Focus

I believe my attention span has reduced drastically since the beginning of 2022. With the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine I spent days on my phone checking for any news and keeping in touch with the family and friends. My screen time went up dramatically. Even after a couple months I was still checking my phone a lot more often than I would normally. I think that this, combined with an increased alcohol consumption early in the year, caused my ability to focus to deteriorate a lot.

Right now it's a bit better but it's still extremely difficult to focus on things for more than ~15 minutes. And it's on a good day. So, what to do? I think mindfulness, meditation, and deliberate effort to deepen my focus should help. Also, I notice that the flow state is still achievable when I'm doing something that excites me, like coding a challenging feature or reading a page-turning novel. Although it's harder to get there than before, it's still a great feeling when you get that state of uninterrupted work. I believe I need to cultivate that.

Other than that, my main option is to just continue doing things even when the mind is wandering. Bring it back as it tries to get away. The moment I notice my thoughts going wild - I try to make a conscious effort to go back to the task at hand. There's literally no other option to achieve anything apart from working through this thought-by-thought. I do think that that effort, combined with greatly reduced social media, is gonna make a great impact long-term.

After all, it's all a matter of small steps taken daily. "Little by little, one travels far." - J.R.R. Tolkien

This post is part of the #100days project, where I try to write a post a day. Today is #day12