{"id":2762,"date":"2013-06-05T11:31:52","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alifeofproductivity.com\/?p=2762"},"modified":"2021-12-04T20:41:02","modified_gmt":"2021-12-04T20:41:02","slug":"the-best-way-improve-your-focus-meditate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/the-best-way-improve-your-focus-meditate\/","title":{"rendered":"The single best way to improve your focus: Meditate"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='et-box et-tick'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class='et-box-content'><b class=\"takeaway\">Takeaway:<\/b> There are a lot of tricks and hacks that will let you focus better, but meditation is the most effective one I know. Its purpose is to work out your &#8220;attention muscle&#8221;, and it also helps you manage your attention and focus.<\/p>\n<p><b class=\"readingtime\">Estimated Reading Time:<\/b> 1 minute, 19s.<\/div><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2764 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/pileorocks-1024x683.png\" alt=\"pileorocks\" width=\"675\" height=\"450\" \/><em>Stacking a bunch of rocks on top of one another won&#8217;t help you focus better, but meditation will.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><b>It&#8217;s harder than ever to focus. <\/b>If you look around, you&#8217;ll see a long list of devices, people, ads, and a whole lot more clamoring for your attention.<sup id=\"rf1-2762\"><a href=\"#fn1-2762\" title=\"That&#8217;s why you reading this means so much to me. The fact that you have so many distractions and are spending your time and attention reading these words I wrote means more than I could express in these few sentences. Thank-you.\" rel=\"footnote\">1<\/a><\/sup> <b>With so many things you could potentially focus on, being able to manage your focus and attention is one of the most valuable skills you can learn.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>All week for <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a title=\"This week is Focus Week on A Year of Productivity\" href=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/focus-week\/\">Focus Week<\/a><\/span>, I&#8217;m writing about ways you can improve your focus, and there are a ton of great hacks I&#8217;ve discovered that make it easier to manage your attention. But the one that has helped me the most has been meditation, and I think it will help you the most, too.<\/p>\n<p>I posted an awesome <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a title=\"Guide: Everything you need to start meditating\" href=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/meditation-guide\/\">meditation guide<\/a><\/span> that you should read if you want to train your &#8220;attention muscle&#8221;. Meditation is not complicated; it&#8217;s actually quite simple, and the guide I wrote contains everything you need to get started.<\/p>\n<p>Meditation helps you focus better.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>According to one study, participants who meditated were &#8220;able to focus more easily, screen out distractions, and [were] better at regulating the impact of stimuli on them&#8221;.<sup id=\"rf2-2762\"><a href=\"#fn2-2762\" title=\"Source: &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/bigthink.com\/ideafeed\/how-meditation-helps-you-focus&quot;&gt;http:\/\/bigthink.com\/ideafeed\/how-meditation-helps-you-focus&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;\" rel=\"footnote\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n<li>Meditation calms you down, which helps you focus better. Research has shown that EEG activity actually decreases during meditation.<sup id=\"rf3-2762\"><a href=\"#fn3-2762\" title=\"Source: &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/bul\/132\/2\/180\/&quot;&gt;http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/bul\/132\/2\/180\/&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;\" rel=\"footnote\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n<li>Studies have shown that people who meditate more are able to focus more, and with less sleep.<sup id=\"rf4-2762\"><a href=\"#fn4-2762\" title=\"Source: Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease sleep need. Prashant Kaul, Jason Passafiume, R C Sargent and Bruce F O\u2019Hara. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2010, 6:47 doi:10.1186\/1744-9081-6-47\" rel=\"footnote\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n<li>Meditation makes it much easier to achieve flow, that magical place where you become completely absorbed in what you&#8217;re doing<sup id=\"rf5-2762\"><a href=\"#fn5-2762\" title=\"Source: &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/www.athleticinsight.com\/Vol3Iss1\/Commentary.htm&quot;&gt;http:\/\/www.athleticinsight.com\/Vol3Iss1\/Commentary.htm&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;\" rel=\"footnote\">5<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Meditation is often seen as a religious, hippie-dippy practice, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you want to improve your ability to focus and manage your attention, meditate. It&#8217;s that simple.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"footnotes\"><ol class=\"footnotes\" style=\"list-style-type:decimal\"><li id=\"fn1-2762\"><p >That&#8217;s why you reading this means so much to me. The fact that you have so many distractions and are spending your time and attention reading these words I wrote means more than I could express in these few sentences. Thank-you.&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf1-2762\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 1.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn2-2762\"><p >Source: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bigthink.com\/ideafeed\/how-meditation-helps-you-focus\">http:\/\/bigthink.com\/ideafeed\/how-meditation-helps-you-focus<\/a><\/span>&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf2-2762\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 2.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn3-2762\"><p >Source: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/bul\/132\/2\/180\/\">http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/bul\/132\/2\/180\/<\/a><\/span>&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf3-2762\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 3.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn4-2762\"><p >Source: Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease sleep need. Prashant Kaul, Jason Passafiume, R C Sargent and Bruce F O\u2019Hara. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2010, 6:47 doi:10.1186\/1744-9081-6-47&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf4-2762\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 4.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn5-2762\"><p >Source: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.athleticinsight.com\/Vol3Iss1\/Commentary.htm\">http:\/\/www.athleticinsight.com\/Vol3Iss1\/Commentary.htm<\/a><\/span>&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf5-2762\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 5.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meditation&#8217;s purpose is to work out your &#8220;attention muscle&#8221;, and the practice also significantly helps you manage your attention and focus better. If you want to focus better, meditation will help you the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The single best way to improve your focus: Meditate - Chris Bailey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/the-best-way-improve-your-focus-meditate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The single best way to improve your focus: Meditate - Chris Bailey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meditation&#039;s purpose is to work out your &quot;attention muscle&quot;, and the practice also significantly helps you manage your attention and focus better. 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