Why You Lose Focus (+ How To Fix It)

Why You Lose Focus (+ How To Fix It)

Most people are sort of in their heads a lot. They're not really present to what they're doing, they have an interoceptive bias. They're focused more on what's going on internally than they are focused on what's happening externally. ~ AH

Let's say you're in the middle of a focus session. Everything is going great. And then all of a sudden. You can't focus; the words stop making sense, you can't write another line, or your brain just freezes.

Your brain wanders and thinks "Ugh, I can't focus! what's going on?", "What can I do to refocus?" But that may not be the best solution

See, our brains have two modes of thinking: 'exteroception' and 'interoception'.

The first is when you put your attention inward, to thoughts and emotions.
The second is when you put your attention outward, to sensory experiences.

When you first start to 'thought wander', you bias toward interoception. So you zoom in on your feelings. And prioritize them over what you want to focus on. This increases anxiety, distraction, and makes it really hard for you to refocus.

Instead, you should get some exteroception to balance it out. It makes all the internal talk calm down and re-engages you in 'go' mode.

So to return attention, focus on a sensory experience instead of your thoughts.

What to do?

First, make sure you're okay with swaying in and out of focus. Don't expect to be sharp throughout the whole 90 minutes. Everyone thought wonders. Everyone loses focus.

Even the perfect version of you... except that version knows how to bring it back. You may want to read that again.

Anyway, it's time to get out of your head. Next time your brain wanders, or you can't bring your attention back, engage in exteroception.

Take 1-2 minutes, to focus entirely on an object. It could be the music you're listening to. Or the wall in front of you. And focus on their qualities. Like the color, the rhythm, the lyrics, the texture. Focus on the details.

It's like mindfulness meditation. Choose one object and examine it.

This turns your attention from inward to outward. So you'll find that in 2-3 minutes, you can refocus and return to your 90-minute block.

When your mind wanders, put your attention on something external.

Your 90-minute block

Day 1: Time your sessions to 90 minutes ✅​
Day 2: Start with a short warm-up ✅​
Day 3: Narrow your eyes to a visual target ✅
​Day 4: Strengthen the lights ✅
​Day 5: Push to work on harder things ✅
​Day 6: Eliminate your phone ✅​
​Day 7: To refocus, do exteroception ✅

Guiding question: Choose something you will put your attention to when your mind wanders. ex. music, background sounds, objects near you, etc.

p.s. I hate giving advice for the sake of it. But I used this tip right now because I lost my focus while writing this. I noticed how ironic it is (giving the tip but not using it myself). So I used it. I stood up, looked at objects in the room, put on music, then continued work. I'm telling you, this does work. Try it. And if it helps, let me know.