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Staying Focused For Long Periods Of Time

Staying Focused For Long Periods Of Time

Simply removing distractions will not make you work more.

Matthew Larsen
September 27, 2024

Develop Your Focus Muscle

One thing that I heavily disagree with is the idea that you should simply engineer your environment to avoid distraction and then you will just automatically work all day and be successful.

I disagree with this completely because I have bought into this idea in the past.

While it is true that if you are trying to quit drinking, you shouldn’t be going to bars or if you are trying to lose weight, you shouldn’t be keeping snacks in the house, it is also true that simply removing distractions will not make you work more.

If you were to take away someone’s phone, they would use their computer.

If you took away their computer, they would use their tablet.

If you took away their tablet, they would read a book.

If you took away their book, they would go walk around.

If you took away XYZ, it would be replaced with something else to avoid doing work.

This is the problem most people face. They have no “focus muscle.” Even if they were locked in a room for 12 hours, they still wouldn’t get much work done because their focus muscle is too weak. It is like putting a skinny kid in a gym with nothing but a 350 lb barbell. No matter what the gym looks like, and even if they are locked in their all day, they still won’t be able to lift it. They do not have the capacity to do so.

But if you stuck that same kid in the gym with 100 lbs, then 125 lbs, then 150 lbs, then 175 lbs, then 200 lbs, then 225 lbs, then 250 lbs, then 275 lbs, then 300 lbs, then 325 lbs, eventually, over time, they would be able to lift the 350 lb weight.

This is the kind of thinking that people need to use with their work ethic and ability to focus. Engineer your environment, sure. But don’t think that your environment will automatically change your skills, character traits, and your capabilities as a person. You need to develop these more and more over time. Going from 0 - 100 will not work.

Start by working two hours per day with a timer. Next week, work two and a half hours. Then, three hours. All the way up to eight timed hours of work per day. It will take four months, and it will feel very easy and very natural. You will be training your focus muscle and will simply not get distracted anymore because you will have the capacity to focus, and it will just be “who you are.”