1508: [Part 1] A Training Program for Single-Tasking & Focus by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on Mindfulness Work

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[00:00:59] A Training Programme für Single Tasking & Focus, Part 1, by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net.

[00:01:07] If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I heartily believe in giving your full focus to one task at a time.

[00:01:14] Single tasking and focus are at the heart of my productivity method.

[00:01:18] Pick one important task and give it your entire focus.

[00:01:21] Finish that, or at least a chunk that you choose to work on right now, and then do the same with the next task.

[00:01:27] There's simply no better way to get things done, one important task at a time.

[00:01:33] Even small tasks benefit from single tasking with focus.

[00:01:36] But, knowing this and actually doing it are two different things.

[00:01:40] There are lots of things we know we should do, but putting them into practice and being consistent about it are simply much harder.

[00:01:47] I think the answer is in intentional training.

[00:01:49] We aren't good at doing things we know we should do.

[00:01:53] That's obvious.

[00:01:54] But, how do we get better? By not trying? By trying, failing, and then not learning from the failure, but instead being critical of ourselves about failing?

[00:02:03] Most of us just keep repeating the same mistakes, don't get better, and don't understand why we can't get better.

[00:02:10] So, what if we trained ourselves to get better?

[00:02:13] There are a number of important ideas in training that we can use to get better at single tasking and focusing.

[00:02:19] 1. Train in small doses to start with.

[00:02:22] 2. Train at the easy level and only progress with mastery.

[00:02:27] 3. Train repeatedly as perfectly as you can.

[00:02:31] 4. Use the failure as feedback and adjust.

[00:02:35] 5. Vary the training.

[00:02:38] 6. Practice regularly instead of allowing yourself to forget.

[00:02:42] 7. Focus on micro-skills. Instead of training your entire baseball swing, focus on one part at a time.

[00:02:50] 7. Focus on micro-skills.

[00:02:51] With those ideas, we're going to train ourselves to get better at single tasking with full focus.

[00:02:56] 8. The Focus Training Method.

[00:02:59] First, ask yourself whether this is important enough to train yourself in.

[00:03:03] Do you really care about finding focus, or is everything fine as it is?

[00:03:07] If it's not fine, what difficulty does it cause you?

[00:03:10] Is it worth it to train yourself to relieve that difficulty?

[00:03:13] Do you care deeply about this?

[00:03:16] Remember that as you practice and feel like skipping the training.

[00:03:19] Now, here's the training method I recommend.

[00:03:22] 1. Set yourself to train in 5-10 minute bursts, 2-5 times a day, every day.

[00:03:28] There's a temptation to train for an hour or 30 minutes because 5-10 minutes seems silly,

[00:03:35] but we're not attempting a marathon just yet.

[00:03:37] We want to train ourselves before we attempt a marathon.

[00:03:40] So, set your practice for 5-10 minute intervals of full focus, then 5 minutes of break,

[00:03:46] then another interval, and so on.

[00:03:48] Let two of these short sessions a day be your minimum, even on weekends or when you're traveling.

[00:03:54] 2. Train at the easy level. Don't start with hard tasks.

[00:03:58] If writing your book is such a hard task that you really dread doing it, don't start with that.

[00:04:03] Or maybe it's doing your taxes or finances, or writing a difficult report or letter.

[00:04:09] Instead, start with easier tasks that won't cause you to panic or totally dread doing it.

[00:04:14] You can work your way up to the hard tasks after a week or two,

[00:04:17] and when you do, just start in small doses, 5-10 minutes.

[00:04:21] Use any failures as really important feedback for adjustment.

[00:04:24] If you get distracted or pulled away from the task, that's completely okay.

[00:04:29] The only failure is the failure to learn from your mistakes.

[00:04:32] Failure is actually super important for training.

[00:04:35] If you're not failing, you're probably not pushing yourself into new learning.

[00:04:39] Failure is how we get better in training.

[00:04:42] Notice what went wrong and figure out how to adjust.

[00:04:45] Every time you mess up, think of this as a big golden opportunity

[00:04:48] and relish the idea of reviewing what happened and seeing how you can adjust and improve.

[00:04:54] Distracted by Facebook?

[00:04:55] Block it.

[00:04:56] Disconnect from the internet.

[00:04:57] Give your spouse the wireless router.

[00:04:59] Tell people on Facebook that you won't be on Facebook until 5pm each day.

[00:05:04] Figure out what you need to do and adjust.

[00:05:07] 4. Mix up the training.

[00:05:09] There's value in repeated training, but studies have shown that we learn best when we vary the training.

[00:05:15] Try to focus for 5 minutes one session, then 10 minutes the next.

[00:05:19] Try to focus on writing in one session, then reading in another,

[00:05:23] then writing an important email in a third session.

[00:05:26] Keep the difficulty level about the same, but mix up the tasks and even the micro-skills that you practice.

[00:05:32] 5. Focus on 2-3 micro-skills at a time, which I'm going to get into in the next post.

[00:05:38] Each practice session, just focus on a couple micro-skills, then mix it up in the next practice session.

[00:05:44] Eventually, you'll get so good at certain micro-skills that you don't need to think about them.

[00:05:48] They'll just be easy.

[00:05:50] Then you can move on to others.

[00:05:51] You can lengthen the training sessions, but no need to alter the number of sessions for a while,

[00:05:56] as you get better at the training and start to master the micro-skills.

[00:06:00] Don't be in a rush to lengthen the training, but when you do, just add 5 minutes to the session.

[00:06:06] So, you might start with 5 10-minute sessions, then after a couple weeks, try 10 15-minute sessions, and so on.

[00:06:13] I wouldn't recommend going longer than 30 minutes unless you do work that requires you to keep everything in your head,

[00:06:20] a complex mental model, and taking breaks is actually detrimental to the task.

[00:06:25] The micro-skills. Hear that in tomorrow's episode.

[00:06:33] You just listened to Part 1 of the post titled A Training Program for Single Tasking and Focus by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net.

[00:06:41] We'll see you next time.

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[00:07:12] And again, we're going to hear the rest of Leo's post in tomorrow's show,

[00:07:15] so make sure that you're subscribed to this podcast and you'll get that episode automatically.

[00:07:20] He was actually one of the first authors we started narrating across all of our shows.

[00:07:24] He writes about personal development and money, health, relationships, business, and advice.

[00:07:30] So you're going to hear his articles across all of our shows regularly, and we still haven't run out of his content.

[00:07:35] Plus, Leo's a great guy and he's got a really unique story of being an overweight smoker who decided to go vegan,

[00:07:43] lost 65 pounds, and became a marathon runner and business owner all while having six kids.

[00:07:49] He's originally from Guam but moved to San Francisco in 2010,

[00:07:52] and you can see him featured in the Netflix documentary Minimalism, a topic he talks about regularly on his blog.

[00:07:59] So for a lot more, come by zenhabits.net, and thanks again to Leo for letting us share his work.

[00:08:05] And that's going to do it for me today.

[00:08:07] Thank you so much for being a regular listener of this show and any or all of our shows.

[00:08:11] That's, of course, what keeps us going.

[00:08:13] So have a great rest of your day, and I'll catch you back here tomorrow for the Sunday show

[00:08:17] where I'm going to finish up Leo's post and where your optimal life awaits.

[00:08:21] I'm not going to do it.

[00:08:21] But I've got a great rest of my life.

[00:08:21] So have a great rest of the day.

[00:08:22] I'm going to do it for you.