How I keep getting “deep work” done — even when focus is a challenge

Back in the early months of the pandemic, I noticed how many normally productive people were saying things like,

“I cannot believe how hard it is to get literally anything done.”

Folks who had always been paragons of productive output were putting more and more things off, spending hours staring off into space, and discovering the magical world of mobile phone games.

Since this is pretty much my natural state, I figured I might be able to help. Over many years of having an inconvenient brain myself, I’ve learned a lot of strategies for coping with serious attention challenges.

If sustained attention is tricky for you, you know how useless advice like “Just buckle down and do it” is.

But there are ways to manage our attention, even when we’re on maximum Squirrel! mode.

I’m pulling some of those ideas together tomorrow for my newsletter, The Fierce. If you’re interested in techniques that work for those really stubborn focus challenges (including various forms of ADHD and other kinds of neurodiversity), make sure you’re signed up.

I’ll talk about:

• Ways to show up for an unappetizing task you’ve been putting off (maybe for years)
• Finding the balance between a predictable framework and a boring routine
• An insight from traditional mindfulness practice that can help you get back to work
• The 10-minute weekly habit that keeps me on track (and how I get myself to do it consistently)
• Techniques for making progress on the “important but not urgent” stuff, even if you think you’re a natural flake

Drop your details into the form below to get my weekly newsletter, as well as a nifty free report on becoming a more prolific writer.

See ya then. 🙂

Remember to check your email box and click that all-important confirmation link! Because spam sucks and I want to make sure I don’t send you anything you’re not into.

Photo by Włodzimierz Jaworski on Unsplash