At the start of this year, I recognised that I needed to stop being quite so distracted, to focus. To stop jumping from one thing to another. To finish the task that I started without picking up a few new jobs along the way. We’re almost half way through the year. It’s not going so well.
I’m not doing my word of the year justice.
What I can’t work out is what’s causing my lack of ability to stay on track.
I often hear friends who are similar to me ask ‘do you think I have ADHD?” Honestly, I don’t know that I can answer that for myself or others. I know hormones don’t help here. We produce less dopamine as we age, this helps with motivation and focus. And as this decreases, It takes much more effort to stay on task than it ever has done.
Both the compulsion, or habit, to pick up my phone (get some dopamine) and scroll and the fact I barely last the magic 3 seconds on any reel don’t help. In fact social media remains the biggest culprit here. I know there is a ban for the under 16s just announced, I wonder if a ban for over 50s might help too?!
And then there’s my complete inability to quiet all the ‘great’ ideas constantly buzzing around my head. Case in point: I have a weekly catch-up with a friend, and the entire premise of these chats is that we will, this time, stay focused. We set off with the best of intentions. We have, on occasion, actually started our conversation with ‘lets focus’. And then, within minutes, one of us has An Idea, which sparks another, which reminds the other of a thing, and before we know it we’ve merrily dreamed up ten new projects, a side hustle and quite possibly a podcast, and forgotten entirely what we sat down to do. We always leave buzzing, but maybe not as focused as we set out to be. (For the record, I wouldn’t swap those chats for the world. But they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, helping my word of the year.)
Maybe it wasn’t the wrong word
I have wondered if I picked the wrong word. But that’s exactly the point. The reason I picked it was to break a way of behaving, and give myself a challenge. I’ve realised I just need a reset.
The Reset
Five small things can help me to get me back on track. None of them clever, all of them things I already know and had just stopped doing.
01
Daily Movement
I am a huge believer that movement is medicine. It can also help focus by boosting attention, mood and mental stamina. It doesn’t mean you have to take on a huge running challenge, a daily walk (ideally outside) is enough.
02
Removing Distractions Before Starting a Task
I know that putting my phone out of reach with notifications off really can help me.
03
Giving all those ideas a home.
I love a lot of the ideas that come to mind, I just don’t need to act upon them immediately. I’ve started to jot them down, in a journal when I can or on my phone.
04
One thing at a time, and actually finishing it.
The whole reason I picked focus was to stop starting five jobs and completing few. So I’m making myself finish the thing in front of me before I’m allowed to start anything new. Dull. Effective. Far harder than it sounds.
05
Take Breaks When You Need To
Ploughing through a task feels productive, but we often do better with a few well-timed breaks. They help with attention, alertness and cognitive function, which all feeds straight back into focus. As a happy bonus, stepping away can spark a bit of creativity too, and help generate new ideas (as if I needed more!)
So that’s my reset. I’m focused on making it happen (haha). Tell me, has anyone else’s word of the year gone awry, or is it just me?
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