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Hyperfocus

BREAKING DOWN: PROCRASTINATION AND FOCUS

-CHOOSING MY BOOK AND GOALS

From High School to the beginning of college I’ve struggled consistently with one thing. Procrastination. Teachers, parents always say don’t procrastinate your work or don’t procrastinate cause you won’t finish but I still end up sitting there scrambling at the last minute trying to finish everything in a day. You would think after one or two mishaps due to procrastination I would stop but I continue doing it no matter what. But on top of procrastination, I have trouble staying focused on tasks as well. In the world we live in nowadays it’s very easy to get distracted with technology all around us. Once a notification pops up we are basically programed to check what it is. Focus also depends on location, when in a setting with many distractions you’ll never be able to  be productive. This book will help me learn new strategies to work on procrastination and staying focus. When we were tasked with the “Book Project”, I knew relatively quickly the topic of book I was going to choose. It had to be something related to my goals of reducing procrastination and focusing. After reading through the summary’s of the list of books, I knew a few sentences into it  Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey was the book that would help me best and help me achieve my goals.

-SHORT BOOK SUMMARY

Hyperfocus gives strategies and ideas on how to best manage your focus and how to be more productive. There are two types of focus Hyperfocus and Scatterfocus. Hyperfocus is “when you expand one task, project, or other object of attention so it fills your attentional space completely.” Scatterfocus  is the your creative mode. “Scatterfocus allows you to do three powerful things at once. First, it lets you set intentions and plan for the future. Second scatterfocus allows you to recharge. Third Scatterfocus creates creativity.

 

Even though the work is even harder and more plenty in college I still find a way to do unhealthy practices of procrastinating and not staying focused. I needed to make figure out goals for myself and stick to them to help me out for the future and beyond. Using the book I was able to find different strategies. First to be productive you cant allow yourself to get stuck in autopilot mode meaning you can’t let your mind go through the motions, you have to be purposeful in your attentiveness. Another thing I learned from the book is our attention has limits and can only focus on a few things at once which is why certain places are easier to study.

-GOALS

One of my biggest problems as a student is putting my work off till the last minute. By the end of the semester, I will minimize my procrastination in school by setting three daily intentions (the rule of three) and prioritizing consequential task. Focusing on task for a long period of time is very difficult for me as I get distracted easily. By the end of the semester, I will be able to better manage my focus on schoolwork by working in “distraction free mode” and use of the pomodoro method.

-STRATEGIES

The rule of three

  • Pick three task to do each day
  • Make sure these three task are task you can get done by the end of the day and are built around your schedule

Tracking

  • Begin your day by writing a to do list of 3 task to finish by days end
  • If needed adjust task to meet needs of the day
  • Then learn from your schedule and how well it work out week to week

This strategy has helped tremendously in keeping up with things I need to get done. While in the beginning I thought I would struggle because I’m not used to sticking to a schedule but in the end I’m glad I did this strategy. This strategy has allowed me to get ahead in my work and not wait till the last minute to do things. Even though three tasks is a small number it’s an achievable number as it doesn’t overwhelm. The tasks on my to-do lists used to just sit there for days on end because I would put too many things on it and never had any desire to get it done. But three tasks proved to be a perfect number to get done each day and can fit around your schedule.

 

 

Pomodoro method

  • This method is a focus and time management technique in which you do work for a set amount of time and then have a break. This allows you focus on your work rather than the distractions that surrounds you.

Tracking

  • Each time I Picked a task and setting to work in I recorded it in excel sheet
  • Set time for work and time for break using Pomofocus timer
  • Tracked my internal distractions and external distractions
  • This helped me learn which place was best to do assignments

RESULTS

Before when I was studying or doing an assignment I would get off task fairly easily, go on my phone, go on different websites, anything not to do the work. But using the pomodoro method I was able to stay focused. I would almost at times get into a hyperfocus or flow state and wouldn’t even use the break. While at school I would say the method worked best with at the library as there were less distractions and cause everyone else was working and focused you felt the need to do the same. It got slightly more difficult in quarantine at home because I’m alone, I’m the only one that can keep myself from going off track. The office was probably the best place for me at home to stay focused on my work because it was isolated from the rest of the house. The pomodoro method allowed me to focus on my work rather than the notifications from my phone. It allowed me to get my work done in a more effective and productive fashion. And because I finished my work earlier, I was able to go to bed at an earlier time.

Takeaways

For the most part I definitely feel like the strategies throughout this book have helped me achieve my goals. From procrastination to focus I now have different strategies to use to ensure I stay on task with my work. The rule of three helped me keep a consistent schedule each day based on what I needed to do and I for the most part stuck to that. The Pomodoro method kept me on track while doing my work which made it take less time and was more productive. In the short term and in the long term, as a student and as a human this project has helped me greatly improve myself in many ways then not.  When starting to study for an exam I start a week in advance to make sure I give myself able about of time to study everything I need to know.I will definitely be sticking to these strategies here on out.

To summarize:

  • Figure out how to work with your schedule and not waste time
    • working ahead allows you not to cram and do better quality work
    • Don’t overwhelm your schedule, spread things out so you can focus and put sufficient amount of time into each assignment
  • Figure out what your distractions are and remove them so you will be able to focus better
    • Don’t do your work in a setting that’s surrounded with distractions
  • Learning to use your attentional space is important to building the ability to focus on each assignment