The Power of Unwavering Focus

I decided to continue my one-in-a-row New Year's tradition (see the first post on this blog about The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck) of reading a book to replenish my motivation for work and readjust my outlook on life. The book I selected this time was The Power of Unwavering Focus, by Dandapani, and it did not disappoint.

Pre-holiday December in New England is always a bit bleak. The days become depressingly short (with the sun setting during the Winter Solstice at 4:11 pm), it's cold, and everyone is wondering why they are still slogging through each workday when nothing really seems to get done. For me, I could sense that I was mailing it in. I couldn't pay sustained attention to normal  work tasks like Zoom meetings or writing emails without taking several whirlwind tours through the dopamine theme park. For me, that consists of a truly staggering trip through Youtube, Instagram, Hacker News, Coinbase, and other distracting sites in which I would see lights and symbols on the screen but not really process any information. I'd routinely end the work day feeling tired but unaccomplished.

For me, these are not just vices that emerge as a product of winter blues. They are present in a lower-grade way all the time, but experiencing this apex of distraction is what caused me to want to do some deeper digging on how to kick this self-destructive behavior once and for all. I had other reasons for picking up the book, though. I had a vague sense that this distraction, and the ensuing lack of energy at the end of the work day, was impeding my ability to make progress on other pursuits outside of work such as personal or longer-term goals. Also, despite not really being able to focus on work during the work day, I was perversely unable to stop ruminating about work while trying to relax. The same insidious force that prevented me from concentrating on work while trying to work seemed to also impeded me from enjoying my leisure time.

After reading the book, I realize that the ability to concentrate is much more than just a vehicle to being a more efficient employee that can grind out emails and pay attention during meetings. It helps with that, but more fundamentally, the ability concentrate is the linchpin of an approach to high quality living. It is the cognitive skill that undergirds everything you might want to do in life, unless your goal is to be distracted. In the extreme, zero ability to concentrate means zero ability to experience life's joyous moments. Zero ability to focus (which, from here on out I'll use interchangeably with "concentrate") on what's in front of you means zero ability to make progress, and therefore zero ability to intentionally manifest anything in your life.

This book helped me to appreciate the profound importance of being able to focus. It lays out a simple (but not trivial) model for understanding what concentration is, as well as why and how you can develop concentration and associated skills in your own life. In this post, I will lay out the core teachings of the book as I understood and appreciated them. Before spilling the secrets, I'll make the same request of you that Dandapani makes of the reader in the opening pages: "adopt the attitude that you are at the beginning of the path -- you are eager, enthusiastic, open to learning, and know absolutely nothing."

First, I'll start with some key definitions. The book repeatedly emphasizes the importance of clear definitions and using the various terms in an intentional and unambiguous way. Clear definitions are the basis of clear concepts, and clear concepts are the basis for solid understanding. You probably have different working definitions for these words. In the spirit of being "at the beginning of the path", please forget your definitions and adopt the definitions below for the rest of this post (and beyond, if you decide to incorporate this philosophy into your own life):

• The Mind is like a big house with many rooms, you experience different feelings and sensations in each room. There is a room for feeling happy, a room for feeling sad, etc.

• The Conscious Mind is the portion of the mind dedicated to the five senses, perception, and the external world.
• The Subconscious Mind is our intellectual mind. It records everything the conscious mind experiences and uses that record to drive involuntary responses and intellectual thinking.

• Awareness is the traveler that visits different rooms in the mind, experiencing different sensations in each room. You are pure awareness within the mind. You are not the mind. It is critical to realize that the mind and awareness are distinct things.
• Concentration / Focus is the ability to keep your awareness in your control. You can display concentration by either being aware of one thing without shifting your awareness, or you could shift your awareness between different things assuming each shift is intentional.
• Willpower is the ability to pull your awareness back into your control after it has wandered off. Willpower and concentration work together to keep your awareness in a particular area of the mind.
• Distraction is a state of being in which your awareness is controlled by external forces, or by internal forces other than your choosing.
• Energy is the force that moves awareness to different areas of the mind.
• Emotion is how energy expresses itself externally.

These definitions serve as a good conceptual scaffolding to explain some of the key insights I took away from the book.

One of my worries before beginning the book was about the title..."Unwavering Focus". It evokes an image of somebody straining so hard that beads of sweat drip down their temples. I'd like to be focused, but isn't that exhausting? Dandapani tackles this question directly, although the core of the answer can be derived just from the definitions above. First off, focus, like distraction, is a learned behavior. For those of us that practice being distracted all day, that behavior will invariably become easier to adopt. I have to take Dandapani's word for it, as I am not yet a focused person, but he explains that it is similarly exhausting for a focused person to be around a distracted person and witness all the spontaneous journeys a distracted persons' awareness embarks on.

But the core of the answer is that being distracted means that your awareness will end up traveling to many more areas within the mind. That travel is sustained by energy. Therefore, it actually takes more energy to be distracted. The reason being in a state of unwavering focus sounds exhausting is simply because our powers of focus and willpower are underdeveloped and we are used to letting our awareness be directed by haphazard forces.

Another key insight from the book is that different areas of the mind are "magnetized" with different intensities. The more magnetic a particular area, the more easily your awareness gravitates to it. Another factor that magnetizes an area of the mind is when you leave something unresolved. Unresolved problems are highly magnetic for your awareness. Anxiety, stress, fear, and worry are all future-based emotions that are borne from one's awareness imagining a problem that can happen in the future, not resolving that problem, and repeatedly visiting the area of the mind that where that problem lives without resolving it. This is why complaining and venting rarely deliver the catharsis you hope for. Now, you may rightly object that there are many legitimate scenarios where you need to plan for the future or think on problems that cannot yet be resolved. In these types of situations, yes, it makes sense to leave a particular problem unresolved. You would then rely on your powers of concentration and willpower to keep your awareness in the present until you are ready or able to deal address it. One key insight when reflecting on this family of future-based emotions is that the present moment is inherently not troublesome. Dandapani says, "in this moment, I am fine". Having strong powers of concentration and willpower to anchor your awareness in the present moment is like bulletproof armor against stress and anxiety.

Given concentration and willpower are so core to wellbeing, how do we develop it? Many books or articles in the burgeoning "how to focus" genre would prescribe something like a 5-10 minute meditation practice that grows with time. Personally, I have tried meditation many times over the years, and I have never been able to get over the hump. In my view, there are many reasons this practice has failed for me. One, it's not my ultimate goal. My goal is not to be a meditator. My goal is to experience the benefits of being focused in my normal life. So, carving out some separate activity to practice concentrating just never fully resonated. Two, I have enough activities I have to get through during the day (which is part of what feeds the feeling of overwhelm and distraction) that I'm not interested in adding another activity to the docket if I can avoid it. And three, meditation is like focus but on hard-mode. It's hard enough to focus on things where I have a clear reason to focus. But focusing for the sake of following my breath just doesn't compel me, which is why I could rarely stay focused for more than a minute at a time.

Fortunately, the concentration and willpower regimen that Dandapani prescribes does not consist of meditation. Instead, it's quite straightforward. To cultivate concentration, pick a recurring, non-negotiable activity (start small, such as brushing your teeth), and do your level best to bring your full awareness to bear on that activity. Spend a month on that one activity, and then add another such activity. Don't expect to flip a switch and immediately start living in a state of concentrated bliss. You are attempting to make a behavioral change that will undo well-worn habits of living distractedly. It will take time. But I have found motivation in this practice because I know I'm practicing the thing I want to do, which is living in a focused way.

To cultivate willpower, the strategy is similar, but there is a little more background required to properly appreciate these practices. Dandapani explains that willpower is borne out of finishing what you start, and doing things a little more, and a little better, than you are used to doing them. Projects are generally started out of excitement, but finished out of will. The initial surge of energy that got the project out of the gate almost always fades towards the end, and that is when willpower is required. I think it's a similar story on a moment-to-moment basis. It is easy to focus when you're engaged in the activity, but invariably that engagement fades and your awareness drifts off, typically before it should. Willpower is then required to bring your awareness back to whatever it still needs to pay attention to. The willpower regiment is similar to the concentration regiment: pick a non-negotiable, recurring activity and practice the tenets of willpower during that activity. This will entrain your subconscious mind to the habit of finishing things and doing them better than you typically do them. I am starting with the book's recommendation of making the bed. Making the bed completes the act of sleeping. It is also a perfect opportunity to practice doing it a little better than you're used to doing by fluffing the pillows, straightening out the sheets, and leaving things neat and tidy. It is important to understand, and be clear with yourself, about why you are doing this. It's not to "get a win" to start the day. There's nothing wrong with that philosophy, but if your goal is to cultivate willpower, then you need to be thinking, "I am doing this to practice finishing things, and doing things better than I am used to doing them, as this will help cultivate willpower" and be crystal clear in that motivation.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and more importantly, I'm practicing the teachings. I hope you enjoyed this recap, and may the powers of willpower and concentration be with you!