Here are 10 habits that can drain your focus:
1. Saying “yes” to everything – Stop doing that because you’re really nice. Sometimes you have to say “no” so that you can stay focused.
2. Reacting quickly – Instead of reacting quickly to a situation (which often times can escalate very fast and can be very emotional), take a moment to slow down and breathe. Walk away from the situation and think about it before responding. This can often clear your mind and help you focus.
3. Drinking too much alcohol – Hangovers. Enough said.
4. Being late – When you’re rushing to work or your next meeting, chances are the only thing you’re focused on is getting there on time. And this usually causes you to panic versus focusing on more important things (like preparing mentally for the meeting). My rule of thumb: Always arrive 15 minutes early to the meeting and consider that as being “on time.”
5. Too much coffee – From my own personal experience, coffee is great for short term focus, but too much of it hurts my long term focus (I’ll get jittery and won’t sleep as well at night. Sometimes I have a really hard time falling asleep too).
6. Multitasking – Don’t be the jack of all trades and master of none. Much better to be the master of one.
7. Accumulating too much stuff – Having too many things carries a large administrative debt. Consider cleaning out your space and closets and only keeping things that make you genuinely happy or make a positive impact on your life.
8. Eating junk food – This will slow you down dramatically. If your body doesn’t feel right, your mind will lose focus. Eat healthy. I do this by drinking a green smoothie almost every single day. I use mixed greens, apples, kale, mango and bananas. My focus dramatically improved once I ate healthy and started exercising regularly as well
9. Watching too much TV – Unless you want to focus on watching more TV (which I am guessing typically isn’t the case), this can really distract you.
10. Holding grudges – Staying angry at someone isn’t going to change what already happened. Let it go. Focus on what you can affect today. Focus on creating a brighter future. Focus on being the best possible version of yourself.
Author: Nelson Wang, published on Forbes, Inc, and Fortune for self improvement topics
