6 Simple Tips to Improve Daily Focus

If you’re like me, mornings will often look like this:

• Wake up

• Check phone (dopamine 📈)

• Big breakfast (dopamine 📈)

• Drink coffee (dopamine 📈)

• Rush to get out the door (dopamine 📈)

• Listen to music (dopamine 📈)

Focus 📉

Here are some simple tips on how to have a low-dopamine morning:

• Avoid checking your phone as long as possible (keep it in another room)

• Drink a full glass of water

• Avoid caffeine

• Avoid a highly caloric breakfast

• Read a chapter of a book (slow, engaged, accomplishment)

Meditation involves focusing the mind and becoming more aware of the present moment. Regular practice helps strengthen your brain’s prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus (linked to focus).

Starting your meditation practice can be challenging, but that is expected. Our minds are used to running a million miles per hour with more inputs in our world than ever before.

It can last 5 to 10 minutes

You can close your eyes, or focus on a particular object

You can sit in silence, or repeat an anchoring word throughout your practice

Writing things down is one of my favorite tips for daily focus because it was passed down to me by someone I love dearly: my Dad.

Writing helps in so many ways. It…

• Enhances clarity by slowing down the endless stream of thoughts

• Boosts concentration by focusing on our processes and tasks at hand

• Improves our memory and information retention

Writing has made me noticeably more productive, thoughtful, calm, and organized — so much so that I’ve been doing it for 6 years straight.

Exercise improves circulation, increasing the flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the brain. The impact is overall improved brain health — including memory, problem-solving, and attention.

Whether it be a run, walk, short calisthenic workout, or anything in between — moving your body is a great way to improve your ability to focus throughout the day.

Many apps and social media are designed to give you quick dopamine hits so you crave checking them throughout the day.

Apps can be addictive just like anything else. Sometimes it’s not enough to close them for a couple of hours.

Removing them from your home screen, logging out, or anything you can to add friction to mindless scrolling is essential for your daily focus.

Many substances disrupt the natural balance of neurotransmitters in the brain. Avoiding them will help you maintain a natural balance, which supports sustained focus and alertness.

Overall, steering clear of mood-altering substances can lead to more stable and effective brain function, which is crucial for maintaining focus.

I hope you find these tips as beneficial as I have. Maintaining focus in the era of social media and stimulants is quite difficult, which is why we need all the help we can get.

Most importantly, don’t overwhelm yourself with change. The last thing you want to do is burn out.

Pick and choose which tips fit your needs best, try them for a couple of days, then weeks, then months, and see what sticks.