In the past, I often fantasized about having abilities in various fields. I want my days filled with lots of activities, from painting exercises, graphic design, music, computers, martial arts, and much more.
In addition, I also want to master various fields of science, ranging from philosophy, mathematics, economics, politics, biology, chemistry, physics, even literature.
Having the ability in various fields is fun. In addition to beneficial to others, also beneficial to yourself. We can work in various realms of work. We need not fear being unemployed. One job opportunity is lost, there are other opportunities available in another field, which are different from the previous field of work.
Having a lot of ability can also be a value that supports our existence. There will be many people who know us as multitalented.
Yach, that is, many positive things that can be achieved when we master the skills in various fields.
However, there are things to note, namely how to realize those desires. If you do not know how to make it happen, it will weaken our productivity.
Why is that?
Because, the number of desires to make us confused. We are confused to determine which desire will be realized first. We are confused to set the time to realize all that desire. Not to mention, we must consider whether we are gifted in that field or not.
Do not let, those desires make us lose focus. One job is not finished yet, we can not wait to do another. One unfinished workout, our mind wanders in another exercise. Instead of making us multitalented, it just makes things messy. In fact, even worse, makes us stressed and frustrated!
The same is true when we are at work or at home. In the office, because of the many tasks that have to be completed, we become confused which task to do first. In the house, see the messy room, the clothes have not been washed, the yard has not been swept, we also want to immediately clean up everything. Yup! Tidy up everything until the house looks clean and neat!
Problems arise when we are about to begin our task. Seeing everything looks messed up, we are confused, which parts should be taken care of. We do not know what to do.
Hehehe, confused what to do?
Well, the purpose of this article is to answer the confusion
The key to unraveling the confusion due to too much activity to do is FOCUS.
In relation to activity, focusing means having a deep concentration on just one activity. When our attention is split, like when we get a lot of work to do, that means we lose focus.
Loss of focus is an invisible disease, but the impact is substantial. Our productivity is influenced by our ability to stay focused. The weaker the focus, the lower our productivity. Conversely, the stronger the focus, the higher our productivity.
So, how to stay focused on our activities?
Before answering that, let's first explore what causes the loss of focus.
Causes of Missing Focus
In his book The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life, Thomas Sterner mentions a few things that can cause us to lose focus. What are they?
• Result-Oriented Mindset
Result-oriented is a mindset that considers that results are more important than processes. People with this mindset assume that no matter how the process is important. What matters is the maximum result.
In the realm of work, the application of this mindset as a management strategy that applies to human resources has its own advantages. Employees are freed to work in their own way, not bound by the rules of time and place set by the company. That way, employees have the freedom to work according to their standards.
The problem is different when the mindset is applied in relation to the activity. When doing the activity, the person with this mindset will constantly dwell on the results. He wants to get results from the activities he does. His mind is not drifted on the activity itself but on the outcome that it wants to get immediately.
By Thomas Sterner, while performing the activity, people with a result-oriented mindset are portrayed as always thinking the following: "I'll be happy when X happens." In the midst of doing the activity, the mind of a person who has a result-oriented mindset is always hovering on results. In their hearts, they always mumble, "I'll be happy when this work is done."
That is, when the work is not finished, they are not happy. Well, this feeling of unhappiness has left them unfocused. They want to get the job done so they are happy.
• Work VS Play
The cause of the second loss of focus is the way we perceive an activity. As Thomas Sterner explains in The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life, we always divide the activity into two categories. The first category is work activity (work), while the second category is play or recreational activity (game).
We consider an activity as a work activity when it involves the source of our livelihood. Meanwhile, we view an activity as a recreational activity when it does not concern our source of livelihood.
Division of activity into two categories is what causes us to lose focus. We do not like activities that are classified as work activity. This is because, when doing these activities, we are required to make the right decision. The wrong decision will threaten our lives. This causes our minds to be depressed and stressed out, afraid that the decisions we make are wrong. Our mind is not focused on the activity itself, but on the outcome to be achieved. We are afraid that the outcome of the activity is not what we expect.
In addition, we do not like to do work acitivity because psychologically, our subconscious mind is eager to complete the activity and move on to other activities that do not involve important decisions, ie recreational activities. This happens because we are not comfortable with work acitity.
• Multitasking
In an earlier article entitled How to Overcome Stress with Ease: Avoid Multitasking !, the authors explain that multitasking activity is an activity consisting of two or more tasks performed at the same time.
As for the mechanism, the experts explain, in fact our brain can not do two tasks simultaneously at the same time. What actually happens in the brain is not a multitasing activity but a seriesal tasking.
The part of the brain that does the activity (serial tasking) is not able to perform all tasks at the same time; That part of the brain does it by continuously switching from one task to another very quickly.
The question is, if parts of the brain continuously move from one task to another, is it possible that part can focus when we do multitasking activities (serial tasking)?
The answer, of course not! Instead of focusing, the part of the brain is just experiencing confusion, which in turn triggers the release of stress hormones.
Expert Mind, Not In Time Now
After knowing some of the causes of the loss of focus as described above, then how to stay focused work?
Still in The Practicing Mind, Thomas Sterner explains that the three causes of loss of focus as above basically stem from one common cause, the expert-mind that our habitual thinking.
In the Zen tradition, the expert-mind means the mind accustomed to making perceptions and judgments. Just like an expert, we (our expert-minds) always make perceptions and judgments about what we see, hear, feel, or do.
The opposite of the expert-mind is the beginner's mind. Beginner's mind is a neutral mind, who knows nothing yet, which therefore has not been able to make judgments and make perceptions of things.
When we are beginners (beginner) in an activity, for example when we can not walk, walking requires a deep concentration. In fact, to concentrate, to the extent that we ignore the events around us. Our minds are drifting into walking activity. There was no time, not even a second to divert attention to anything else. Nor is there any time to prejudice and judge what we are doing. Our minds are completely blank. What is there is just a sense of curiosity how to do such activities.
The situation is different when we are able to walk smoothly; We are no longer able to concentrate on these activities. As we walk, our minds no longer dwell on the activity, but on everything else.
When we are skilled in doing certain activities, we lose our beginner's mind!
Why?
Because, we are no longer curious about the activity. We're very good at it. In fact, so expertly, we can do that activity automatically.
When we are experts in doing certain activities, we lose the beginner's mind. And, instead, there is an expert mind in our mind.
With expert mind, we are accustomed to making judgments and prejudices for what we are doing. For example, while sweeping a page, we rate that activity (sweep) as a boring, trivial, or even RIDICULOUS activity!
When conducting activities that involve important decisions, our expert mind judges what we do is a work that can not be done carelessly. As a result, there is fear inside us in case we make mistakes.
Well, such assessments that make us not focus on doing it. We want that activity to end soon and move on to other activities that are more fun, more valuable, or more important to our eyes.
In addition to making us lose focus, such assessments make us tempted to do activities in multitasking. And, multitasking activity in the end also makes us lose focus.
In short, the expert mind makes our minds float, not here, right now (in the present).
Beginner's Mind, Acting Like a Little Child, Being In This Moment
From looking at the above explanation, we can conclude that the expert mind (usually when we are experts or when we are adults) makes us unfocused. By contrast, the beginner's mind (usually when we were kids or when we were newbies) increased our focus. So, in order to improve focus, we must have a habit of thinking beginner's mind.
Beginner's mind habit habits are naturally owned by young children. Pay attention to children wherever they are. Whatever they do, they always take it for granted. Something that we think is unimportant, like pouring water into a glass, becomes very important for a small child.
Now, the question is, can we regenerate the beginner's mind within us? How do we get back like a curious little boy, always enjoying, and dissolving in every activity they do? In short, how to be like a child who is dissolved in the present (present)?