Obtaining focus As I find myself struggling to get words down I dance all over all kinds of subjects. I am thinking of my car keys. My stomach is wondering what’s for dinner. A problem from work or one of the issues with one of the kids rises to demand some of my time. Almost anything but the writing I want to get done. Sound familiar? What’s missing? Why can I not get into the flow? What do I lack? The answer is focus.
Focus is a tricky thing. We need focus and we can trick ourselves into believing we have it when we don’t. That’s the bad news. The good news is you can also trick your mind into being focused with some tips and tricks.
I should point out though; that this is not a one size fits all world we live in. You are going to have to try some of these things for yourself and be ready to either customize it to fit you better or even just work with it till it works or just chuck it if it is a complete no go.
Focus on Friend
One of the best tools for staying focused is to write like you are talking to a friend. This takes the pressure off what to think about and also gives you a point of focus. As I learned in the martial arts, focus on a target makes for better practice. Placing that target in the right area will determine if you hit in the right area and actually make contact as well. One of the practice concepts we use for targets to place them behind where we want to hit. That way we don’t look too hard and actually punch through.
It is the same concept here. Your target is to get words down but holding a conversation with a friend in your imagination kills the effect of the blank page syndrome we all suffer from. Suddenly you do not edit as you write.
Paper and Pen Focus Plan
It may sound ancient and antiquated, but I have found these two tools are the best for planning out there, at least for my money.
The trouble with planning is that we want to look at our project from the larger sky view rather than get down to the ground pounding view getting the words on the page. Each job requires a different pace and speed.
Using a physical paper we head off much frustration by removing the need to edit ourselves. When we type it’s almost instinctive to want to hit the backspace and kill what offends… That is one reason why I tend to use Notepad to speed write my first drafts. I do not have to see anything but a simple window without any editing going on. When we force our fingers to move as fast as we are thinking we also cut our thinking down. We focus on the topic more and cut the chatter in our heads so we can get more of the right words on the page.
Doodle dandy to obtain focus
There is also a side benefit to it. You can doodle. I had not noticed that one till I read an article on it by Pamela Hodges, Doodle Your Way out of Writer’s Block. Thinking without words in lines and pictures is a differenent way to stimulate ideas than a writer’s normal word based approach. The strange thing is it does work. Our brains tend to think in picures. If you doubt me, what do you see in your head when I say elephant. Chances are it is not the word. I do not always find the exact idea I want directly in the doodles but at worst it is a nice break that still lets the brain think. That break often does give me a new trac to run on.
Practice obtaining focus
Writing skills take practice and getting focus is just one of them. Taking the time to use and work with new and existing focusing practices ensures that you will grow your focus skills.
Deadlines you need these to obtain focus
Deadlines are one of those love/hate things we all have. Unless you are writing just for fun with the time commitments of a beach comber, you are going to need to set deadlines to get your work done. It’s just the way the world works and the way writers get paid.
The wonder of deadlines though is they are not just for the end of things like the week or project. You can use them for work days, for chapters, for a given white paper, for outlines and research. In fact you can use them for everything including this writer’s favorite tools, the writing sprint and the editing sprint. They both work exactly like they sound. Set a timer and play beat the clock.
Even your muse shows up with a deadline…eventually. Somerset Maugham, Ernest Hemingway and Asimov all worked so that they did not wait for their muse to arrive when they set to work. They demanded she get to work. You can do this too. The trick is to see the start of your work day as the muse’s deadline for showing up. So what if she does not show up? Then start without her for a time. She will get so frustrated with all the uninspired crap displayed before her that she will be there.
Work on deep habits
People have many ways to fool themselves into believing that they are productive. One of the more sinister is pseudo-depth. We mistake things like multi-tasking or even being too focused as working deep. The trick here is to remember that when we work deep, we are letting the mind have time to come up with its ideas. We do this best in a time and place where we can let our thoughts work out for themselves.
Multitaskers kill their productivity. Stanford found that when we multi-tasks that we hurt our cognitive control. In their study the researchers said that
multi-taskers have shorter attention spans, cannot consciously recall or switch between jobs as well as those who focus and complete a single task before moving on.
Too many thoughts means no focus
Distractions are the real enemy here. The source and type of distraction did not matter. Anything from your cell going off to the kids playing or any number of other outside factors takes your mind off the ball. All distractions kill your line of thought. This holds just as true with multi-tasking as it does with random outside stuff. A change in your line of thought, for whatever reason even for a short time, reaches the same end. Shallow work.
Deep thinking solution for obtaining focus
Taking time each week to work on one line of thought over a long period is a great investment in deep thinking that will greatly improve your end work. For more on this I recommend you read some of Cal New Ports’ work Deep Work and the article Deep Habits: The Danger of Pseudo-Depth
Time is on your side obtaining focus is there
Where we focus our attention is always the key in the focus game. Writing with an emotional focus can be a plus too. Instead of working to beat your production numbers, try focusing on the pleasure of the writing itself. Make it a game. This works great when you are using a friend in your imagination. Enjoying the conversation is automatically there. You can do the same thing by just being aware that you are enjoying what you have to say. Ignore outside distractions like time, the amount of work or even the deadline and the ticking clock. Instead just enjoy the work for the work’s sake.
Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art covers this nicely. When we do our work for the joy of doing the work itself, we always get some positive biofeedback from our time. This will not only make you more productive, but could very well lift your mood and reduce stress as well.
Writing sprints for obtaining focus
Sprints are easy to understand and easier to do once you practice them for a bit to shake the weird feeling. Write as fast as you can for a given time, ususally between five and 25 minutes. When the timer goes off, you are done. Stop. Count the words. Note them. Then cue up the timer and try to beat your score. Repeat till you have done however many you sprints have setup to do. Remember to take a break every now and then to give the mind a break. You would not run sprints on a track back to back all day. Writing is no different for your mind. Writing sprints are that simple.
There are a couple of ideas to bear in mind.
First have fun. Work on getting as much of your thoughts down as possible. Do not worry over anything else.
Second set reasonable goals in your sprint. For instance do not set word counts you cannot possibly make or are even a push.
Word sprints are meant to build confidence and skill as much as make your production goals. You will have a better time and create better copy if you work to get goals that are in a reasonable range. Shooting for 500 words in 25 minutes when you know you can easily make 450 is a good streatch. 600 when you can only make 400 is off the mark. You can even use ridiculous goals like using five random words to start a 25 minute race. The entire point of the goal is to just get you moving. Once you are moving the process will naturally take you higher.
You might also use your writing routine to Build Your Morning Writing Routine
My thoughts on obtaining focus
Obtaining focus is mostly just a matter of setting the right habits and routines in place for you. Take your time. Play with new ideas. Choose what works for you. That’s how to find focus in your work.
Photo by Lucian Novosel on Unsplash