Focusing Better: Use Your Strength

If you are not focusing in all areas that you want to, determine where you focus strongly, and develop your ability to focus there. Later – or at the same time – you can transfer the capacity to focus to another activity.

For example, you want to focus and learn a new language. You study. You try. But, it’s not going well. Perhaps you don’t have the full passion going inside of you for each study session.

But, you are passionate about singing. You focus well when you learn a new song. It’s easy for you.  You can quickly get your mind into a productive mental “state of mind” that allows deep focus on a new song.

Let’s try it in this example: As you focus on learning a new song, also think about how you’re learning.  Step back (mentally, not physically) and understand how you focus well when understanding new music.  How do you feel? What is different?  Are you able to “turn off” the outside world so that your focus is stronger?  Let’s call this “strong-focus learning“.

When you are in this type of “flow” experience, everything seems easier because of many factors (which we will discuss later).  You are combining learning with enjoyment of the activity, and your mind is able to more effectively tell your brain to store new memories.  So, while you doing a learning activity that is easy for you, such as learning a new song, capture the feeling in your memory.

Copy Yourself, It’s Okay: Then, later, when studying the new language, bring back the feeling of “strong-focus learning“.  Remember your state of mind.  Recall your earlier song-learning mode, and use – or adapt – the same state of mind to your language studying. Repeat as necessary to “burn” this better learning pattern into your brain.

And you may not have to adapt your focus from one area of life to another area. In this example, you can also try learning a song in the new language, and combine both learning experiences into one.