How To Focus For 12+ Hours a Day Like a Millionaire

Hey Guys,

In this post I’ll be explaining how I have built my ability to focus. Following these ideas helps me stay focused and productive, producing high-quality work for hours. Without them, distractions set in, leading to lower productivity. I hope they benefit you as much as they do for me.

Focus is a habit. Like any habit it can be built or destroyed depending on your actions. If you build the habit of focus, it becomes effortless and habitual. If you don’t build the habit, focus can be incredibly challenging.

The ideas in this post have changed my approach to working, I hope they have a similar impact for you.

How to Build a Habit

Building a habit is simple. There are three components to a habit. The cue, the routine and the reward. If you have these three and do the same thing regularly, a habit will build. Let’s run through some examples to show how some common habits are built.

The cue to go for a cigarette may be boredom at work, a desire to socialise or a craving for nicotine. The routine is you going outside, having a cigarette and chatting to a co-worker. The reward is the spike of social hormones and a nicotine hit. Hence smoking is an easy habit to build and a hard one to break.

When building a habit, we need to design in these three parts of the habit. We must have all three. It is very tempting to just decide the cue and routine, without rewarding ourselves. This won’t work as it then relies on willpower as a pose to simply the habit part of our brain.

We can design whatever habit we want to, if it has these three components and we do it regularly.

The Habit of Focus

When I sit down to work, I start a timer. This timer serves as my cue that I am now in ‘focus mode’. I then practice the routine of being focused. When I am eventually done I stop the timer, save the work session and then take a well-earned break and go chill (the reward).

This then creates a log of the exact amount of time each day I am in a state of complete focus.

Of the three components of a habit, routine is the key part. This is what we really want to build. We can choose this to be whatever we want it to be. Ultimately, building a habit of lazy unfocused unproductive work is as easy as building a habit of true excellence. Whatever standard we chose to hold ourselves to, will become our default standard. Therefore, it seems obvious that we hold ourselves to the highest standard and practice excellence.

We need to commit to maintaining unwavering concentration, ensuring 100% focus. Dive deep into tasks, think clearly, and deliver outstanding, valuable work. It’s a simple decision we must consistently make. Therefore, opt to be fully focused whenever the timer is ticking.

Josh Waitzkin hammers on this point endlessly in his incredibly book ‘The Art of Learning’. The point Josh hammers home in every interview is to practice excellence. This means whenever you do any work, do it to the highest standard and hold yourself to this. It is a choice you make which is no harder than choosing any other standard, but this then becomes your default standard.

By timing your work sessions, you not only signal the need to concentrate but also establish a quantifiable metric for tracking. Initially, surpassing 20 minutes of focused work might be challenging, with an hour daily as your upper limit – a commendable achievement.

Tracking your focused work is crucial; what you don’t measure, you can’t improve, and what you measure tends to improve automatically, thanks to various mental processes, as explored in gamification.

The Focus Muscle

We have established that focusing for significant periods is essential, we now need to dig into the details of how to build the ability to sustain focus for long periods of time. How do we go from our current default of high levels of distraction, procrastination and muddy thinking, to a standard of complete clarity and focus?

The key lies in how we handle distractions. Usually, focus is presented as a struggle against distractions, an effort to resist their temptation. As long as you maintain this perspective, reaching the level of focus mentioned earlier will remain elusive.

Distractions are unavoidable; they will occur. Viewing distractions as a personal failure significantly diminishes our focus capacity. Each instance of distraction or procrastination leads to self-judgment, creating an exhausting cycle. Striving to uphold an unrealistic image of constant focus ironically amplifies our susceptibility to distractions.

Rather than clinging to the false notion that we must avoid distractions, let’s embrace the inevitability of distractions. In doing so, they transform from failures into opportunities for growth.

Each distraction serves as a chance to strengthen what I refer to as the focus muscle. Acknowledge the distraction without judgment, redirect your focus to the task at hand, and in doing so, you enhance the resilience of your focus muscle.

Consistently applying this process whenever distraction occurs solidifies it as a habit. Recognize the distraction (Cue), release its hold and resume work (Routine), leading to the reward of producing outstanding work and entering a deeper state of thought and focus.

With time, this transforms into a habit, requiring diminishing effort until it becomes effortless and automatic. The less effort it demands, the longer our focus endurance, allowing us to accomplish more.

As time passes, you’ll observe an extension in the duration of effective focus. Initially, it might be just 15–20 minutes before mental fatigue sets in.

Fitting it all Together

This post highlights two main concepts. Firstly, focus is a habit that we can intentionally shape and adhere to; we have the freedom to set our standards and must opt for excellence in cultivating this habit. Secondly, distractions aren’t forbidden during attempts to focus. Resisting them only perpetuates their impact. Embracing distractions as inevitable and utilizing them as chances to enhance focus helps build an effortless habit of maintaining concentration.

By combining these two concepts, we can develop the capacity to focus effortlessly and generate outstanding work. When the effort to initiate or sustain focus diminishes, work transforms from being draining and frustrating to enjoyable and easy.

We can establish a student lifestyle where work and leisure are distinct. Enjoy complete relaxation, knowing we can efficiently tackle substantial work whenever required. Similarly, work with confidence, assured that tasks will be accomplished, and there will be a designated time later in the day for relaxation.

If you truly implement the ideas in this post, you will build the ability to focus with extreme clarity for hours on end every day. This means you get far more done in far less time and create space in your life to relax and enjoy being a student.

Cheers

Jonas