Have you been able to sit down, focus on what you need to do, and get it done? Or are you struggling? Are there distractions that maybe are keeping you from completing work that you know has to be finished? That's what we're going to talk about today on the Resilient Faith Online Show. Can we improve mental focus? Welcome. I'm Arissa Shadwick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change online. To connect with me and my private Facebook group, go to Marissa Shadrick.com forward slash community. Hello, hello, how are you doing today? I am so excited to be here. And I am so thankful that you decided to tune in and listen. Today we're going to be talking about an aspect of productivity, which is mental focus. And this topic really intrigues me. I love talking about this. I know in my own life, just mental thoughts have become something that I'm very sensitive to because I see the benefit of being able to manage your mental thoughts and be able to detox your mind of the things that hold you back. And so it's a topic that I love. And lately I have been focusing on a product launch, and I've had to since November be very focused on what I needed to do to get everything done according to a timeline that I had. So I wanted to talk about focus. Can we improve mental focus? So let's start first with what focus is. And this is my definition of focus, but it's simply a way to direct our attention toward a wanted result. So we're directing our attention toward a wanted result. Maybe it came from reflection, maybe it's something that came up doing a brainstorming session, something in your business that you want to complete, whatever it might be, you're trying to figure out how to redirect your attention toward this wanted result and how you're going to accomplish it. Now, this can be something that goes across a lot of different things, not just business. We can direct our attention toward knowledge when we go to school, college, if we're doing some type of online course and we're trying to learn something new. We can direct our attention toward that. The same with cooking. When I'm cooking, I have to focus. Otherwise, it doesn't turn out very well. So I usually have a recipe and I follow it to the tea. My daughter, she's amazing. She can just use it as a suggestion and just do her own thing, but not me. So I'm very focused when I'm cooking. When you exercise, you can be very focused and direct your attention toward whatever workout you're doing because you don't want to injure yourself. So you can be very focused when you're exercising, or you can also be focused when you're having a conversation with someone and you really listen and you're very present to what they're saying, especially if they have a problem and they're coming to you for help. You could be very focused when you're driving, or at least you should be very focused when you're driving, being very aware of your surroundings so that you don't get in an accident or you don't get a ticket or whatnot. And you can also be very focused in business when you're writing. There's a lot of writing that's involved in business. Maybe you're a blogger and you write blogs or articles. You can be very focused. Maybe you're working on a product launch like I've been working on and you've been very focused. So focus for the sake of this podcast is really directing your attention. So the center of your attention is toward some type of desired result. So, what are some of the benefits of focus? Let's look at benefits. So, focus can help us with our performance, and it's a way for us to efficiently and effectively use our time day to day. So when we focus, we are really leveraging and maximizing the time that we have to complete something. The second is focus can help us forget. I didn't think this was possible, but it is possible. My husband, for one, his job is very demanding. And what he does on the weekend is he loves to play golf, so he'll go play golf. And it's a way for him to focus on the game, and he completely forgets about everything else. It's the way he resets and recharges. And during the week, day to day in the evening after he has dinner, he'll be on his phone or some device or something, and he'll be doing these games. I don't know if you do any of these games like Seduko or there's another one that he's been doing, Udoko. I hope I said it right. It's it's weird. It's no numbers, but it's got grids, or he'll do uh poker. And I look at those things and I think, oh my gosh, that's work. That's not relaxing for me. But for him, it is, and I believe it's because it allows him to forget everything else and just be focused on this game that he's trying, he's very competitive, so he's trying to win at this game. And I think they give you points or little prizes if you get to a certain level or whatever. But it's a way for him to do that. Now, for me, I take the easy route. If I want to forget about work or want to forget about anything, I just put on a good chick flick, right? I put one of those on. I go to Amazon Prime movies or I'll go to Netflix or I'll just stream some type of movie or something, and I will be totally immersed. In fact, it's a joke around here. You know, don't let me walk by the TV if I've got something else I need to do, because in less than 20 seconds, I will be totally involved in the movie. I will be sucked in. I'll be standing there, all of a sudden I'll be sitting there, all of a sudden I'm grabbing popcorn because I will be totally immersed. And you've noticed when someone is focused, you could be talking to them and they don't hear you. Have you ever noticed that when someone's on a device or our little Audrey, who just turned nine, when she's on her device playing, it's like, hello, is anyone there? Because they're so focused. So being focused can help improve your performance, but it can also help you relax and forget about everything that you need to do because you're choosing something that's fun, something that's entertaining to take your mind off things. So it can help you with that as well, so that you can reset and recharge for the next day. So we looked at what focus is directing our attention towards some type of wanted result. We talked a little bit about the benefits, how it can improve performance, but it can also help us kind of zone out and do something that doesn't require anything heavy from us, where we can just be totally entertained and reset. There's a lot to be said about getting out of the habit of focus. Now, nowadays we have a lot of electronic devices. Everybody has multiple TVs at home, multiple devices. I myself have a desktop, I have a laptop, I have an iPad, I have an iPhone. We just have tons of devices. And because of the way we live now with emails and direct messaging, there's lots of room for distraction. The next time you go to the grocery store and you're in line, try not looking at your phone while you're waiting. Just about everyone is looking at their phone. So when people at the grocery store, when they're standing in line waiting, they're not having conversations with each other. I started doing that. I started starting up conversations with people in line. So if you don't like talking to strangers, I hope you don't run into me in a grocery store because I'll start up a conversation with someone, it'll just be small things, or I'll look at what they're buying and I'll ask them, is that really good? So I like to start up a conversation with people. And that was one way for me to overcome my shyness because we're all taught at a young age, don't talk to strangers. So I started that habit of just talking to people to get comfortable talking to people. And it really helped. And it's actually kind of fun to do it. But check it out. Look at the grocery store. Everyone's on their phone. They're looking at their phone and they're using every moment they have. And unfortunately, people do it, you know, at stop lights too. They're looking at the phone, and pretty soon the car in front of you is not moving forward and the light is green. So you got to kind of tap on your horn, you know, get off your phone and move forward because people are always on the phone. So we've gotten out of the habit of just being present every moment without occupying our time with some type of activity. But we can get out of habit and we have this need to occupy our time all the time. We've minimized our ability to do this by multitasking constantly. We're jumping from one thought to another, from one activity to another, trying to occupy our time. And I know for me, the the problem was I felt like I always needed to be productive. And those kind of people, and let me tell you, because I'm I was one of them, and I'm trying to fix that in myself, is that you never have downtime. You feel guilty when you have a day off and you take a day off, you feel guilty like you need to be filling it with something. And I think I confessed, maybe I did in the last podcast when my granddaughter turned nine. Um, I only worked half a day, took the day, half a day off, and we got her out of school and we went for lunch and we went shopping, and I did not feel guilty. I made a point of not feeling guilty. We do minimize our ability to focus because we feel the pressure of multitasking and being extremely productive and not wasting time. We forget that we can self-regulate our thoughts. And maybe that moment that you have at the grocery store in line is a time to think about other things and not maybe occupying your time on the phone. Because we're creating these habits of dependency on always being busy or always being occupied, and it makes it harder to have that time for reflection. So for me, using those moments that I have to just think or be very alert or more observant or where my surroundings is really helpful. So, granted, there could be outside distractions for sure. There are outside distractions. There are times when I'm working. If I do have to work on a Saturday, there are times when my granddaughter's here, and she'll know that I'm in my office and I'm doing a recording. I'm doing something that I didn't have time to do in the week. And because there's less interruption, it's easier for me to shoot a video or a podcast or something on a Saturday because there's no interruption. She knows that she didn't come in my office, so she'll come in. And the last time she came in, she brought me this little tiny envelope. It's literally like an inch and a half across by maybe an inch down. And I opened it up in the back, had like a little Mickey Mouse sticker. I mean, this tiny little thing, and there was a little note inside. And I opened it up and it says, I love you, Nana. How are you doing? I am just watching TV. So she brought this little note and she just set it on my desk because she wasn't going to distract me, but she was going to let me know that she was still there. And basically, this translates into when are you going to be done? Right. So there are those outside distractions that we have to navigate through. And of course, there are those times when we run across the shiny object syndrome when we're on the internet and we see a new tool or we see something or there's a webinar alert and we're looking to watch the webinar. And you know, a lot of webinars do have replays. And if you're the type of person that would commit to watch the replay, it's totally okay to watch the replay. But the problem is most people don't watch the replay. So it you really have to see if it's something that relates to what you need at the moment. And even though I'm going to be launching a webinar this month, I shouldn't be saying this. But if it's something that's really going to help you right now, you should take time to watch it. And if it's not, if it's not really directly related to what you need right now and it's not going to move you forward, maybe it's something that you can register for and watch the replay, right? Or not at all. So you have to realize that that shiny object syndrome, we sometimes think it's going to be the magic bullet that's going to save us from having to do more work, right? Or something that's going to be the cure all or the fix all. But being online and having an online business is work. There is no secret magic bullet. So just know that the shinier the object is, the more potential it has to lead you down that distraction hole. So just be careful about those types of outside distractions. But there's another distraction that goes beyond the outside distractions. And this is the one that I have focused on a lot in the last, I'm going to say the last six months, if not longer. And that is the distraction that goes on within your own mind. That is huge because if you self-regulate your thoughts and you learn how to use that muscle to not let your mind distract you, right? This will help you not see the shiny objects. This will help you work through stuff when it gets messy or hard. So this is where I found more success and more of the results that I wanted to see in my own business and what I was doing day to day is really focusing on the distractions that happen in my thoughts and in my mind. And I started asking myself the question why does our mind distract us? Like if we have to write an article or a blog post, right? Why is it that everything under the sun seems to want to distract us from sitting down and doing that? It's the same with copy. When I work with copy students, and sometimes it's like the last thing they want to do. And so, and so it's put off to the last minute, or they find other things to get distracted with. And so I started looking at this for myself. I can't speak for others, but for myself, I sometimes unknowingly look for distractions because I find the present task either distasteful or hard. And I become my own bottleneck in my own business. So let me say this again. We're talking about the distractions that happen in our mind and why they happen. I think sometimes we choose to be distracted or we choose our distractions so we don't do something that's uncomfortable. We look for a distraction because we find the present task distasteful or hard, and we become our own bottleneck in our own business. This is huge. And when I realized this, you know, I made sure that I chose the three things that I needed to do each day. Typically, I'll get through two, sometimes three of those three things, but no worries. If one of the things I didn't get done, it just gets carried over the next day. But those are the top three priorities for the day. And of course, number one is the number one priority. And I have my journal that says, out of these three, what is the one thing you've got to get done today? So I make sure I focus on that first. But we can change how we think. Now, for some people, if they have some distractions or they're they have thoughts that are very, very toxic or it's very hard to navigate through, I'm not saying you shouldn't get outside help. I mean, it's very helpful to find a therapist or a counselor or a friend or somebody that you can talk to. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just the work, the non-sexy stuff that we need to do, and we just rather do something else. That's what I'm talking about. But know this that we can change how we think or how we approach something, and we can focus on those things. And focus is actually not only going to help you with your work, but it's going to help you in your life as well. So, as I've mentioned in other podcasts, I'm a real fan of Dr. Caroline Leaf. She's amazing. And she makes a clear distinction about our brain and our mind. They're two separate things. And she says that your brain is one to ten percent of who you are, and your mind is at like 99% of who you are. So your brain is the physical substance that the mind works through, and your mind is how you think and how you feel and the choices that you make. And your mind is constantly, constantly working all the time, even while you're sleeping. It's not your conscious mind working, it's your non-conscious mind, but your mind is still working even while you're sleeping. So your mind is everything that you're thinking, feeling, and choosing. So you can see that when you have to focus, you might be thinking, I really don't want to do this, or you might be feeling some anxiety toward it, or you might be feeling some dread to get something done. Maybe it's those repeated tasks that you're just tired of. Maybe it's posting on social media, who knows? And you're just thinking, gosh, I wish I had somebody to just do this for me. Whatever it might be, you're making a choice, and it might not be a conscious choice. Because it's important to realize that your mind and how you're thinking and how you're feeling and what you choose, what you decide to do, because it's all a choice, it's you consciously showing up and being present and interacting with your environment, no matter how pleasant or unpleasant it might be. You're making decisions constantly because your thoughts will stimulate feelings, and your feelings will lead to choices, and your choices result in actions. And this is something that I was very aware of when I was competing in speech competitions because I was so deathly afraid of public speaking, and I had to detox my thinking daily. I had to do an exercise every day trying to what scripture calls take captive every thought. And I know that this works and this helps because I've gone through it myself and I've been a practitioner, you might say, of removing toxic thinking on a daily basis. That's why I always talk about journaling, because journaling has been so helpful for me, and I'm hoping that it'll be helpful for you. But you got to realize that when we don't really decide to self-regulate our thoughts, it affects our entire body. It actually, anxiety and all of that reduces oxygen to your brain, and it just has a negative effect on you. So the challenge is really to self-regulate your conscious mind and manage it, what you're thinking and what you're feeling. By doing this every day, it not only helps me reframe my thinking. So I start my day with the best possible mindset I could have, but it also helps me reflect. It also helps me check my priorities, it also helps me check my heart, right? Make sure my heart's in the right place. And all of this helps me focus. All of this helps me focus. It's a process. So I bet you didn't think I was going to talk about all this when it came to focus, but it does help me focus because all of that thinking, I've got it already done. And my mind can very freely focus on what I need to do. And I don't let my mind or my emotions distract me and get me doing something else that I shouldn't be doing because I've already dealt with all those things and I can focus. So, you know, practically you decide what works best when you want to focus. You can either go to maybe a quiet place to focus. Some people like to work with white noise with music background to focus. Some people like to work in blocks and exercise. Execute things during a focus session. Some people might use the Pomodoro method where you spend like 25 minutes, I think it is, 25 minutes with focus with a timer, and then you have a little bit of break. There's different ways to do that. And you have to figure out what works for you. And when you're focusing, you have to remember if you have three things that you set out to do, you're not adding something else that was not originally in the plan. You can have a notebook or somewhere where you something comes up, you can jot it down so it's saved and you can look at it later when you're planning again or brainstorming again. But you don't want to add something new when you're in the middle of your focus time. You stick to your original plan because you've already thought this through ahead of time. And then you want to track it. You want to track what you're doing to see how you're making progress. I like timelines, I like deadlines to see how I'm coming along and how close I am to completing a task within a certain time frame. And of course, the journaling. I don't know what I would do without the journaling. It really helps me quite a bit. That's why I'm always saying journal. Journal, journal. There is a scripture I want to read to you. It's 2 Corinthians 10, 5, and 6. I think it's the message translation, and it kind of encapsulates what we've been talking about. We use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. Isn't that beautiful? I love that. It really is a process of understanding we have this beautiful gift called our mind, and understanding that 99% of who we are is our mind. And God has given us this gift, and we want to make sure it's not toxic. We want to make sure it's healthy. We want to make sure we're reframing what we're thinking all the time. We want to make sure we optimize our mind for the glory of God. And when we do that and we're mindful of our mind, we're able to focus on what we need to do. So I hope that was helpful for you today. I love this topic. I could talk on and on and on about this, but it's so helpful to just take care of you first before you try taking care of everybody else. Take care of you first, take care of your mind. You will come up with ideas, things, you'll have inspiration, you'll have insights. I mean, it's it's a wonderful journey. But like I said, I could talk about this forever. But until next time, you take care. Wait, before you go, if you found this podcast helpful, subscribe so you never miss an episode. Every subscription, review, or rating means so much to me. Remember, cultivate resilient faith online to create positive change in the world.