Routines and Focus

At the beginning of the year, I wanted to really make a concerted effort this year to try to improve my ability to focus on whatever the task at hand might be. Be it a task at work, writing, or a side project. I'd been realizing that my ability to focus on the task at hand was not as strong as I would've liked it to be.

At the beginning of the year, I read several books by Cal Newport about deep work, focus, and productivity. I understood a lot of it as I was very often got distracted by social media, thoughts in my own head, and everything else the modern world throws at us.

One of the things that Cal talks about which I feel like I can definitely relate to is having a routine. Routines have been helpful in the past and I can see why. It feels like it's a way to trick your mind into doing what it is you want it to do.

If I were to spell out my general routine on a weekday, it'd be this:

1. 6:30AM - Wake up
2. 6:45AM - Take Tess for her morning walk
3. 7:00AM - Start Work
4. 12:00PM - If it's not a lifting day, go for a 3-4 mile run
5. 1:00PM - Back to Work if I ran
6. 4:00PM / 5:00PM - Work Day Over
7. 4:00PM - If I didn't run, lift
8. 5:45PM - Cook and eat dinner
9. 7:00PM - Practice Guitar
10. 7:30PM - Relaxation (Writing, Gaming, etc.)
11. 8:30PM - Read Before Bed
12. 9:45PM - Journal
13. 10:00PM - Bed

Obviously life isn't always that smooth. Hockey can get in the way as do doctor's appointments and a myriad of other things. But that generally is how my weekdays go.

I actually really appreciate having this routine, and I'm not going to lie, I sometimes get annoyed when I have to deviate too much from it. My last dentist appointment, a source of fun for everyone involved, didn't bother me and generally doesn't bother me. Having to make up the time for work and cut into my evening respite, that did annoy me. It is what it is, getting your teeth checked is important, but is no one thinking of my routine?

It a world with so many distractions that I'm so often distracted by, I sometimes find that routines help me keep my focus. Assuming I want to spend my relaxation time writing or working on a side project, seeing the hour set aside somehow helps me better maintain focus.

And thankfully there are tools to help with this focus. I've also been using Raycast Focus lately to help keep myself in check. When I'm writing, it's nice to have a little tool that helps me by blocking the apps and sites I want to avoid. When I'm writing, especially my novel, I try to keep my browser closed to not even have the temptation open. Sometimes though I need to look something up be it for the novel or a blog post, and it can be too easy to think "I'll just check to see what the top headlines are right now." Nope, don't need to know. Willpower can't always get you there, so it's nice to have a helping hand.

I've had mixed success with all of this. Some weeks I feel on point, like I'm nailing everything, I'm in that zone and getting a lot accomplished. Other weeks I'm just blah, and feel like I can't focus on anything to save my life.

As I've mentioned recently, I started trying to limit my screen time in an attempt to keep my attention on whatever it is I'm doing. I had realized I, like many others was mindlessly browsing around in various social apps and whatnot. I started logging daily, the number of pickups and the total time on my phone. Based on the weekly screen time summary the iPhone provides, prior to my focusing on limiting screen time, I was on my phone 4-5 hours a day. Now I'm down to 1-1.5.

Note: The numbers aren't completely comparable as I made a change to my display settings when starting to log. The iPhone's always on screen apparently counts towards screen time even if you're nowhere near the phone which is stupid. I turned that off to get a better idea of total time, but don't have the benchmark in the before-times to equally compare.

I'm not sure what a good or healthy number for me is, but if I had to measure my thoughts on it, I'd say I'm feeling better about it. My point with limiting screen time has never been to let it go completely, just put myself in a better place with hopefully a healthier mindset. I'd say it's a tentative success so far.

As for sticking to the routine and maintaining more focus, I'd call it a tentative success as well. I still slip up, and get distracted from time to time, but I've also been able to spend time writing both my novel and my blog posts. I'm on my 7th week of getting a blog post out every Tuesday and Thursday. The words are getting "printed" and I'm getting stuff done.

It's an ever evolving process and I'll try to take time now and again to take a step back, see what's working, see what's not, and make adjustments.