Focus

To be focused is a privilege. It means that one is well fed, well dressed, all their basic needs are covered, or at least the task at hand is so interesting that makes one forget about the former. Focus is an elusive state when working on something, at least for me.

Most of the time, I'm doing things I don't necessarily wish to be doing. I can mitigate this feeling with being well fed, dressed and maintaining proper hygiene, but sometimes focus just won't come to me.

The reason I do things that don't provide me with instant gratification is that I want to get better, and that I want to take care of myself as an adult.

Contemporary times are weird. We do things our brain does not naturally react well to. We are used to thousands of years of gathering wild berries, eating roots and hunting small mammals. That does not mean that the former is necessarily better for us. Humans have evolved way past the need for scavenging for food, at least the minority of privileged individuals that live on places developed enough to not depend on sustenance farming.

The human mind and its basic instincts have parted one from another probably during the dawn of agriculture. Reliability is very important to progress, and farming is, unfortunately for our primitive brains, the most efficient and reliable way to have access to energy in the form of calories that can get us through our day.

Farming and animal husbandry have their own set of problems, which are not few, but they are the best way to guarantee our specie's survival.

Focus comes to play in here. To add nuance to the problem, let's assume that everything I said is not true, and that for whatever reason our brains work this way: We have a "monkey" brain and a "rational" brain. This nomenclature is also not 100% right, since our rational brain does not behave rationally most of the time. It works off an accumulation of assumptions, prejudices and incomplete knowledge that shapes our long-term view of the world and our life.

The "monkey" brain does not understand nothing about extrinsic rewards or delayed gratification. It does not understand self-care, just drifts naturally to what feels good at a given moment.

Most other animals operate this way. They are guided towards their most immediate needs. This is called "instinct". Unfortunately for our monkey brain, God has given us the ability to think and be rational, to make calculated choices based on the possible outcomes a situation might carry with it, even when those outcomes won't be visible instantaneously.

This rational thinking sometimes goes directly against our instinct. To keep things balanced, we need to alternatively tap into our instincts to find joy in life, but always stay grounded on what's rational and possible to do.

One might also view this from a perspective of a child and a parental figure. In fact, our relationship with ourselves and the so called "monkey brain" sometimes has lots to do with the way our own parents talked to ourselves. This internal monologue is interiorized, and sometimes becomes very harmful to the individual in question.

So, how do we keep focus?

The best thing to do when we feel unfocused is to be gentle and compassionate with our internal child. We need to go through all of the valid, physical and emotional reasons we might not be focused. The people over at Trello actually wrote a very nice article about it.

Once you've gone through each and everyone of those and you find yourself unable to focus, that might be because you don't actually enjoy what you're doing. It might be a good moment to consider quitting. Keep in mind that during negative emotional states everything, from friends to work can feel not worth the effort. It is not wise to try and terminate things during this states. Consider just quitting, and what effects might have in your life. Will your life be better? Worse? Would you like to live a life where you abandoned the thing you're doing right now?

Sometimes, the most compassionate thing you can do with yourself is to eat the frog, and work on what you need to work on.

I have to say that focus is especially endangered if you're on a grieving period, if you're neurodivergent, or if you've received upsetting news.

Do what you can, accept that your career / professional life might suffer because of it and practice self care when negative episodes occur.

Journaling and meditation can help reduce or mitigate the effects on negative emotional states.

Even if everything seems to be failing, keep this in mind.