How to Stay Focused on your Goals: Motivation, Energy, and Attention
Knowing how to stay focused on your goals is critical to your success and overall quality of life. However, staying focused isn’t just about raw force of will. Having grit and determination is often viewed as the key factor for maintaining focus. But that’s not the full truth. That’s the overview. That’s the snapshot of a focused man.
But anyone can get that grit. Anyone can become “determined” and develop tunnel vision towards their goals. Learning how to stay focused so you’re never distracted depends on how you manage 3 things.
Yes, even the laziest or most distracted person can male a change. You can take clear steps to build your focus in your life. If maintaining focus on your goals is difficult for you, then take a look at this breakdown. There’s 3 main components to focus.
- Motivations
- Energy Levels
- Attention Span
When you’re able to have all 3 of these then you’ll have the formula for how to stay focused on your goals consistently. But when one of these areas if off, then your ability to stay focused can take a damaging hit. Let’s take a look at these further.
Motivations
A focused man is a man with the right motivations. This could also be stated as simply “pick the right goals”.
When you have a goal that is motivating to you, you’re going to naturally be more focused on achieving it. Figuring out how to stay focused on your goals is almost impossible if the goal ins’t motivating to you.
And while this seems simple, many people have the wrong goals. For example, many guys just want to “make six figures”. But they haven’t determined wha that lifestyle is like for them. They haven’t imagined the money in the bank, the kind of apartment or home they live in, and how much better (or not) life would be.
Therefore the goal turns out to not be that motivating to them. It sounds like a nice goal on paper.
But if it doesn’t actually get you excited, or if you can’t see the benefit, then you won’t actually be motivated to continually stay focused on it.
Goals must Benefit your Life
Goals that are motivating are goals that are going to significantly add value to your life.
For example, getting into shape has tangible benefits to it. Your health is elevated, you feel better, have a better chance at defending yourself or fleeing a threat, and you’re more attractive.
Owning a business that you enjoy has tangible benefits to it. You no longer have to slave away doing something you hate. Now you make money doing something you enjoy. This means the majority of your time is now enjoyable, where as before it was miserable.
Paying off debt frees you from the bonds of servitude and has tangible benefits to it. You no longer owe money and can now save, invest, or spend how you choose.
Making six figures can be a great goal to have… if it motivates you. If you’re making six figures doing something you hate, then subconsciously you won’t be that focused to get to that level. Because your soul knows it won’t be satisfied. That’s why so many guys can’t be motivated by money alone. Some guys can be, but that’s because they already associate money with security and a better life. Generally, the lower level in life you are, the more you’re just trying to survive. And therefore, the less beneficial the goal has to be.
Always have a motivation
As you start to raise standards, you also need to ensure you’re still motivated.
If you’re already making decent money and have no desires for expensive luxury items, making six figures just to make it may not be a motivating goal for you.
But if your goal is to make six figures doing something you love, then this is a beautiful goal to have. This can be extremely motivating and therefore keep you focused on your goal.
Context is key. What makes a goal motivating depends on your desires and where you are in life.
Knowing how to stay focused on your goals starts with choosing the right goals for yourself. Forget what your parents think, what your friends think. Forget what society thinks. Even forget what your teacher, guru, or hero thinks. Forget what I think.
Choose goals that mean something to you. At the end of the day, the one whose focused or not is you.
Energy Levels
Energy is so important, yet often overlooked. Learning how to stay focused on your goals or on anything requires energy.
Having the right motivations for putting your attention in one area is key. And avoiding distractions (more on that below) is critical.
But if you’re physically tired, you simply won’t have the energy to be focused. Let’s not fool ourselves. It takes energy to be focused. If you’re constantly waisting your energy then you won’t be able to channel it when needed. Energy is the difference between successful people and people who feel like they just can’t do it.
That feeling is actually a signal. In a way it’s right. The reason you feel you just can’t do something is because you lack the energy to do so.
Think about someone whose depressed. Or you if you’ve ever been depressed. You always lacked energy.
Anyone with a surplus of energy is either happy (positive) or angry (negative). Someone with a lack of energy is calm (positive) or sad (negative).
If you don’t have actual energy, then you’re not going to have the focus necessary to achieve your goals.
How to get more energy
Get more energy by:
- Eating right
- Cold showers (you can even just do a hot shower and end with cold)
- Semen Retention / NoFap
- Sleep
- Exercise
These are the basics, but they’re so important. All of the above will also drastically + naturally increase your testosterone.
If you want to know how to stay focused then you must ensure you have the energy to do so. This means ensuring you have all of your physical, mental, and spiritual energy. You do that by retaining your seed, eating healthy, getting enough sleep, and staying in shape. Combine that with cold showers, getting out into Nature a few times a week, and you’re going to feel fantastic.
With the energy that you’re supposed to have naturally, combined with the right motivations, you just need one more thing.
Attention Span
The curse of today’s incredible technologies is that it has destroyed the average attention span. With a smaller attention span, our brains literally have less of an ability to give focus to any one thing for longer periods of time.
I can even see this on my YouTube videos. The engagement rate is always longer for the older gentlemen, and shorter for the younger guys. Obviously this is a generalization and there are plenty of young men with solid attention spans.
But the key concept remains the same. We’ve been weakened overall. And not physically. Compared to men of the past, men today work out more, have way more muscles, and are taller. But we still have lower testosterone and act more feminine than past generations.
Why?
Well, it’s largely due to our attention span. With a weak attention span, we can’t focus on anything for too long.
This is why if you want to get ahead in life, you must fight the current conditions. You must fight everyday to guard your attention. This is the only way to protect your attention span. Knowing how to stay focused requires you have the ability to keep your attention on something for a prolonged period of time.
Humans naturally have this ability.
Avoid dopamine destroyers
Today, the biggest things that shorten our attention span’s are porn, social media, and other virtual content that is designed to keep you hooked.
What do these have in common? They all crush your dopamine receptors. Dopamine is great to have when it’s needed. But when you overload your ability to process it through artificial means (porn being by far the worst offender), then you crush your attention span.
You must avoid porn and greatly reduce your content consumption on social media. I’m not completely against social media, but you must have self restraint. If you can use it efficiently then it can be a great tool for your business and social life. If you can’t, then just delete it.
You can also do things to train your attention span. When you focus on things that strengthen your ability to pay attention, then your ability to focus overall is increased.
Reading is essential
The best thing for this is reading. Avoid skimming and looking to summarize. Read the whole thing. Whether it’s a book or an article.
In fact, it’s better to read 1 book 10 times and really understand it then it is to read 10 books once but not get the concepts.
Read, and when you find something that sticks out to you, re-read it over and over. This is the secret to getting ahead. And of course, it will massively strengthen your focus. I promise you’ll get so much more out of re-reading a solid book or article then you would skimming through 100 books. In fact, if you’re reading this now, you’re one of the few. This piece of advice is one of single best pieces of life game. Hidden in the article for the few you like yourself who are focused on gaining true understanding.
Stick to a Schedule
Sticking to a schedule is also key. The best schedule is one that you’ll stick to. For me, this is waking up early, meditating, and then doing my most important task first. Getting it out of the way makes me feel like the rest of the day is easy, and from the momentum is built.
Understanding how to stay focused on your goals is simple when you stick to the schedule that works best for you. Whatever you can find that’s easiest for you to stick to, do that.
Avoid Distraction with the Proper Motivation, Energy, and Attention
If you have energy and enjoy what you’re doing, then knowing how to stay focused on your goals is just the natural state of being. If you need to do things you don’t like for now, then it’s still manageable for a few years if you do everything else. However, in the long term it’s important you’re doing things that are beneficial for you and you have the energy to do so.
Avoid the things that steal your attention and damage your dopamine receptors. And replace them with actives like reading, sudoko or learning a language. Instead of damaging your attention span, you’ll be growing it. This is how you can literally train your focus.
If you combine that with high levels or energy from semen retention, eating clean, proper sleep, + fitness, and having the right motivations, you’ll be a man on a mission. Learning how to stay focused on your goals is really learning how to manage your life. When you can manage yourself properly, you will set yourself up for what you want to accomplish.
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