WANT TO IMPROVE FOCUS (and HEALTH..) once and for all?

Work can sometimes feel like a never-ending marathon, when it should be a series of focused sprints. A corporate executive on one of our programs summed it up perfectly, he explained how in the early days his career felt like a series of sprints. Every time there was a new project or challenge, he would focus, work a little harder, finish the project and take time to recuperate. ‘Now my career feels like a high intensity marathon, all the crises....it never stops, and it exhausts me. I hardly ever have time to reflect and recuperate, and it takes a toll on my private life. It has tilted to the unhealthy side’.

The side effects of compromising health and well-being for work are well known, but only few of us consistently do something to avoid it of even get better, mentally, emotionally and physically. In the humdrum of a busy work life, your body and brain needs regular breaks in order to 'sharpen the saw'. Therefore, it helps to follow a lifestyle pattern that allows you to recharge your mental energy from time to time. Otherwise, if you are constantly in a rush to get things done, living in constant reactive mode it will eventually drain your body and brain and start affecting your quality of life.

Some Methods to Improve Focus (and HEALTH!)

Here are some effective methods that will help re-energize your mind and push you to stick to your goals:

• Connect with positive others: A strong sense of human connection is vital to our health and well-being. We are living in privileged times; we can connect with anyone in the world with a simple click of a button but many of us feel more alone than ever. Human beings need social interaction to survive and simply being present can transform our life and reduce stress.

• Start Your Mornings with Some Form of Exercise: One of the best things you can do to strengthen both your body and mind is to start your mornings with some form of exercise. Whether it’s walking, running, yoga, swimming, cycling, or an early morning dance party, 20-30 minutes of morning exercise will improve your blood flow, making you feel active, alert and strong all day long. Kick starting your day with some form of exercise also gives you the motivation to accomplish the next goal on your list.

• Eat Meals That Contain Good Fat: Did you know that your brain is made up of about 60% fat and is the fattiest organ in the body? So, if you are looking for ways of getting your mind in the game, it is essential that you consume enough healthy fats such as nuts, avocados and coconut oil. Multiple studies have shown a connection between a diet high in carbohydrates and refined sugars with impaired brain function.

• Make Notes: Another effective way of keeping your brain focused is to develop a habit of writing down your goals and prioritizing the important tasks. Making notes of your tasks will motivate you to complete them in a timely fashion, along with creating a sense of discipline.

• Set Daily Goals: Having long-term goals is great, but this shouldn’t take away your focus from your short-term goals. Setting short term daily goals is one of the best ways to get things done at the right time with the required levels of concentration. Accomplishing short term goals is also the first step towards fulfilling your long-term goals and keeping you fired up and motivated on the journey.

• Don’t Procrastinate: Highly focused people do not procrastinate and make it a point to push themselves to do what needs to be done to get their tasks completed as early in the day as possible when the energy is still high. So, if you truly want to improve your concentration, you must stop procrastinating and keep your mind on track.

• Stay Away from Useless Distractions: Yes, our lives are hectic and full of low-value digital blabbering, we are surrounded daily by numerous distractions. One of the biggest impediments that stop people from focusing on work and achieving their goals are unnecessary distractions that do nothing but break concentration and raise your stress levels. From social media notifications to email alerts, there are an endless number of distracting factors that steal your productivity and focus. In order to improve your focus, you must make it a point to turn these notifications off.

• Ensure A Good Night’s Sleep: Getting good quality sleep is one of the best things you can do for your overall health. If you are sleep deprived all the time, it becomes very difficult to concentrate and accomplish your day to day tasks and responsibilities. You must strive to get 7-8 hours of quality sleep every night as it plays a huge role in determining your focus levels throughout the day. Your mind and body needs sleep to maintain optimal health and well-being.