The Mindset Mentor - How to Concentrate Like a Pro

Episode Date: July 13, 2018

Episode 454 - We live in world of distractions and every day we receive more. So how to we become masters of focus and concentration? In this episode I give simple, yet powerful, strategies so that you can master the art of concentration. Want to learn more about Mindset Mentor+? For nearly nine years, the Mindset Mentor Podcast has guided you through life's ups and downs. Now, you can dive even deeper with Mindset Mentor Plus. Turn every podcast lesson into real-world results with detailed worksheets, journaling prompts, and a supportive community of like-minded people. Enjoy monthly live Q&A sessions with me, and all this for less than a dollar a day. If you’re committed to real, lasting change, this is for you.Join here 👉 www.mindsetmentor.com My first book that I’ve ever written is now available. It’s called LEVEL UP and It’s a step-by-step guide to go from where you are now, to where you want to be as fast as possible.📚If you want to order yours today, you can just head over to robdial.com/bookHere are some useful links for you… If you want access to a multitude of life advice, self development tips, and exclusive content daily that will help you improve your life, then you can follow me around the web at these links here:Instagram TikTokFacebookYoutube

Welcome to the MWF Motivation Podcast, one of the top-rated motivational podcasts in the world. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I come out with a short, to-the-point, no-BS podcast designed to transform you from who you are today into who you want to be. There's no fluff here, just life-changing content. My name is Rob Dial, and the podcast starts now. Today, we're going to be talking about how to focus, how to concentrate on what it is that you want. So when we're talking about focus, we have to think about

concentration. And really what you have to ask yourself is why is it so hard for us to focus modern day? And the reason why is because we have so many things, phones that are just taking our concentration away all the time. They're always going off. Bling, bling, bling. We have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, all of these things, email, right? We have all of these things to distract us every single day. We walk outside and there's cars going, there's people talking, there's things that are always happening around us. And what you have to realize is the reason why it's so hard for us to focus is because we don't practice focus.

We practice distraction. 18 hours a day, 16 hours a day, we are distracted. And whether we realize it or not, which most of us have never realized it, and I never realized it until recently, was that the reason why it's so hard to focus is because I'm not practicing focus. I am blindly focusing or blindly practicing distraction. I wake up and I can go to my phone. Some people wake up, they go to the bathroom and as they're brushing their teeth in the morning, they immediately hop on their phone. They get distracted, right? They go downstairs. They wait for the elevator while they're waiting for the elevator and they're on the elevator. They look

at their phone, they get to their car, they put on music to distract them. They put on something to distract them the entire time that they're in the car. Then what do they do? They go, they get to a stoplight, they pull up their phone to distract them. They just, a lot of people, most people just can't sit quietly with themselves. They're practicing distraction 16 hours a day. They're not practicing focus. And so what you should ask yourself is, am I practicing distraction or am I practicing focus? It's something very important to think of. And what you'll start to notice is that throughout the day, you're constantly just trying to figure out a way to distract yourself.

Lots of people have trouble with meditation. And they're like, oh, that's just the way my brain works. No, it's not the way your brain works. The natural state of a human is very chill. The only difference is we've created technology to distract us as many hours as we can while we are awake. So if we're practicing distraction 16 hours a day, we're going to be really, really good at being distracted. If you practice basketball for the next six months for 16 hours the entire day, every single day, in six months, for 16 hours, the entire day, every single day, in six months, you're going to be really good at basketball. Even if you've never

picked up a basketball in your entire life, you're going to be good at it, right? So you have to think about that. Well, I'm probably, it's probably really hard for me to focus because I'm basically an expert. I have my PhD in distraction. And so you ask yourself that, well, okay, now that I know that, how do I practice focus? You practice focus by all of the things that you do on a regular basis, making it as easy as possible to bring your attention to it. So you ask yourself, what are things that I do every single day? So an easy example, maybe you make yourself breakfast every single day. Let's say you make yourself eggs every single day. Well, every single time that you make yourself eggs, like for instance, me, I used to listen

to podcasts when I made eggs. I used to listen to YouTube and put on a motivational speech or something from somebody, listen to them talk and try to learn an audio book. But that's just distracting myself. Sure, there's growth in there. But also, if I'm practicing distraction all the time, I'm going to be distracted all the time. So why don't I take something that I do every single day, like making eggs, for instance, would be an example, and put my focus into it. Put my focus into doing it. I don't have to listen to music. I don't have to listen to an audiobook or do something or talk to someone. I need to sit there and actually just focus on making eggs.

And even though it's boring, the reason why it's boring is because we're so used to distracting ourselves. Our brain is looking for distraction. So make it simple, something that you do every day. And you have to do it to everything, just something that you do every day, like for instance, making breakfast, right? Or let's say you have a spouse or a significant other, right? How about every single time that you talk to them for the next 30 days, what you do is give them 100% of your focus, right? If you're in a serious relationship with somebody,

you should ask yourself, how much focus do I actually give them on a daily basis? When we're in a conversation, am I 100% there or am I thinking about work? Am I on my phone? Am I looking at the TV? Am I looking at the computer? Or do I sit and turn and look them in the eyes and give them 100% of my focus, right? If you want to get better at focus, just practice focus. And you don't have to focus on everything in your life, but to make it easy, the first step, we always want to make it easy

because people want to try to revamp their entire lives, but then it's too much for them to do and they don't do it at all. And so the question you'd ask yourself is how can I make it easy? Okay, when I am speaking with my spouse for the next 30 days, I will give them 100% of my focus. And if I notice my focus starting to go somewhere else, I will give them 100% of my focus. And if I notice my focus starting

to go somewhere else, I will pull it back and focus on them again. If I start to notice it go somewhere else, I will pull it back and do that again. The way that you concentrate your mind and focus it is when it starts to go somewhere else, you pull it back and you put it in focus. And when it goes somewhere else, you pull it back and put it in focus. The example I always give is it's like a dog. You have a puppy and it starts peeing on the floor inside. You have to take it and put it outside. If he's on the floor, you take it and put it outside. If he's on the floor, you take it and put it outside. And after repetition over and over and over again, the puppy goes, oh, I pee outside, not inside. Well, after all this repetition, your brain goes, oh, I'm supposed to focus, not get distracted with

everything that I do. So find one thing, just one thing that you do every single day, right? And bring focus to it. Stop being distracted. Stop being on your phone all the time. When you wake up in the morning, don't immediately go on your phone. Don't check your emails. Don't check your Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter. Why don't you see, make it a challenge for yourself. And what I like to do is keep my phone off as long as possible before I absolutely have to turn it on because I keep it on airplane mode. I try to stay from it as long as possible because I noticed that once I go to that phone, I can feel myself getting distracted. I can feel the pull of the addiction of having this mobile device and all of the notifications and all of the things that I could get into at any point in time.

Some of us are so distracted that people, I know people listening to this, cannot even poop without having their phone with them. They will go across the house to go get their phone, to go the other direction, to go poop because they cannot even sit quietly with themselves for five minutes. We are masters of distraction. Can you take your brain and start practicing focus? Start practicing these things. And what you'll start to notice is after 30 days, you're like, man, I'm getting really focused whenever I'm making breakfast. I'm really focused whenever I'm talking to my spouse. What can I do next? Where else can I put this practice in place? Right? Like I said, if you practice basketball, you've never played basketball in your entire life, but you practice 16 hours a day for the

next six weeks or the next six months, you're going to be really good at basketball in six months. You've been practicing distraction for 16 hours for two years, three years, five years, 10 years, maybe your entire life. You're an expert at it. So how can we get you away from that and get you to the point where you start becoming focused? So that is how you practice and become a master at focus instead of distraction. If you liked this episode, please share it with someone that you know

and someone that you love. And I'm gonna leave you the same way I leave you every single episode. Make it your mission to make somebody else's day better. I appreciate you and I hope that you have an amazing day. Well, that's it for today's podcast. If you want the show notes for this episode, they can be found at mwfmotivation.com.

Also, if you liked this episode, please spread the love and share it with a friend because it's our mission to help as many people as we can. And to keep in touch, you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Both handles are at MWF motivation with no spaces. Now you know what time it is. So go out and make your dreams a reality. Outro Music