3 Steps to Become More Focused On Your Work (Spoonie & Neurodivergent Edition)
If you struggle to focus on your work and you have chronic illness, mental illness, trauma, and or neurodivergence, this video is for you. You'll learn three rarely discussed and simple steps to finally become more focused and unlock your productivity.
Watch the video below, or read on for the full transcript.
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In my Accountability Muse coaching program, I help my clients get unstuck, be productive, and stay productive. Now it's your turn. So let's get started.
First, let's cover some really important context before diving into the three steps for how to get focused. The majority of focus and productivity tips are centered around the actual doing of a thing instead of preparing someone to get started. Let's use exercise as an analogy here. Whether you're doing cardio or strength training, if you were to dive right into the main workout without warming up, not only would you have a harder time working out, but you'd be at a greater risk of injury. Warming up is crucial. It helps transition your body from what you were doing before to working out now.
The key word here is transition. Now, if we return to the concept of productive work and apply the same thinking, how often do you expect yourself to start being focused and productive at the drop of a hat without properly transitioning yourself into your work? I'm betting until now you didn't know there was any other way. Because there is, and that's what these three steps are all about: warming you up for your work, so it's easier to get focused. Onto the steps.
Step one: what are you transitioning from? Are you transitioning from eating a meal, doing chores, exercising, just waking up, having taken a nap, a business meeting, reading a book, scrolling social media, attending a class, commuting, playing a game, Whatever it is. Take note of it and then ask yourself this crucial question: What state are my body, mind, and emotions in right now because of having done that thing.
In my recent video on how to time block based on your capacity, I shared the concept of the three gas tanks. The idea that you have a cognitive gas tank, a physical gas tank, and an emotional gas tank, and the idea that the amount of gas you have in each tank can vary widely. When you're figuring out how to transition properly from one task to another, becoming aware of the levels in your three gas tanks can be really helpful.
After you've taken note of your gas tank levels, there are two more questions to ask in this step one: am I over or under stimulated right now, keeping in mind that you can be simultaneously under stimulated in one way while over stimulated in another. For example, you could be overstimulated physically and under stimulated cognitively, or you may be burnt out (AKA over stimulated) and hungry (under stimulated). And the next question is: and what is my autonomic nervous system state? Your autonomic nervous system has two primary states, parasympathetic (I.E. safety, rest, and digest) and sympathetic (AKA fight, flight, freeze, or fawn). Understanding which state your nervous system is in is crucial for deciding how to transition into your next activity.
Step two, what are you transitioning to. Step two is to ask those same three questions from step one about the activity you're wanting to transition to. What gas tanks, physical, cognitive, or emotional, will this activity draw from and by how much? Will this activity over or under stimulate me in any way and what autonomic nervous system state would be ideal for this activity?
Once you've had the answers to all three questions for both the activity you're transitioning from, and for the activity you're transitioning to, you can move on to step three. Before we dive into step three, comment below and tell me if this idea of transitioning is new to you and if you're excited to try it out.
Now on to step three. Step three: consciously transition in order to change your state. Once you know what you're transitioning from and what you're transitioning to, you have all the information you need to proactively transition by changing your state. Did you just do a lot of chores and need to lie down while you study, instead of sitting at your desk? Are you over stimulated and need to wear noise canceling headphones while you do your work? Are you under stimulated and need to listen to music or play with a fidget toy in order to focus? Were you just napping and now need to do chores, in which case a physical warmup might be really helpful? Are you completely burnt out and it's actually necessary for you to take a power nap before you transition back to working? These are just a few examples of how to transition from one activity to another.
As you're going through this process yourself here are some extra questions to keep in mind. If the gas tanks you need for this next activity are actually depleted right now, how can you refill them and how much do you need to refill them in order to move on to the next activity? How can you balance out your over or under stimulation in order to move on to the next activity? Do you need to change autonomic states in order to move on to the next activity? That last one is really important, especially for those of us with dysautonomia, which is a form of a malfunctioning autonomic nervous system, anxiety, panic disorder, and/or trauma because when we're triggered or our symptoms are flaring, our sympathetic nervous system is activated and we go into either fight, flight, fawn, or freeze mode.
If your sympathetic nervous system is activated, it's important to do what you can to move back into safety, rest, and digest, I.E. the parasympathetic nervous system. I've found polyvagal theory to be a really helpful model and understanding how to do this, so I highly recommend looking into that if you're new to the concept. Here are some examples to get you started, however. If you're in freeze, AKA the human version of playing dead, in order to unfreeze slowly and gently start moving your body, take your time with it and keep going until you don't feel frozen anymore. If you're in fight or flight, do a short burst of high energy activity. Give your nervous system the somatic satisfaction of having successfully battled the enemy or fled from the tiger. If you're in fawn, however, it becomes a bit more complicated. As that is outside the scope of this video, for now treat fawn like either freeze or flight and address it as you would that state. Finally, if you're in safety, rest, and digest and want to do something highly energetic, a physical warmup to safely and gradually increase your energy output is recommended.
Once you have gone through these three steps and successfully transitioned to your next task or activity, you'll find yourself becoming more focused naturally and with less effort. You might even find yourself getting into the zone or into flow faster than ever before.
To recap, the three steps to transition and get more focused are: 1. Determine the state you're transitioning from, 2. Determine the state you're transitioning to, and 3. Proactively and compassionately transition your state to set yourself up for focus and success.
There is one thing I didn't get a chance to talk about today, however, and that's the idea of emotional resistance. If you find yourself procrastinating out of fear, anxiety, or any other type of avoidance, there is a different tool set I recommend to overcome that and I call it butt in chair time. This tool set is a cornerstone of my coaching practice, and you can learn all about it for free. All you have to do to get access to my masterclass is go to this link and sign up.
By the way, I'm doing research to develop the perfect productivity course for people with chronic illness, mental illness, neurodivergence, and trauma, who just feel stuck. If that sounds like you and you enjoy my videos, I would love to talk to you. Click this link to book a time to chat with me on zoom. Thank you for your help.
Check out this post next, where I talk more about the three gas tanks and how to time block based on your capacity. If you liked this video, hit that like button and subscribe and be sure to share it with your friends.
I'll be back next week with another video. See you then. Bye.