The ritual of concentration

Finding the right level of concentration and knowing how to manage it throughout the day are activities that require a concrete strategy. In the previous article we saw how there are four different philosophies for optimizing resources and minimizing distractions.

Regardless of the strategy chosen, maintaining consistency in applying the method is anything but simple. In Chinese popular culture, it is said that in order for a behavior to become a habit, 21 consecutive days without interruption are required. In this article, I show how there are additional factors that contribute to the successful creation of a habit of concentration.

Ritualizing behaviors

Getting up every morning at 7:00 to take a walk and then working from 10:00 to 18:00 is one of the possible habits a knowledge worker may have. Willpower and consistency can help us maintain it as a healthy and fruitful daily practice. But how much did the initial effort cost to force the mind to undertake this change?

Setting change by establishing rituals will guarantee us lower energy expenditure and easier management of consistency over time.

The ritual of place and time

The ritual begins by setting the place of work. Whether it is an office, a mountain cabin, a library, or a café, it must be clear that this place has been chosen to achieve maximum concentration on the tasks to be tackled. Only after this awareness is established should we set a time slot that will determine the start and end of the work period.

The ritual of how

Here we are. We’ve chosen where and for how long to work in a focused manner; now we need structured rules to define the how. Do you think working without an internet connection helps you achieve deep concentration? Turn off your computer’s network devices. For the same reason, if you find it useful, you might also keep a metric of your tasks.

Supporting rituals

What could be better than starting a work session with a good coffee? Let’s include it in our ritual to support the main habit! Many knowledge workers need to have food ready to avoid distractions, while others need a standing desk to work standing for a while. Supporting habits are useful if they help remove distractions from normal activities.

Practice makes perfect

Finding the right combination of rituals to include in your daily flow is not an immediate activity, but requires experimentation and many attempts. Drawing further from Eastern tradition, the ritual that opens up to concentration is an exercise very similar to preparatory meditation.

The Big Gesture

An additional strategy could help make our efforts more credible: the big gesture. In fact, it takes a big gesture—something that commits us economically, emotionally, or physically—to seal a ritual. Getting up in the morning and sitting at your desk has a very different impact compared to renting a hotel room for €200 a night and using it as an office. The perception of the importance of the gesture is directly proportional to the change made compared to normal habits. A big gesture will help us avoid the instinct to procrastinate that our mind naturally has. It’s not just about changing the work environment in search of quiet, but about taking an action that makes us psychologically aware of the commitment to invest in our work activity.

References

[1] Newport, C. (2016). Deep Work. Piatkus.