The brain is perhaps the most important part of our body. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to do the typical essential tasks like feeding ourselves, drinking water, sleeping, and using Netflix. I assume you’ve spotted my irony there, apparently, sleep isn’t a big deal. At least not as much of an issue as the ability to use Netflix competently is for our species to continue to exist. But what if you had a healthy brain to focus on all day and be able to achieve so much more?
Heart is also important (don’t start eating fast food on me now). But the brain is a pretty amazing essential organ. And the fact is, all too often, our big brains are running out of their ability to focus. We tend to use the urban slang word, “brain fog,” to describe a brain that doesn’t focus well. When I was a kid, they called it ADD. I’m not sure that’s my dilemma, however, I think I just enjoy playing outside the Bunsen incinerator and reading about the worm’s life cycle.
Mentoring changed everything, though. Concentration becomes a lesser option and becomes a necessary evil to suffer. As an adult, you need a healthy brain with focus all day long. We all have to work. We all have to watch our kids and make sure they don’t lose any limbs while playing on the playground equipment. But there’s even more incentive to increase focus: It actually makes us more competent in life. Research shows that people who can stay focused longer are simply smarter at performing mental tasks. If a person is unable to concentrate for an extended period of time, he or she will never gain deeper, deeper knowledge on a wide range of topics. They simply become “familiar” with so many different concepts. They never go beyond its shell.
Being “shallow,” for lack of a better term, means never being able to properly outperform mental challenges. It means living a life of tested capacity. How can you grow a business when you’re too focused on the challenge to delve into the problem you’re after? I would say that the challenges posed by the inability to concentrate well are obvious.
What if you had a healthy brain to focus on all day?
You can be rich. You could be an astronaut today. You can be a famous movie star without even paying for Netflix. In fact, a healthy brain to focus on all day means you can accomplish more tasks and learn new skills. You become a weapon of brain power. A focused brain is an unstoppable brain.
So what can we do to improve our brain’s ability to focus? We are glad you asked.
First, let’s assume the brain is a muscle. Anatomically, your brain isn’t really a muscle, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s assume it is. Are you still focused? I hope so too. With muscles, we train them to do all kinds of functions. We train them for more strength. We puzzle them with quests that make them extra skilled at coordination. Reaching for a water bottle might be easy, but you need to train your muscles to make the ping-pong serve (unless you’re Forest Gump, since he’s just a natural ping-pong machine).
The point is, muscles need additional (and sometimes additional) training to really grow beyond what’s usual. The brain is no different. The modern world exposes the brain to trivial matters consistently. Our world is a scroll of smartphones. We were a bit immersed in the pursuit of convenience and tech savvy. Technology is great, but the side effects that impair our focus are not so great.
If your brain just scrolls the Facebook feed with your thumb, don’t expect your brain to develop into a machine focused on long-term tasks and deeper concepts. Just like your muscles, if they’re only exposed to walking to a burger and reaching for ketchup, you can’t expect them to naturally juggling.
Here are some good brain exercises that can help you train that “muscle”.
So let’s get started with it, shall we? Just try and focus, I promise it will be worth it.
Learn distraction free quests
Did you know that when you turn your attention away from an online quest because you want to look up “which centipedes can kill me?” it takes an average of 25 minutes to get back to what you were doing? (source It’s pretty much a death sentence for productivity. The internet is so fascinating. We like to search for every random thought we have.
In response, open a document that allows you to add to the list. When a crazy thought or question pops into your head, write it down. This will relieve some of the worry that if you “don’t look for it right away, you’ll forget it.” This way you stay focused and train your brain that frequent and prolonged distractions are not part of your lifestyle. You learn to focus longer on what’s important.
Brain power training
At some point, you just need to lose weight or run a little longer if you want to get in better shape. The brain is the same gig. At some point, you will have to say “I will focus” and force yourself to do so. This is essentially strength training for your brain. Your brain lifts a little more weight today than it did yesterday. And it works.
Training your brain to get past the feeling of dizziness to la-la land will help improve your brain’s ability to focus in the future. Your brain just needs exercise.
Brain meditation
Anxiety and stress are concentration killers of everything. If you’re worried about paying your electric bill, it can be difficult to research your new business plan or focus on setting up a new client’s Powerpoint presentation.
Meditation is a proven aid in the stress and anxiety relief category. If it can help you clear the “brain mess” that can interfere with your ability to focus.
Brain exercises
No, this time, I really mean getting your muscles around (and not just ketchup). Regular moderate exercise has been shown to boost mental superpowers. Exercise will also help you release the stress that life has piled up in your big brain. You need the little things to disappear so you can focus on the things that matter most.
Memory exercises
Want a better memory? Well, wouldn’t it make sense to start memorizing things? Of course, it certainly will. If you want to get better at anything, do it more often. Your ability to concentrate and remember can be improved by performing brain exercises that strengthen the internal functions of the brain.
Improved memory means you become a smarter writer, you increase your vocabulary, and you become a super cool person in a bar conversation.
There are many memory challenges out there that can help you improve this aspect of your brain. Why not spend a few minutes each day on this training?
Read longer – Read slower
Stop trying to boom through long text. Stop skimming and look for headline and bold text. Read the passages in full and read them slowly and carefully. Then watch the magic of your brain come to life. Your brain will learn to stop shifting your focus up and down the page, and it will start absorbing information and concepts.
At this point, your brain just wants to flip through a page of text as quickly as possible. This means missing out on learning opportunities. It is a natural process of your brain. Stop allowing this to happen.
Good medicine for brain
Pharmaceuticals make a lot of money on ADHD drugs. I’m not here to decide the legitimacy of such things, but what I can say is that I have had success with brain supplements. I have a list of the best nootropics for a good reason. They work.
In my opinion, they only work when you combine them with some other suggestions. I mean, don’t eat nootropic and eat a bad diet and just keep searching random thoughts on Google all day. That would be a waste. But if you want to change the game and are willing to make some small tweaks, then a nootropic might do the trick for you.
Finally, a healthy brain with all-day focus is achievable. But it requires some work on your part. My biggest fear right now is that you might simply forget to do work? I’m kidding… .start!
