Laser Focus | Learn How To Get Into Focus State More Easily

            Remember this formula Amount of work done = Focus*time spent. More focus helps to more work done. Here I'm sharing some key-ideas of Laser Focus (with my modifications) from the book 'Make Time' by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky. 

The first thing anyone should remember that multitasking is a myth. No one can multitask, we just do task switching and think it's multitasking. Whenever we switch a task to another we reset our focus and there is also the attention residue of the previous task. This attention residue will hamper a bit to getting more focused on the next task. So DON'T TRY TO MULTITASK.


Now to able to focus like a laser, we have to eliminate distractions. As you can see from the above pictures whenever we get distracted our focus resets to zero. We have to focus again. But if we remove all the distractions there will be more work done in the same amount of time.

Tactics for Laser Focus

    Here some tactics that will help you

Remove Distractions

Nowadays our main distraction is our phone. So some useful tactics for handling it carefully so that we can control it not vice versa.

Out of Sight:

When you intend to start any work that needs focus to try to remove your phone out of sight. Just like behind the pc screen or cover it with some books( I use these more often). Better you can do — turn of the internet connection then keep it in another room but don't silent it (for any important call). What we are doing just adding more resistance to reach our phone. Eventually, it will decrease phone addiction.

Social Media Settings:

  • Try to uninstall as many social media apps as you can. Because these are the infinite pools of distractions. But some apps must be needed for communication. For those apps turn off the notifications for those apps and let know others that you have disabled the notification of these apps, so if anything important then they can just call.
  •  Try to open these apps at selected times (2-3 times a day is best)and reply to those messages. 
  • Do not keep the social media apps on the home screen of your phone. 
  • For WhatsApp, you can archive all the chats that you have replied to. It will help you no to go to any chat any start a random discussion. 
  • If you are using pc for social media then don't install any software for that social media. Just open it in your browser and log-out each time. Change your password to a hard password so you have to write it down.  (What we are doing is that just creating resistance. It is one of the main tactics for getting rid of bad habits from the book 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear.)
  • For phones, you can use an app called 'Your Hour'. I'll help you track how much time you spend on your phone and on which apps. It also can show a timer on apps how much time you are using that app (It helped me a lot).

Set Your Surroundings:

  1. Only take those things you needed for that particular work.
  2. Try to lock yourself in another room.
  3. Try not to use social media in the morning section.
  4. Keep your workspace and entertainment space different. Even sitting on a different side of a table also works for a different purpose.
  5. Block your distraction Kryptonite (the weakness of yourself or the thing that distracts you the most) only for the time when you trying to focus.

Getting In Laser Focus Mode or in FLOW:

  • Play a laser soundtrack: Find a soundtrack without lyrics mainly classical and listen to it when you try to focus. What it will do is that it will create a pattern in your brain that 'Now It's Laser Focus Time'. After some repetition of this, you can able to enter the focus mode just by playing that particular soundtrack.
  • Set a Visible Timer: You can a wristwatch for that. Whenever you look at the clock, it will remind you that it's time for work.
  • Set a Dead Line: Whatever work you are doing try to set a deadline for that. It will help you to finish the work in time.
  • Thought List: You can't force your mind to stop thinking. So whenever any thought comes to your mind just write it down in a list so that you can visit it later. It will help you to clear that thought at that moment.
  • Be Meta-aware: Meta-awareness means you are aware of what you are thinking. So what you have to do, is that whenever you find yourself that you are thinking about something that is not related to that work, then just drag your awareness to your work.
Try to take a break after every 90-minute session. It will help to energize you.
        I have shared all the Laser Focus tactics that I personally used and modified them. Many of the tactics may work for you.
        Let me know in the comment section which tactic you find more helpful and you find it helpful share it with your friends so that they can be benefited too.
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