Today is a lesson on focus. Now, there is some crossover between NUK SOO™  and this course because they both aim to develop your mindset, not just your body; so today’s lesson is actually a cut & paste job from Day 14 of the NUK SOO 90-day challenge. I hope you find it useful.

Introduction

Self-awareness is the unquestionable foundation for true self-improvement.  Partaking in any game, activity or thought experiment that helps you become more self-aware is ALWAYS worthwhile. Being a more considered and deeper thinker while employing logic and critical reasoning skills will give you better opinions, and in many ways, it will liberate you.

When walking, walk. When eating, eat.

Zen Proverb

Today we shall discuss the art of mental focus. The ability to focus (i.e. to concentrate fully on a given task without being distracted) has a direct impact on your success as it profoundly affects the time it takes to master new skills, be it doing your taxes with no mistakes, learning a new CRM system at work, improving your golf swing or defending a punch when sparring.

Focus is easy to develop; it is just like a muscle – when you work it, it gets stronger. Be patient, though, as it can take weeks rather than hours to see the benefits of improved focus.

Right now there are millions of things happening, both inside your body and in your external environment. Imagine if we were fully aware of all these things – from your heart beating to hearing every conversation going on around you. My god, it would be a total nightmare! It would be too much to cope with. We need things to be blurred; then, we choose what to focus on. This is key. The vast majority of ‘decisions’ we think we make are actually just habitual subconscious actions, BUT when we focus, our conscious brain gets involved. To actively focus means to fully be conscious, present and aware of the thing at hand.

When I used to teach tennis, I found that saying, “Look at the ball!” was the most common teaching comment I made. Looking at the ball is not enough though. After reading Tim Gallwey’s masterful “The Inner Game of Tennis,” I began teaching my clients to look at the ball’s seams! It revolutionized the number of unforced errors being made by my clients. This leads me to the first secret of how to focus: dig down and concentrate on the DETAILS.

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

Bruce Lee

Challenge One – Be Still

Sit up straight and be still for ten minutes. From your toes to the head, scan through every part and think about how it feels, how relaxed or tense it is, and how hot or cold it feels. Slowly run through your entire body. Now think about your heart rate. Is it fast or is it slow? How slow? Now think about your breath and how much breathing is done through your nose or mouth. Is it deep or shallow? Now face straight ahead past your screen. What can you see? What is in focus? Where is the exact edge of your peripheral vision? Now focus on what you can smell and, finally, what you can hear. And finally, focus on your thoughts; what is happening in there?

This exercise is an eye-opening experience. It’s very much a form of meditation and a reminder that we can always choose what we focus on – and self-awareness and focus go hand in hand.

Challenge Two – Make it easy

The second ‘secret’ is to make it easy for yourself! Yes, it is easy to meditate when sitting on a mountain full of monks, it is easy to be celibate if you live by yourself on a deserted island, it’s easy to chill and watch people in a café when your iPhone battery dies and its also often easier to train when you’re in the gym. When you have discipline, and something is significant to you, then you don’t get distracted, but when things are new and you are developing new habits, you need to make it easier for yourself logistically.

Challenge Three – Meditate

We live in distracted, sensory-overloaded, and somewhat overwhelming times. Right now, there are millions of things you can be reading instead of this. We can try and avoid distractions, but as we don’t live on top of mountains, I think it’s far more useful to develop the skill of NOT being affected by them. This is where traditional meditation can help. Meditation is a tool to help achieve non-attachment to cleanse the ego and to feel more centred and mind-body connected. All these are important aspects of your warrior journey. There are many ways of meditating, and it’s good to try different methods until one resonates. Below is the way I first learned to meditate. (while living & working with Buddhist monks in a Monastery – but that’s another story for another time!). Tonight, please do this final challenge for 15-20 minutes.

1. Sit still in a quiet room and close your eyes.
2. Think of your breath going in and out like a balloon.
3. Allow your thoughts to come in and out but don’t dwell on any. Let them flow.
4. Whenever you find yourself actively thinking, go back to thinking about your breath.
5. You want to allow and ‘let yourself be’ rather than ‘make yourself do’.

Challenge Four – Routine

The fourth secret to focus is to cultivate a healthy routine. Having trained many people living with ADD & ADHD and several with Aspergers, I have seen firsthand how a regular, engaging and fun movement practice, a healthy, nutrient-dense and maintainable diet and a strict bedtime routine all work together to calm the brain. Routine massively helps us transform our well-being levels and perform at our peak. If you’re like me and bit chaotic and undisciplined, then forcing yourself to go to bed, wake up and eat meals at the same time can be truly life-changing in terms of improved productivity and freedom from stress and anxiety.

A note about Nootropics. My view is that it’s ludicrous to start experimenting with these (Tim Ferris style) when you are not doing the basics right! Eating a diet of nutrient-dense foods, avoiding toxins and getting a solid night’s sleep will do far more for your brain, body and soul than any wonder drug. (NB: With some of my clients, I sometimes prescribe Caffeine and L-theanine as a morning boost when they are mentally sluggish).. But quick fixes to focus are not the NUK SOO way! Warriors develop mental strength and productive, sharp minds the right way; they don’t neck red bulls take pills to function… and nor should you. My challenge today is for you to think about your lifestyle and check that it is congruent with your brain working at its best.

Well done! Mental focus is a life skill that will improve every time you practice it. Be patient; whenever you need a reminder of how to focus, please return to this lesson.

Further Study

• Deep Work: Book by Cal Newport
• Teach Yourself to Mediate: Book by Eric Harrison
• The One Thing: Book by Garry Keller
• How to focus: Video by Tim Ferris
• The Art of Focus: Ted Talk Video