Habits

When most of the tasks we have to do are more involved, yet we haven’t established focus momentum, we jump from thing to thing without actually completing much.

This tends to be accompanied by a bit of anxious energy or overwhelm around having a lot of options for what to do. But often we’re lacking some clarity on what is most important. Sometimes it all feels important or it all is important.

Especially with more complex priorities, a secondary challenge comes when you aren’t sure how to get started with that individual task.

The irony of this situation is that we have so much to do that we feel like we don’t have time to stop, assess, and set things up so we can get zoned in.

Here are some simple steps to recenter and move forward. This focus launch list should take about 20-30 minutes but will save hours of wasted time and effort.

The Focus Launch List

1 / Breathe

Pause everything (and I mean everything) and take a bunch of deep, slow breaths. Silence your phone and put it far away, close your eyes and push the CO2 that has been chilling in the bottom of your lungs for the last two hours and let your house plants have it.

2 / Grab a Notebook & Pen

Turn to a new page and leave it open next to you, pen uncapped, ready to roll.

3 / Clear Work Space

Take five minutes and remove everything from your desk that might be a visual distraction. Papers, post-it notes, memory cards, books, empty coffee cups, etc.

As you go, make a note in your notebook for anything you don’t want to forget if you find a post-it note with grocery items on it. Don’t list the specific grocery items, just write something like:

Grocery Shopping, list on post-it note in desk drawer

You don’t have to throw things away, just note them and store them away

4 / Clear Digital Space

Close everything on your computer. Save any unfinished work, bookmark browser tabs that you don’t want to lose and close them. Even if you’re going to open something right back up in a bit, close it for now. By the end, you should be able to restart your computer safely without losing any work.

Similarly, if there was something you’re in the middle of that you need to come back to, note what it is and where to find it in your notebook.

Respond to Janelle, main email inbox

5 / Clear Brain Space

You likely have some things listed already, but take everything else bouncing around in your brain and write it down in the notebook now. Don’t think too hard about it, just jot down any concerns you have on what’s going on right now.

I haven’t shaved in three days
Did the dog go out yet?
Library book needs to be returned

This doesn’t have to be exhaustive, just let any concerns you have flow on to the page. Your computer has to use its processing power to keep all those extra applications running at the same time—closing them frees up more juice for the task at hand. Your brain needs the same thing.

6 / Sort Notes

Sure, you haven’t shaved in three days but unless you’re showing up to a photoshoot later, another day might not be a big deal. This page is your beehive—it’s busy, chaotic, and relatively disorganized, but it’s all there.

Identify two things: a quick win and an urgent/important today task.

Quick win: walk the dog
Important: write investor update letter

7 / Momentum Play

Go do the quick win right now and if it’s something that doesn’t require a lot of mental processing, use the time to think through how you’re going to approach the important thing. What’s the first sentence of the letter? What information needs to be included? Visualize yourself crafting this letter.

8 / Affirm Success

Cross out the quick win task that you just completed and yell, “BOOM!” or maybe do a stupid quiet dance or something to not scare your dog or neighbors. Yes, actually do this. You made progress, celebrate it. Next!

9 / Set The Stage

Flip to a clean page in your notebook and write the one task at the top. Jot a few quick notes underneath reflecting on any considerations you had while doing whatever your quick win was.

If on the computer, open the one or two things you need to complete the task and if it’s something like writing take those notes from your notebook and dump them into the page so you have some guidelines to start with.

Go to the bathroom. Get a glass of water. Airplane mode your phone. Tell any co-habitating humans that you’re going to be zoning in for the next 90 minutes. Turn on BlockSite or whatever distraction-killer you use. Start a kitchen timer for however long you’re going to work for. If your work period aligns with one of our focus group times in the community—all the better.

10 / Do The Thing

Build off of whatever guidelines you created to start with and expand on them. Don’t sit with a blank page/spreadsheet/whatever, just add something. Copy and paste this paragraph into it if you need to.

Start now. Don’t make it perfect; put clay on the table so you have something to sculpt.

11 / Dump Distractions

You’re going to think of things. You’re going to think of the funniest tweet you’ve ever twote, and you’re going to want to tweet it right now. You may not.

Write said tweet in the notebook which should still be open on your desk and get right back to it. Dump it from your brain and move on.

You’re going to remember a grocery item you forgot to put on your list. Dump it in your notebook and go back. Don’t hang on it, just release it.

12 / Repeat The Process

At a certain point, you won’t be writing in your notebook anymore and you’ll overcome the discomfort required to enter a flow state.

Sure, this focus launch list might have eaten 30 minutes of your day but you just got 90 minutes of focused work done, likely in a flow state that multiplies output by 2-5x. If there’s more to do on the task, throw your hands in the air like you’re the 2x world champ, take a short break, and set up again for round two.

If the progress you’ve made is enough for the day, play ‘Celebration’ by Kool & The Gang on Spotify and take a break. Or you can always go back to your list for another task and continue with the momentum you’ve built. After two or three of these 90-minute blocks, you’re done!

The End

While the explanation may be lengthy, each of these items on the focus launch list usually only takes a minute or two. This is how you can save your day, calm the bouncy-ball brain, and make forward progress on important work. Respect the process by giving it the space it needs, and you will reap its rewards.

You know, it’s the whole “If you don’t have time to meditate for one hour, you should meditate for two” wisdom.

Good luck, and have fun with it!

Note: This is a copy of a recent newsletter that ended up being longer than usual so I placed it here for ease of reading.

Earlier in June I made this video sharing some thoughts on taking action with imperfect allyship, listening, and staying accountable to creating systemic change beyond this moment. We chose to not monetize the video, and to make personal donations directly to support the recovery of our former neighborhoods back in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Black Lives Matter, and we have a lot of work to do from here.

In the video—which I hope you’ll take a moment to watch—I talk about going beyond the current news cycle and embracing anti-racist action and systemic change as a long-term habit. In general, most habits that are good for us tend to be challenging and take a good amount of repetition to stick. Eventually, what felt uncomfortable becomes a practice, then a habit, and over time that practice becomes an identity: something we do because it is who we are. 

That’s when things really gain momentum and real change starts to take shape. 

So how do we get there? Speaking broadly, what does it actually take to create lasting change in our lives and in the world at large?

Again, broadly speaking, there are two ways: small, slow, and consistent, OR big, fast, and burn.

We see examples of big and fast just about everywhere—magazine covers, sales copy in online ads, instagram influencers hustling detox teas that guarantee big results quickly. “Lose 14 pounds in 14 days”—you know what I’m talking about. They sell magazines depicting what looks like success and happiness, and claim that you could get there too if you only had this or did this thing.

But there’s no burn—most often, just an impulse purchase.

On the other hand, small, slow, and consistent is substantially less sexy. It’s hard to sell, isn’t it? Imagine bringing your purchases to the check-out aisle at a grocery store and seeing a magazine cover that says, “Gain 14 pounds of muscle in one year by using this lifting program for one hour, four days a week!”

How many people would buy that magazine? Not many.

It’s been shown time and time again that consistent incremental improvement is what creates the biggest changes over time. So why is it so challenging? Because, I mean, we’re human. We go too big, too fast and end up burning out. Even if we start small enough for it to be manageable, it’s often quite a while before we see any visible progress. Without that feedback, we’re left to simply trust the process—and that, too, is hard—especially in a culture that prioritizes serving up fast, cheap, and convenient. Hello, Twitch, am I right?

When we take action to create change from the norm, there is an invisible and opposing force that we fight against. Some might call it the status quo, or for those in positions of privilege, it might be called simply “what’s comfortable.”

In Break the Twitch language, this is Newton’s 3rd Law of Habits—every action has an equal and opposite reaction that we must overcome to stay consistent. When we do something small consistently, we get a little stronger each time, and over time, we can take on more and more.

Which is why the only other way to create lasting change is big, fast, and burn. As in, burn the bridge behind you.

My wife Amy and I loved our home and love our people in Minnesota—and that made it incredibly hard to willingly leave. But we needed a change from the midwest where I’ve lived my entire life, so we put our house on the market and sold it. I’m not sure what legal process would need to occur in order to un-sell a house once the sale closed, but I can’t imagine it would be easy or worthwhile. We weren’t sure exactly what would happen one year ago when we did that, but one thing was sure: we needed a change and we got it, and couldn’t easily go back without figuring out a new place to live.

Another example of burning the bridge is pushing the bare clippers over a big chunk of hair so you have no choice but to shave it all off for the first time and embrace your thinning hair. At least, burning the bridge and committing to trying it.

While these are personal examples, there are important societal examples too: when people need something to change and despite consistent efforts can’t seem to make it happen because perhaps, peaceful protest goes unheard or is misconstrued, some bridges might literally get burned.

In many ways, it was the small, slow, and consistent actions of individuals and community organizations pushing for social justice that provided the support and framework for the change that is starting to happen—work that must continue. It will be those consistent actions that carry the progress from the big and fast action that was made this month. More people than ever are becoming aware of the injustices that many people of color have known their entire lives, and conversations are happening now that are long overdue.

And if there’s anything I’ve learned about keeping that change going, it is the consistent, small personal efforts that will do it.

While I understand this may incite different feelings and reactions with Break the Twitch’s global audience, I hope you agree it’s important that we all pay attention and continue the discussion, continue listening, and continue pursuing a more just world together. I also hope that you can take from this what may help you in your own journey toward the change you want to see.

Where our attention goes, our actions flow—and imperfect action beats perfect inaction any day of the week. So let’s keep at it.

There’s something magical that happens when working in a café or quiet library surrounded by other focused people. Away from your day to day environment, there’s an element of public accountability to stay on task. It turns out, there’s some science behind this effect. It’s a phenomenon many of us have experienced before, perhaps without even realizing it.

It’s been shown that simply having another person around can help you become more productive while working on certain tasks. This effect is reflected in a concept used in ADHD treatment called the body double.

Especially because I tend to get my best writing done in cafés and in shared work spaces, the pandemic has been particularly restrictive in that way. It’s been a tough adjustment along with the many others—but we’ve made a great alternative with Zoom video calls in our community.

Even if the person isn’t assisting with what you’re working on, body doubling can help you stay focused

If you’ve ever studied in a busy library or with a group of friends at a coffee shop, you’ve likely experienced it yourself. You’re more likely to be productive and focused when you’re around other people being productive and focusing, too. This is especially true when you feel a sense of accountability to the people you’re with.

That feeling of focus and productivity is exactly why we started doing focus group sessions with our community members all over the world. In these scheduled sessions, we come together online to co-work on silent video call meetings for 90 minutes. We start each session by sharing what we’re working on and then update each other on our progress at the end of the session—along with a short chat to catch up, of course.

Many community members use the focus group sessions to work on the things that need an extra push that body doubling can provide. You may be wondering exactly what kind of things people are using the focus group sessions for.

It can be hard initially to think of ways to use the productivity effect experienced from these focus group sessions. But there are certain tasks and projects that pair especially well—particularly ones that are dull, big, or more taxing.

7 Ways To Use Focus Group Sessions To Improve Productivity

1 / Writing projects

Let’s face it, starting from a blank page or delving back into a sprawl of thoughts that don’t yet make sense is one of those things we often want to put off. We see people working on novels, articles, newsletters, or blog posts all the time. Using the focus group sessions to tackle those writing projects, big and small, is a common occurrence.

2 / Studying or research

Similar to when we’d head to the college library to study with friends, focus group sessions are great for studying for exams or doing that research you need to do. Whether you’re at the undergraduate, graduate, or PhD level, you’ll have more accountability and motivation to get that work done.

3 / Email and other administrative tasks

If you’re someone who hate going through email, this one’s for you. Using the focus group sessions to get through those pesky emails in your inbox is a frequent thing we see. Whether it’s email or those many small, but important tasks that often are pushed to the bottom of the list, you’ll have a solid chunk of time to work through them.

4 / Learning a new skill

A lot of the time, we have the best of intentions to learn a new language, learn how to code, read a book, or practice an instrument and never actually do it. The task might feel overwhelming and too big to even start on. With the focus group sessions, you will have set times to work on it bit by bit with the dedicated time.

5 / Big scary projects

We all have those big projects you’re overwhelmed by or a passion project you never seem to make time for. Perhaps you’re thinking of finally digitizing and organizing those family photos. Or working on a business idea you’ve always wanted to start on. The focus group sessions provide solid chunks of protected time for you to make a little bit of progress on those big projects.

6 / Ideation, planning, or brainstorming

Sometimes we just need time to think, plan, and reflect on what we have going on. Use the focus group sessions to lay out a meal plan for the week or to brainstorm ideas. Additionally, you could set up your bullet journal, do a brain dump, make a to-do list, or simply get organized.

7 / Anything you’ve been avoiding or putting off

Whether it’s taxes, invoicing, or troubleshooting an issue—whatever it is you’ve been procrastinating on is an excellent activity to bring to a focus group session. Oftentimes, the tasks we feel the most resistance to are less intimidating when we name it and work on it in the presence of others.

So there you have it. I hope you found these ideas to increase productivity with body doubling or with our scheduled focus group sessions helpful! I also hope to see you at a focus group session in the near future.

In this video, I share some thoughts about happened recently in my long-time home of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the following protests and riots around the world. Along with some personal thoughts, I ask a few questions and give considerations about what it means to be a stronger (yet imperfect) ally.

While there is incredible momentum in demanding change right now, we need to look at what we can continue to do.

Here are some video highlights:

• Our experiences in life largely come down to what we pay attention to. We cannot pay attention to what we’re not aware of, what we don’t see, or what we willingly ignore.
• George Floyd’s unjust death has led to more attention on the structural racism that has existed for hundreds of years, and with that attention comes needed change.
• Let’s hold space for potentially uncomfortable conversations so we can be more aware of what’s going on and adapt. Just because we haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
• As a white ally, it’s not about feeling guilty for the color of my skin, but reflecting on ways it has benefited me in life while understanding that there might be many I’m completely unaware of.
• As we move forward, we can focus on the small but consistent ways we can continue to learn and direct our attention beyond the defaults so that we grow to be stronger allies.
• How can we work to create a diverse environment where everyone can speak up about issues and feel safe while doing so?
• Despite having always considered myself an ally, I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to understanding my implicit bias, anti-racism, and what I do to grow my practice.
• Black Lives Matter, and if they don’t—all lives cannot matter.

Improving my focus has always been, well, a focus point for me. My ability to stay zoned-in on a task wasn’t great even when textbooks and taking notes with a pencil were the cool thing to do. But, add mobile screens, infinite accessible information, and constant connection to the mix? Good luck.

I’ve always had to—and will always need to—work actively on my ability to focus on difficult tasks. As a teenager, I thought these magical focus abilities would just “happen,” much like facial hair and going from tenor to bass in my high school choir.

Newsflash: it did not.

It has taken decades(!?) of intentional practice to sharpen my skills and understand the environment that works best for me.

It turns out, building the ability to focus is exactly like building any other habit.

Go figure, right? And if I can do it, so can you.

For starters, the same foundational principles of habits apply when it comes to improving your focus.

1. Start smaller
2. Repeat as often as possible
3. The goal is the action itself, not the outcome
4. Environment affects discipline
5. External accountability helps

When it comes to focusing, here’s how these principles apply.

1 / Start smaller

We’re increasingly less accustomed to sustained focus these days. Most television shows change scenes every three seconds or less. We scroll past multiple posts and pictures on our feed within seconds. While it might feel crazy, starting small may mean setting a timer for 5 – 10 minutes and working on something for that period of time without changing tasks.

2 / Repeat as often as possible

Repeat your desired task over and over again to build up a pattern of successful focusing. The repetition builds trust in yourself and respect for the timer.

3 / The goal is the action itself

The goal is to sit and focus on a single task for the duration, not “get a ton of stuff done” in the duration. You could stare at a wall or meditate for the same length of time and have similar results over time.

4 / Environment affects discipline

You most often eat what you can see, and what’s easily available. A candy dish is a disaster for me, so we don’t have one. It’s the same with focus. Change the environment as much as possible by turning off notifications, wedging your smartphone underneath a couch cushion, and changing the locks on your study so family members can’t get to you. Kidding, but you get the idea. Another way of putting it is to design your environment with intentional friction and non-friction for improved focus.

5 / External accountability helps improve focus

In the initial focus-building phase, you need to subconsciously prove to yourself that the timer is gospel and you have what it takes to go from start to finish. While my focus ability has improved massively since the time I was first blessed with facial hair, having accountability has absolutely skyrocketed my focus over the last six months.

Despite finding Pomodoro timers (45m on, 15m off), time trackers, and other tools helpful, I never found they worked as well as they should. Especially when working from home, since I was the one in charge of the timer! I could just stop it and go look in the fridge. There was little intrinsic motivation to actually heed its power—until November of 2019, at least.

That’s when we started running group focus sessions for Break the Twitch community members. We all mute our microphones and hop on scheduled video calls to work together for 90-minute sessions. I provide a video stream of my desk timer that shows up on the call and after a brief conversation over chat, we’re off to work.

When the sessions became more popular with community members, I found myself participating in two or three 90-minute focus group sessions every day. Knowing others were working along with me made it incredibly easy to focus on my chosen task for the duration. It’s similar to working in a library or coffee shop quietly; you see other people working so you just work, too.

With the consistency and repetition of the focus group sessions, I started to notice something incredible: the same accountability I felt to the 90-minute session transferred over to my desk timer when working alone. Even when I wasn’t in a session, I felt the same accountability to focus for whatever duration the timer was set for (typically 90 minutes).

All the principles come together to improve focus

Choosing something and working on it for a chosen length of time or until it was done. Magic.

To be fair, I didn’t expect this to be a result. Most people are happy with the accountability brought on by the scheduled focus sessions themselves, as I’ve been. But it’s nice to see an unexpected positive result from those sessions as well.

You can apply the same principles and likely get similar results.

Even after six years of writing and exploring this stuff, I’m still consistently surprised by how much of life is tied into the foundational elements of intentional living. We are indeed creatures of habit, aren’t we?