I don’t know about you, but I really struggle with focusing on boring tasks.

Interesting things like that new Netflix special, my lover, or a new project? You can’t tear me away from it.

But bringing that once-was-new-but-now-is-old project across the finish line? All the editing, formatting, the nit-picky grammar? My eyelids are getting heavy just thinking about it.

Or, sitting down to do some writing on that manuscript that is taking forever? My brain is flicking all over the place, all over the house, all over the room. Suddenly, the kitchen floors need mopping, the laundry needs folding. I need to call my mom, check the news, go grocery shopping.

I’ve got some tips for maintaining focus when you’ve got a daunting or boring task in front of you, one that your brain is resisting because it’s not a surge of new and exciting information. I will devote the next few blog posts to a series on maintaining focus.

Disclaimer: My brain is pretty neurotypical in this realm. For all my lovely ADHD-ers out there, you may have different challenges, gifts, and strategies. I’m curious to hear if any of these tips work or do not work for you.

But first. Before you get into building your focus muscles, we have to first talk about your skeleton. Your bones. The foundation of it all.

Before you can feed and build your muscles, you’ve got to have a strong skeleton. I’m no medical doctor, but I think we can all agree that the following four things are undeniably part of our survival. And when the body is taken care of, the main can maintain healthy brain function and focus.

  • Water
  • Sleep
  • Food
  • Exercise

When I say “food,” I mean eating a balanced diet. Now, you might be thinking to yourself “Well, duh. Tell me something I don’t know.” Most people know this in the back of their minds, but when was the last time you mindfully took care of your body in these ways? I know for me, it’s often a daily struggle to get to bed at a reasonable hour, even though I’ve seen all the research showing how important those early hours of sleep are.

If you are like most people I know, including myself, you might be asking, “Well, that sounds nice. Must be nice to have those things. But HOW do I actually go about having these things when life is so crazy busy and I feel like I don’t have time for any of it?”

I get it. I totally get it. These four things are so obvious, and yet so elusive. They are so fundamental to our survival as humans, but also for our brains to function. We have to prioritize these four foundational steps before we can really start feeling good in our minds. Body first, mind second.

But HOW?

First, only choose ONE of these four things to focus on at a time. If you have none of these four in a healthy balance in your life right now, trying to do all four at once will be overwhelming and defeating. So choose ONE that you would like to focus on for the time being.

Next, focus on that one element for 30 days. But be specific and timely about your focus. For example, let’s say you want to focus on water intake first. Your 30-day focus might look something like this:

  • I’m going to drink 8 glasses of 8 oz cups of water per day.

OR

  • I’m going to check in with myself every day at 12 pm and 5 pm to see how I’m feeling on my water intake. And set the appropriate phone alarms to do so.

This is reasonable, measurable, time-bound and specific. NOT vague like “I’m going to drink more water.”

Keep yourself accountable somehow. I love the app called “Daily Habits,” but you can also give yourself a checkmark on your wall calendar or an x in your Bullet Journal, or put a dollar in a jar–then spend the money on a treat at the end of the month.

Reward yourself! Reward yourself each day and again every month that you are making progress on your goals to take care of your mind and body. Give yourself a day off, buy yourself a new gadget, binge on some trash TV. Whatever makes you feel good. For the next 30 days, try another habit, then another. More ideas include:

  • I’m going to be in bed by 9 pm each night.
  • I’m going to cut out ice cream in the evenings.
  • I’m going to do a 10-minute yoga video each morning before my shower.

Remember: keep it small, keep it simple. Only for 30 days. Let’s not overwhelm ourselves with declarations of the next 365 days. That’s just too much for anybody to handle. Baby steps, bite-size pieces, one day at a time.

Once you have the four essential items in the skeleton–water, sleep, food, exercise–in a healthy balance, at least somewhat, you’ll start noticing that it’s easier to focus and you can start honing those focus muscles more and more. The goal is not to be more productive, but to free up your time so that you have more time for the people you love, you can start living the life that you want and on your own terms.

Sam (they/them) is a queer/trans spirit dancing and playing in the world as a data analyst and editorial consultant working out of Denver, Colorado. Their goal is to make every voice heard by helping people find their truest and most creative version of themselves.

Sam received a PhD in Human Geography from University of Colorado Boulder in 2019. Trained in the humanistic social sciences, their academic expertise lies in political geography, but their practical expertise lies in data analysis, grant writing, editing and publishing.

Sam's ethnographic research was conducted in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China, with a focus on ethnic conflict, gender and nationalism in Asia.

They are now an editorial consultant, freelance writer, and data analyst at Hovland Consulting in Boulder, Colorado.