10 Things I Learned from Reading Books on Improving Focus

An Excerpt from my upcoming book: The Anti-Hustle Manifesto.

Here are the 10 things I learnt from reading books on Focus.

1. Create a routine

Even though I never had a routine, there is one thing I always did before I read these books.

I would wake up at 4:00 AM every morning and ask myself the question, “WHY?”

As per the latest psychological research on distractions (mostly done on lab rats trying to avoid being electrocuted), routines train your brain to anticipate work at a fixed time.

So now, I have a routine. I wake up early every morning. I butter a slice of bread and put it to toast. I make myself coffee, sit at my work table and ask myself the question, “Seriously, WHY?”

2. Reduce Decisions before you start

It’s not like you don’t go for a run because you are lazy. You don’t go for a run because your brain is avoiding making decisions about which T-shirt to wear, picking the right socks, and whether tomorrow, the first day of the Hindu calendar month, is a good day to start running, instead of today.

If you reduce your decisions and keep your T-shirt, shoes and socks ready the night before your run, you will hear a high-pitched voice of a woman yelling, “Why the hell are your socks and shoes kept in the middle of the living room?”

3. Work in short intense sprints

The idea is to work in intense sprint without second guessing yourself. You set a timer and finish the task at hand first. You can always fix mistakes later.

As a writer this means, I lock myself in a room and tell myself, I will just type for an hour. No fixing spelinddg milkstaes. No corrected grammaring. Don,t bother about the right punctuation; Just keep typing whatever comes in your head without stopping. Just type whatever you are thinking. Why is my nose itching so much? Should I see a doctor? What is happening. Somebody. Help. Please.

4. Delay Gratification

This one is so important that one of the billionaires in India has got “Delay Gratification” tattooed on his arm.

In a recent podcast, he said that the tattoo helps him while he is picking stocks.

I call bullshit.

I say, “There are pills available for your condition. Just talk to a doctor man.”

5. Keep a tab of what distracts you

So here is what I did. I took a notebook and listed down the reason every time I got distracted. I did it for a month. At the end of the month, when I sat down to chart out the top reason for distractions, I was shocked.

Because, I couldn’t find the notebook anywhere.

6. Finish what you start

[complete this point by adding a joke by tomorrow end of the day]

8. Track your progress

Wait, was this the 7th point or the 8th point?

G. Always be consistent

One of the books summarised consistency very aptly.

Consistency functions as an antidote to attentional atrophy.

If like me, you have no idea what the word atrophy means, you can always pick up your phone…

9. …and Google the… oh wow a notification on Insta

Radhe Radhe Guruji….

Hey USA what’s new with you…

10 hidden gems in pondicherry that you did not know about

What’s your name mam. Give me one reason why you both fight…

So what’s your take?

3 actors that destroyed their career..

Bhola bhala tha, seedha saadha tha main…

10. I think I am tired now. I’ll just lie down for a while. Wait, what’s that smell?

Oh, Shit. The toast.

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This is an excerpt from my upcoming book:

The book is a well researched, academically informed investigation into modern work practices and their cultural implications. (Seriously, it has diagrams and everything. Even footnotes.)

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