I’ve been getting pulled 10 different directions the last couple of days. That, in turn, hasn’t left me a great deal of time to write here or develop topics. So, I thought I’d share the best trick I recently learned to help keep me focused on the here and now.
This one is about as simple as they come, but the way it can force your conscious and subconscious back to reality is amazing. Ready? Just ask yourself:
Let me explain here and you’ll soon see the genius of it.
As we all have experienced, our minds like to wander all over the place. What needs to be done at work later, how likely are those 13 new doomsday scenarios that I saw online today while surfing, etc… Multiple studies show that digital life has led to shorter attention spans as well.
Typically, the problem with getting past all of that is your subconscious mind will fight you on efforts to stay focused. Anybody who has ever tried to meditate knows exactly what I’m talking about. You try to forget that doomscrolling story and the subconscious only hears doomscrolling scenario, etc…
Long story short, if you ask yourself “Where am I?” and really focus on it as a legitimate question, your conscious and subconscious will be forced to answer that you’re where and likely when you’re physically at.
Suddenly, you’re in the present and not focused on the doomsday scenario that’s supposed to occur a couple years in the future, or mentally visualizing that meeting at work in three days, etc… and those future or past situations suddenly lose all their hold on you. It can be amazingly effective with just a little practice, largely because if you expect an answer from your subconscious as well, it shuts down the usual games your subconscious plays. And boy does it love to play games. Try NOT thinking of something and notice how your subconscious instantly becomes fixated upon what you’re supposed to NOT think about.
“Where Am I?” gets it focused on the here and now instead.
Personal advice: keep calm and keep firing the question even if you have to ask it 5 times a minute at first. You’ll get focused faster than you think, no matter the initial difficulty. For me it’s helped me keep focus and my emotions better under control since it focuses me on what’s happening, not what may happen or what something MAY have meant.
Give it a try, and post in the comments section how well it worked for you.
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