In order to reach incredible productivity and be the best at what you do, you need to love what you do. You need to love the day-to-day tasks that take you to where you want to go.

But the truth is, most people don’t, and I do not expect you to either

But this is how to become the greatest at what you do, this is the only way you can do the work required to be the best.

So you need to love your work, even if you don’t enjoy it.

This is possible

Let me tell you how:

The work required to be the best at something, is significantly hard. You will go through some pain. But the only thing stronger than pain is pleasure, so you need to be able to derive some pleasure from the pain.

The secret is to learn how to enjoy the difficulty of work, this is the mindset shift you will make to get work done like never before. You need to have an attitude towards pain so that you actively invite and enjoy it.

This is a mindset shift many already make in other areas of their life, such as exercise.

I learned to love working out and pushing myself. I had already proven to my brain that pain in the short term leads to success in the long term. So when I began my business, I was able to apply this exact same mindset to my work, because I understood that even when work was hard, that it was good for me, and by pushing through the pain of work, that I was improving, and I was becoming better in the process.

I knew that I was doing something good for me, so I learned to enjoy it even when it was hard.

You don’t need to genuinely love the day to day tasks that make up your work, but by understanding that you are exercising your mind by working, and that you are improving.

This will allow you to completely shift your mindset towards work. And enjoy the work that you do. So when I sit down to work, and I don't want to, and it's hard and it's painful, I still love it. Because my brain understands that the pain I get from working will provide me with great things in the future, and I love that, so I subsequently love to work, and I enjoy it.

Hope this helps! cheers :)

Hi r/focus

I was diagnosed with ADD in my youth, and lately I've noticed that my professional life really does suffer because of this. I have a hard time focusing while doing my job, and listening to music does not improve it because I'll be focusing on the voices and lyrics.

There are a lot of soundscape tools and youtube channels, but I'm a creator at heart and decided to create one myself! Take a look! www.ambianiq.com

How to be more focused and in tune with your brain.

I packed this article with everything I know about focus - its maintenance and improvement. As always - no unnecessary talk, just pure useful value.

First things first

Obviously, you can’t stay focused for long if you don’t get good sleep regularly (caffeine is not a substitute for sleeping well). Sleep deprivation is detrimental not only to concentration but to the entire body. There is no way around it.

It’s also optimal (but optional) to get:

• Sunlight early in the morning (10 minutes, double if it is cloudy).
• Cold shower or immersion (30 sec to 3 minutes, if shower, avoid cold water on head).
• Caffeine (early in the morning).
• L-Tyrosine supplements (early in the morning, 500 mg - 1 gr,). More about supplements later.
• Exercise: anything will give you everything.
• Reduce smartphone usage = max 2h/day.
• Be well hydrated.
• Meditate (3-17min. Choose an “anchor” to focus on. If you lose focus, imagine cutting a ribbon as the end of distracting thought).
• White noise or
• 40Hz Binaural beats before work. Here’s a warmup for you (there's a link in the original post)

Find your focus indicator

The idea is to give your brain a visual representation of entering “work mode”. What I do is put the figurine on my desk and tap it 2 times on its head every time I am about to work. This is a kind of signal that the focus block just started.

My sessions are 90 min each. If I really need to take a break (toilet or anything unpredictable) I tap once and turn the figurine around. I also stop the timer. As you can see - the idea here is to enter “deep work mode” whenever the figurine is looking at me. I treat it as my personal discipline guardian. The thing is that no one will know if you are cheating. That's why you also need willpower. But we will talk more about this in the rest of the article.

It would be best to have a separate computer in a separate room. An office, just for work. But that's a comfort that many can't afford. In that case, a separate browser just for work is not a bad idea either. Something on the desk as a “guardian” and a separate browser (template or whatever you work on) to give work a different feeling is a good combo.

It won’t work instantly, but as you keep doing it, your brain will connect the dots. This Pavlov’s dog-like idea may seem

Productivity is hard, even though it is good for us, so why can't we stayed focused sometimes? Shouldn’t productivity be easy?

The reason why productivity is hard is because your brain wants to keep you safe.

The difficulty of productivity is decided by how you view yourself in relation to your work. For example, if you view yourself as very productive, then productivity will be significantly easier for you than if you didn’t.

This happens because your brain does not like change. This is also why our personalities and values remain relatively the same throughout our lives. When we do something atypical of ourselves, our brain dislikes this and you feel negative emotions. Our brains want us to remain as we are, and this is because we have proven to be able to survive in our current state.

And this happens because your brain is only concerned about your survival, and your “current self” is surviving just fine, you are surviving well in your current state right now.

So your brain doesn’t see the need to change, it wants you to remain as the person that you are right now, because you’ve established that you can survive in your current state.

So how does this stying focused and being productive difficult?

This is because, when you do things like work, and other tasks where more is expected of you than what you currently are, these situations cause you to improve, and therefore change.

Your brain doesn’t like change, even when you’re improving, because your brain is solely focused on your survival, and it doesn’t want the risk of you changing.

Situations like working cause you to become a better version of yourself, and to become a better version of yourself, your current self has to die, for the new and improved you, to take its place.

And your brain doesn’t want that, your brain sees changing, even improving, as risky, because you are surviving just fine in your current state, your brain doesn’t want you to change, your brain wants you to stay who you are.

So how can you make productivity easier? You can make productivity significantly easier by viewing yourself as a hard worker, because then hard work becomes typical of you, so you are no longer changing as much, so your brain produces less negative emotion when you are being productive.

But this is much harder than it sounds, because the only way to view yourself as a hard worker, is by working hard, and you know deep down if you are trying as hard as you can.

But if you are working very hard, very diligently, and you are genuinely trying your best, then productivity and staying focused will become easy for you.

This is Neuroproductivity, which is NO-BS productivity (productivity using science) if you are interested I got this from moretimeoffline+com they only use productivity based on science, they have great free stuff there.

Hope this helps! cheers :)

Hey everyone! I’m Christoffer, one of the founders of a newly launched app called Soundscape, and I’m excited to introduce myself and our app to the focus community here on Reddit! We built Soundscape with the belief that creating the perfect environment for concentration should be simple and accessible—not complicated or costly. Since this community is all about optimizing focus, I’d love to hear feedback from fellow focus enthusiasts

What is Soundscape?
Soundscape is a designed to create an environment optimized for concentration. Our curated soundscapes help you block out distractions and stay in the zone, while smart tools like time management features and deep focus modes make sure you’re working efficiently, not just harder.

Key Features of Soundscape:

Completely Free with Your Spotify/Apple Music Subscription:
Enjoy uninterrupted, ad-free audio simply by linking your Spotify or Apple Music account. No hidden fees, no intrusive ads—just a seamless, powerful experience.

Custom Soundscapes:
We offer expertly crafted soundscapes designed to enhance focus, minimize distractions, and boost productivity. Whether you need deep focus or a relaxed environment, we’ve got you covered.

Time Management Tools:
Use tools like Pomodoro or Timeboxing to break tasks into manageable intervals, helping you stay productive without burnout. Perfect for tackling long study sessions or focused work blocks.

Deep Focus Mode:
Our Deep Focus Mode allows you to block distracting apps and notifications during work sessions so you can stay in the zone and fully concentrate.

Usage Graphs:
Track your focus patterns over time with easy-to-read visuals that highlight your productivity spikes, so you can identify your most productive times and optimize your workflow.

I’m really proud of what we’ve built with Soundscape, and it’s completely free to use if you already have a Spotify or Apple Music subscription.

Check it out here: https://apps.apple.com/app/soundscape-focus-music-timer/id6480119395

(Android version coming soon)

Looking forward to hearing your feedback, and feel free to ask any questions!

Let’s talk about how to make your brain WANT to work.

Our brain centers our decision making around dopamine, this means that our brain is constantly scanning our environment for higher dopamine-inducing activities to replace the activity you are currently doing.

When you are working, and you are trying to focus on something, your brain constantly scans your environment for other higher dopamine-inducing activities you can do instead of work.

So when your brain recognizes an activity that provides more dopamine than work, your brain will want to do that instead.

This is why your environment is so important. The more dopamine-inducing distractions around you, the more willpower you’ll need to keep working. 

And when you have less dopamine-inducing objects in your environment, it is easier to continue working, and less willpower is needed.

You can take this to another level. The reason why your environment is so powerful is because if there’s nothing else that surrounds you, if there is no other activity that provides you with more dopamine than work, then your brain will gravitate towards working.

When you don’t have your phone, or any of your devices, and your environment is clear of heavy dopamine inducing objects, your brain will gravitate towards work. You don’t want any other stimulating activity to even be an option.

Essentially, you want to make working the most dopamine inducing activity available in your environment so that you’re not constantly using your willpower to avoid another activity, Work will become the activity that provides the most dopamine, so instead of constantly resisting something else, your brain will gravitate towards work.

And I can’t tell you enough about how powerful and life changing that utilizing this can be, this can really make work easy.

So while we can use our willpower to resist higher dopamine inducing things, we can also structure our environment, so that working and being productive is the highest dopamine inducing activity at our disposal, and we will gravitate towards work.

P.s. This post is based on Neuroproductivity, which is NO-BS productivity (productivity using science) if you are interested I got this from moretimeoffline+com they only use productivity based on science, they have great free stuff there

Hope this helps! cheers :)

Hello, I had this problem for quite some time now, let me explain, I've struggled with a depressive state for two years, I never talked about this with a single soul until now but when it started I started losing weight even if I eated regularly and I withdrawed from family and friends so it was pretty bad, things got slightly better the last year and now I think I am quite good again, the problem is that during this time I didn't do anything that really required any form of serious effort like studying, exercising etc., not even playing videogames or watching series wich are leisure activities but still require paying attention to something for a long time , and every single day I just brainrotted endlessly at the phone or laptop, and I listened to an unfathomable amount of music while daydreaming, I did nothing else, this had a catastrophic effect on my capacity to focus and conclude things, whenever I try to do something that requires the most common amount of focus like reading something, studying something and repeating it out loud etc. either I do that but I don't understand anything because while I do the thing a lot of different thoughts about other stuff pop out in my head or without even recognizing it until afterwards I stop doing the thing and I find myself thinking about something else while walking around or while lying and watching up, this is how far off I am fucked. Now you see, this is quite a problem because there is not a time in my life in wich I needed focus more than now, I've been trying to self-learn programming for some time now with little success, and I also imposed to myself that this year I have to try to get all straight As as much as I can (I am a high schooler), but all of this will be near impossible in this mental condition, just to give you an idea, the study of six pages from a book, is something that if I remember correctly, when I was 13 would have took one hour of my time, now I am 17 and due to what I have gone through in terms of mental health it takes me 3 hours, this is unmanagable, like damn fuck those youtube shorts I can't even read fantasy anymore without losing focus after 3 lines lol. In conclusion, what do I have to do to fix this?

And just to be clear, no I am not dumb, I never showed signs of any kind of learning disability and not even signs of ADHD prior to my mental health collapsing 3 years ago, and I even scored 137 points on a Wechsler scale IQ test when I was 15 (I am saying this to help you exclude the possibility that I am just dumb as fuck, not to sound arrogant, I just wanted to say this because when I said this IQ thing in other occasions to help people have a better idea they didn't take it good :) )

I hope that people who are skilled enough in psychology can help me fix this even if it will take time.

1. Having your phone face-up beside you

2. Keeping your calendar open

3. Starting whenever you feel like it

4. Working until you feel like taking a break

5. Having a cluttered desk

6. Working on whatever feels urgent in the moment

Avoid as many of these as possible.

1. Pick a time to start and treat it like an important meeting

2. Choose ahead of time what you're going to work on (Pick something that (a) is important not urgent (b) forces you to create rather than consume (c) doesn't require you to message others or search the internet

3. Turn your phone off and put it in another room

4. Clear your desk of clutter

5. Download all materials you'll need and shut down all apps that you won't be using

6. Place a timer on your desk (don't use your phone), set it for 30 minutes, and work until it goes off

7. Set the timer for 10 minutes and break until it goes off

8. Only do analog activities on your break

10. Repeat 2-6 times

It’s really that easy.

Staying focused is definitely something worth mastering, right?
Do you have any routines that help you lock in while working or studying?

For me, every morning, I scribble down my to-dos for the day, reflect on yesterday, and write out how I’m feeling in a notebook before diving into work. It clears my head, and I’m always amazed at how quickly I can get in the zone after that.

Your brain loves closure, so when things are left undone they drain your mental energy.

To combat this, practice ‘brain dumping’:

1. Before a deep work session, write down everything on your mind—tasks, ideas, worries.

2. Close out small tasks that are hanging over you.

3. Keep a pen and paper beside you during the session and write down anything new that pops into your head.

This clears mental space for deeply focused work.

How do you clear your mind for focus?

1. Leave your phone at home: You'll learn to be more present (and might even get to ask a stranger for directions).

2. Single-task instead of multi-task: Doing one thing at a time forces you to concentrate.

3. Shut down apps and browser tabs as soon as you're done with them: Opening up your laptop in the morning and seeing things you were interested in or working on yesterday will immediately distract you.

4. Become aware of what you're aware of: Your mind wanders for the majority of the day and you don't even realize it. Cultivate meta-awareness so you can more quickly notice when it's drifted and bring it back to this moment.

5. Wear a dumbwatch: Pulling out your phone just to see what time it is will expose you to notifications that you're unable to resist. Wear a watch that only tells the time and you'll save hours of distraction each week.

I have always struggled to concentrate on one thing. I’ve never taken an ADHD test, and I find the idea a bit unnecessary because I believe the main issue is my use of social media. For instance, I was active on the app "Musical.ly" from its early days. My mom recently told me that throughout my childhood, I often had trouble focusing on what she was saying. I would hear things but not remember them, especially in conversations where I needed to listen and retain information. I would quickly forget things, and when my mom reminded me about something, I’d often forget that she had already mentioned it a couple of days prior.

Now, at 19, the problem hasn’t gone away. I sometimes struggle to form sentences and find it difficult to concentrate or describe my feelings and situations. I’ve been trying to improve by reading books and deleting social media, but I don’t feel like it’s helping. I want to be able to think clearly and have coherent thoughts, rather than having constant, distracting music playing in my head.

I am also quite clumsy, which I attribute to not thinking about the consequences of my actions. Recently, I accidentally used nicotine liquid instead of eye drops in class because I didn’t notice what I was using before putting it in my eyes. My boyfriend says that such incidents happen all the time and aren’t just coincidences but rather a result of my lack of focus.

I’m scared about turning 20 next year and continuing to struggle with these issues. I want to change, but the constant melodies in my head make it difficult to think clearly. Talking to myself when no one is around seems to help because I can hear my own thoughts more clearly. I don’t expect anyone to have the answers, but I feel frustrated with myself for not being able to overcome these challenges. I feel responsible for my problems and hate that I can’t seem to find a solution.

Learning to unplug and set aside distraction while working gave me the skills (and the comfort level) to do this throughout my non-work day.

It had been such a long time since I experienced a general calmness in my life. But once I got a taste of it via doing deeply focused work on a regular basis, I craved it more than the dopamine-inducing social media hits.

I am Software Engineer, I just joined the company and I struggle to work on tasks and finish work. I sit from 10am to 9pm and still don't have good output.

I feel like I don't have motivation to do stuff I don't know why , even though I really wanted to join this company.

I tried deleting social media, I am actually on dopamine detox right now. I still don't know where my whole day is wasted.

for example I have a task to create really easy screen layout with small functionality and I don't know why it took one freaking week, when I did that kind of tasks in just 2 hours as usual.

Just looking for some advice cause I have a hard time listening to people or class in general.

For example I was interviewing a scientist for school and was interested in what he was saying but I just kept zoning out, or just trying to focus on the words he was saying but couldn’t. Wasn’t during the whole call don’t worry but just at some moments.

So how can I make myself focus?

Hello,

I'm 25 years old. I'm a recent graduate who is trying to get into their job in software industry and while I'm studying I couldn't focus much. I end to lose interest or get deviated so easily. I know everyone would say if you have a goal and a plan you'll do it. I've my goal but I couldn't focus or concentrate. How to overcome this situation.

Ever felt like your mind is racing in a million directions, unable to concentrate on a single task? In today's fast-paced world, it's easy to get overwhelmed. But fear not, there are effective strategies to help you hone your focus and improve your mental clarity.

1. Prioritize Sleep and Nutrition

• Quality sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.
• Balanced diet: Fuel your brain with nutrient-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins.
• Stay hydrated: Dehydration can impair cognitive function. Drink plenty of water throughout the day.  

2. Minimize Distractions

• Create a dedicated workspace: A clutter-free environment can help you stay focused.  
• Limit multitasking: Focus on one task at a time to avoid mental overload.
• Manage notifications: Turn off unnecessary notifications on your phone and computer.

3. Practice Mindfulness

• Meditation: Regular meditation can improve attention and reduce stress.  
• Deep breathing: Take slow, deep breaths to calm your mind and body.
• Mindful awareness: Pay attention to your thoughts and sensations without judgment.  

4. Incorporate Physical Activity

• Regular exercise: Exercise boosts blood flow to the brain, improving cognitive function.  
• Mind-body exercises: Activities like yoga and tai chi can enhance focus and reduce stress.  

5. Take Short Breaks

• Avoid burnout: Short breaks can help prevent mental fatigue.
• The Pomodoro Technique: Work in focused 25-minute intervals followed by short breaks.  

6. Limit Screen Time

• Reduce digital distractions: Excessive screen time can impair concentration.  
• Digital detox: Take regular breaks from electronic devices.  

7. Challenge Your Mind

• Learn new things: Engage in activities that stimulate your brain, such as puzzles, games, or learning a new language.
• Read regularly: Reading can improve cognitive function and expand your knowledge.  

By implementing these strategies & tracking your progress you can enhance your concentration, improve your productivity, and achieve your goals more effectively. Remember, consistency is key. With practice, you can train your brain to focus and stay sharp.

If your childhood didn't have the Internet, do you wish it did?

If your childhood did have the Internet, do you wish it didn't?

So one thing that really reduce my phone time and help me focus is StepBloc. This app let's you earn screen time by doing work out or completing pomodoro timers. It has been a game changer for me.

How did it feel?

Analog activities will not only help you improve your concentration, they'll make you calmer and more present throughout the day.

This simple hack allows me to work much longer than before.

When you reach the point in your work where you would usually stop, tell yourself you will only do "one more" of something.

Such as writing one more page, or reading for one more minute.

For example, if you are working on a project and you want to stop, tell yourself to write “just one more paragraph.”

The One-More premise accomplishes multiple things:

• You are working past the point where you would have usually stopped, which infinitely builds your discipline over the long-term as your “stopping point” will constantly be pushed forward.
• You get more work done than you would have otherwise.
• There is a great chance that you will work past the “one more __” that you set for yourself, as you will have gained momentum and thoughts of what to do next.

This is the same strategy that you use for procrastination. The same way you tell yourself “just one more game” or “just one more post,” and end up doing much more, you can do this with your other tasks too, “just one more rep,” “just one more page,” “just one more minute.”

This occurs for multiple reasons: once people commit to a course of action, even a small one, they feel obligated to follow through to maintain consistency. By agreeing to a small request, people become more likely to agree a following, larger request to maintain consistency and fulfill a perceived obligation.

This post is based on Neuroproductivity, which is NO-BS productivity (productivity using science) if you are interested I got this from moretimeoffline+com they only use productivity based on science, they have great free stuff there.

Hope this helps! cheers :)

Hello, I am researching how meditation and mindfulness apps help you stay more present in the moment. The survey won't take you more than 3-4 minutes and it would help me a lot. Thank you!

https://forms.gle/mgZ1gciLZJf1dunPA

Hey everyone,

I’m a data scientist who started working during COVID, so I’ve only ever worked from home in a quiet environment, wearing comfortable clothes. Recently, I transitioned to working on-site at a company that produces image processing products with a C++ backend (which I'm somewhat familiar with but need to review), and it’s been a real struggle for me. My desk is near the customer support area and other developers, and the environment is constantly noisy with people talking and walking around. I’m finding it really difficult to focus or think clearly, and my productivity has drastically dropped. I'd say I’m only working at 5 percent efficiency.

On top of that, I’m uncomfortable in my outside clothes, which adds to my overall discomfort throughout the day.

Unlike developers who often work on similar pipelines and can train themselves to work somewhat on autopilot, my work requires deep focus and creative problem-solving. This is especially challenging because I’m a bit new to the language and framework, so I can’t just tune out the distractions and coast through the work. Unfortunately, given the company’s resources, a private office isn’t an option. I’m not sure if I should ask for remote work (which I think would solve the problem), try to adapt by working with music on (which so far has been more distracting), or invest in expensive noise-cancelling headphones. Another option I'm considering is medical treatment, as I've heard it can be helpful for scattered thoughts. Not sure if it would help me become less sensitive to outside noise. I'm also beginning to wonder if this is a bigger issue—should I be concerned that I can’t work well in a busy environment? Is this a major flaw for someone in my field?

I’m feeling really frustrated and like I’m wasting my days. Has anyone else been through something similar? How did you handle it? I would really appreciate any advice or perspectives.

Thanks in advance!

I wanna reduce instagram time but I wanna still receive notifications as I use it for communication how can I block app but receive messages.