How to Focus: Get Things Done and Be Free

What is Focus?

Focus is what you direct your attention to, what you allow into awareness.

But it’s way more than that – to say it’s just that is like saying that the screen of your computer is your computer. The screen is just the output of the processes happening in the computer.

Focus is a process.

Way I see it, focus is what you zoom in on and the process of focusing is the process of zooming in on things.

…as though the process of focusing is zooming in with a video camera where the screen of the video camera is your awareness, what comes up in your mind, the output, and the process of zooming in and out on different things is the process of focusing.

Just like with a video camera, you can decide to zoom in and out on anything – you can focus on anything – but randomly zooming in on things isn’t the most effective way to use a video camera – not the most effective way to focus…

How to Focus

The first thing to do to achieve Jedi-level super focus is to stop randomly zooming in and out of different things all the time.

Stop zooming for zooming’s sake.

Zoom out completely.

Turn the video camera off. You can turn it on again later.

The more different things you try to focus on, the lower the quality of your focus will be – like you’re spreading the focus out over many things instead of concentrating it particular things. Look around quickly and you’ll get a vague idea of what’s in the room but you won’t remember much detail about anything in particular and while getting a general idea has its place, it’s not focus.

Get out of the habit of needing to zoom in and out of things constantly. Just as a thought experiment even for now until you see for yourself how powerful this is… when you catch yourself needing to think about different things constantly, just zoom out.

Then when you decide to focus on something in particular, zoom in completely on that thing, that idea, whatever it is… don’t allow your focus to wander to other things, if it does just zoom back on what you’re concentrating on.

If you get stuck or panic, especially during an exam or tough situation, zoom out completely. Turn the camera off. Zoom out even of the idea of zooming. It’ll give you perspective. It’s easy to feel like a tiny wall is massive if your eyes are pressed against it – take a step back and you might find you can just walk around the wall instead of having to barrel through it.

It’s a lot easier to sprint if you haven’t been jogging all day. Get out of the habit of needing to constantly focus on things and then when you do want to focus, it’ll be a lot more intense and have a much higher quality to it.

Be Free

You’re holding the video camera. You are not the video camera. It’s not you; it’s something you’re holding.

Just like whatever you zoom in on, whatever you focus on and direct your attention to and bring into awareness – that’s not you. Your problems, limitations, issues, etc… none of it is you. Those are just things that we focus on and have made up stories about to give them meaning. Just like the fragment of a brick wall seems massive when your eyes are pressed against it, our limitations and “problems” seem super real when we’re immersed in them. But you don’t have to be immersed in them.

Zoom out.

Doesn’t mean everything will always be easy but zoom out and you’ll gain perspective. There are no problems, only situations. Zoom out to gain perspective and you’ll probably find you aren’t as stuck as you feel.

Then zoom out of the idea of zooming out.

Zoom out, let go of the process of focusing altogether as a way of reconnecting to your awareness and your infinite, complete, perfect true nature.

Awareness aware of itself.

Zoom out.

Unleash Reality
Alex