned this before but a large, house special, wintermelon milktea is all that I need to relax and kick the stress away. For others, it could be video games or a good book. A gallon of ice cream or just sitting in the park and waiting for the sunset.
Different strokes for different folks I guess. The idea is to take your mind off the things that’s causing you stress through your comfort food/activity.
An additional note for those who are stressed with their jobs. Avoid eating on your workstation. If you are already bummed by all the stress your job brings you, the last thing you can do is to spend that one hour of free time within office premises. Take a walk in the nearest mall or eat your lunch in the pantry or canteen.
5. Exercise/Workout
How many times have we heard someone say that he will “blow off steam”? The person who usually say these lines is either on his way to the gym or clad with his or her running gear.
Exercise, or any physical activity for that matter, is a good way to get your focus back by channeling all your energy and frustrations into one place and that is your physical fitness.
This is a much better alternative than the opposite which could be by eating yourself to death will junk food and pastries or smoking and alcohol.
Over to You
How do you get your focus back when faced with difficulties and setbacks?
I would love to hear from you so feel free to leave a comment or feedback below. I would truly appreciate it!
Originally published at lifeshowyouliveit.com on April 21, 2015.
Originally published at medium.com