Single minded Focus for Designers-21rst Century Skill

It is very, very important skill of a 21st century. In fact, I would say it is mandatory of every time to become very, very focused in what you do. And in the world of distraction where we have an attention span of just 9 seconds, it is very vital to learn what is focus, why it is important for a creative designer. In this podcast I'm going to address you this. See guys, if you are a designer, it is very, very desirable to write a creative person. Okay, so why we are attention is fragmented. You can dive deep into many projects, complete task faster and you can, you can do it. But many times we'll be distracted, right? Many times we will not have the focus. Sometimes we'll be focused, sometimes we'll be distracted. So studies by American Psychological association shows multitasking can actually decrease your productivity by 40 percentage. We definitely have lot of distractions only because we have lot of different, different priorities, right? You know what guys? If you are focused, enhancing of your creativity will be really, really high. You will have unexpected connections happening and you will experiment it freely. And research published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that focused attention fosters creativity and problem solving. It improves your decision making ability because distractions can cloud designers judgment. Guys, definitely it's a big problem. That is why I always tell my students to have a talent. 10 minutes of being calm. Okay? I help them do mindful practice, mindfulness practice. I help them do some vipassana technique for 10 minutes. But you can do any technique guys, okay, it's not a problem. But the end of the day we have to really calm ourselves to really find where our distraction mind is going and how we can able to come back. See, we've been evolved from monkey and we know that, right? We used to jump from branches to branches. But we will never be able to focus on any one particular thing in a deeper way. If you analyze that information objectively and weighs very carefully, you will find much more well informed decision. Guys, if you slow down your thought, but if you're distracted, your decision making ability will be really poor. A study in the Scientific Journal of Experimental Psychology found that focused attention leads to better decision making. It reduces your stress, it improves your career investment. So a study by University of California Irvin found that people who did multitasking made more errors, took longer time to complete the task. Can I tell you something guys? There was a research did by University of Chicago. Averagely a teenager distracts 116 times in a day because of mobile distraction. This, that, whatever, okay. And once you're distracted from your Task. It takes average of 11 to 13 minutes to come back to its full attention. Let's say if you are building a project, if you're building a solution and you know exactly what is the problem you're solving and how you wanted to really help get. And then you have started designing, you know the audience, you know the problem, you know the solution, you know how it is going to be violent, then you're exactly going and solving, solving. Suddenly you get a distraction, somebody calls and tell, hey, we are going this weekend for this party and then you're getting back. You know what, what will happen? You will never get that flow of solving the problem from the very, very, very initial approach because you were solving the problem from the very basic, like let's say who's your audience, what's the project, what's the problem you're solving? Specific. It takes 11 to 13 minutes to go back to that original flow. And then what happens? Your time stretches like anything. This is why people were not able to complete the task on time. It's not about they are not inefficient. It's about the ability to focus. What's missing, guys? Can I tell you something? More than any financial thing or diamonds or gold or something, focus is the biggest asset, guys. If you're not able to focus, whatever you earn as a money and whatever wealth you create, it will be easily thrown away, like anything and people will take away from you and you will not be able to manage it properly. But if you have focus, you can get back whatever you lost in next one or two years because you know that how to do it and you can recreate it. That is why it is very, very important, guys. A study published in Nature found that focused attention strengthens your brain connection. A research by Hardware Business suggests review suggests that mindfulness meditation improves your focus leading to a better job satisfaction. So having said all these things, guys, we need to understand how to improve that. Okay, before that I wanted to tell you one story, guys. Okay, okay. Let me put the story in the last. That would be really good and good, good I believe. Okay. The very first thing which you can improve your focus ability is sitting and calming down you for just 10 minutes. Close your eyes, focus your breath. In this particular podcast, I'm pasting you the Vipassana link. Also you can do it for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, anything guys. Or if you find any method is comfortable, do it. My point is if you calm down your thoughts, you'll be able to focus better in what you really wanted to know. Okay, the second important thing is find out your true goal and value in your life. See guys, lot of people force their mind, but force your mind to find the real goal. The more you are finding your goal clearly, the more you are finding your value clearly. Let me tell you guys, you will be more focused, you will be more goal oriented, you will be determined, you will not be distracted because you know exactly what needs to be done and how needs to be done. And you will never fall for any kind of a distractions which your friends call your this, that calls and that distraction, this distraction. Lot of people work reversely, okay? They don't find a goal, they don't find their real value in life. And they just wanted to say, hey, I wanted to be the calm person, I wanted to be focused, focus. It will not happen like that, guys. That's why I'm telling you, find your real goal, find your real value in your life. So write down 10 things in next one year what you wanted in your life very specifically, okay? Don't just tell I want to become rich, I want to become designer. Be specific that I wanted to become product Designer and earn 1 lakh rupees per month before next December 2025 or 2024. Something once. If you're writing 10 things like this, close your eyes and have a magic wand. Think that if you sleep today and wake up tomorrow, if one thing has happened out of this 10 things, what you've written which can change your life profoundly. Like let's say out of all these 10 goals, Jagdish, if that one happens before tomorrow morning, I'll be the most, most happiest person and I'll be really, really self fulfilled. Imagine you have a magic wand and then you think which goal is really which goal is very important for you to achieve it faster. Definitely it will be financial goal only, guys. Okay, no problem. For some people there will be a different goal, but majority of the people will have a financial goal. If you write it properly, that's how the answers will come. Circle that goal and then revolve around it the moment. If you do it, guys, first of all your brain will start calming down. Your inner voice will be very clear. You will not be distracted much in a different way. Okay? The third technique is if you do tasks continuously for one hour, take a break of five to 10 minutes, okay? Then get back to work and then switch on your clock for 60 minutes. Lock your door. Or maybe if you're in an office, ask them to not disturb you, your friends and put your mobile in silent and keep all of your water and your pen, pencil, whatever required in your seat and just don't move. 60 Minutes. Get back to work. If somebody is distracting, tell sorry, we'll meet in the lunch. Get back to work. If somebody is calling for an update, sorry, I'll update you in the afternoon. Get back to work. Back to work. Back to work. Back to work. Lot of people will come and pull you guys in your office, in your colleague, this, that. Hey, let's go for a chai. We'll have 15 minutes break this, that. Remember guys, the more focus you work without any distractions, the better your career will be able to grow. You know what guys? You will save years of hard work by just focusing on right things for a very, very fewer time. Just one or two hours. If you focus per day, if you improve that practice, your life will profoundingly change. Like anything, guys. Okay, I'll give you an activity for that. Go and focus on one person in your life today. It could be your girlfriend, boyfriend, your spouse or your mother, father, maybe your important friend or anybody. Just listen to them. 30 minutes without asking any question, without just complaining, without just asking them second question. Just ask them, how did your day go? Just encourage them to answer. If their answer seems to be little complete, then ask them, hey, can you tell me more? Hey, can you tell me what happened in the afternoon? Can you tell me you said you are going to someplace today. How about their experience? 30 minutes without any distraction. Just focus, focus, focus on what they see. You will find amazing things about that person happening, guys. It will be really a wonderful task. I learned it from one of my personality development trainers and I've implemented it with my spouse. And I've learned lot more things that I was too much talkative before. But when I allowed my partner to talk, I found lot of things which she has never told me before. So the patience is very important. And you know what? I'm very lucky to have my partner like that. She was very patient whenever I'm talking. She used to be very silent, encouraging me, listening to me empathetically. And I pour lot and lot of things with her. I feel very comfortable because if you are heard by someone, you will feel very comfortable with that person. That's what you have to do for the others as well. Okay, so think about. This is the third activity which I'm giving you. The fourth important thing is please focus your brain in a very, very, what you call a particular incident. So like, let's say psychologically, I'll tell you guys if any danger situation happens naturally, our brain and muscles will force our entire body to focus on just alerting, just coming out of the danger. Just be very, very aware. Just be very, very careful. Your muscles will be in ready tension. Your brain will be only focused on how to get out of this danger. Full focus. So your brain will be in full focus if you are in a negative danger zone. If you are in a positive zone, very safe and comfortable zone, you will find lot more connectivity, lot more ideas coming into you, lot more free creativity. So both are important for a designer. Guys, if you focus on a dangerous situation, you will find more alertness in your brain which you can do in your product design as well. For sometimes focus on only the careful aspect of the product interface experience to create and solve some safety related problems in your customer. This is what Don Norman says in his book Emotional design and positive side is also very important in order to find some creative, radical innovations also happening. So do this activity simultaneously. When you're doing a brainstorming, do freely for 30 minutes. Do forcefully for 30 minutes. Forcefully in the sense keep a target, keep a specific timeline, keep a specific goal. Make sure you're going to address the whole safety aspect of this device interface. If it goes wrong, then what you'll have, then what you'll do is your brain automatically focuses on safety, safety, safety. And then you'll find lot more things which is not coming from your free state or a creativity state. So this is the fourth important thing is practice this being a designer. The fifth important thing is start saying I like myself. I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself. You know what guys, if you say it for 21 times, you can pause this podcast and say it for 21 times. Initially you will not feel very comfortable, you very feel, you will feel very awkward. But if you say it for 21 times, you'll feel wonderful. Guys, your self esteem goes up, you'll feel like a winner. And you know what, if you are very, very happy and if you are very, very high in your self esteem, you will focus on only the right things important for you and then you will never get distraction. That's the most important psychological thing. And the sixth important thing is prioritize your task in a day. Take a paper and Write it down 10 things which you wanted to accomplish today. Okay, choose one task which is most, most most important. Choose the second important task which is most most important. Choose the third important task which is most important next to that. How do I determine this? Jagdish? If I don't know how to choose the first second task. Let me tell you guys, if you wanted to go out from tomorrow morning for next one month out of the city, which one task, you will have to complete it today, which is really bothering you. That's your first most important task. If you don't know how to prioritize this, use this technique, okay? Second thing is ask the next question. If I'm gone for the month for the one month, what is the second important task which I'll complete? You do it the third like that, you prioritize. And the important parameter is never go for the task 2 till the task 1 is completed. Never go for the task 2 till the task 1 IS completed. Okay? This is the only thumb of rule guys, okay? And the last sixth important thing is make sure you delegate something which is not priority for you. Make sure you do the third priority activities later and sometimes if it's not done also, okay? And make sure you eliminate which is not required in your life at all. Okay? You should know what to do now, which is very important, what to do little later, what to delegate and what not to do. If you prioritize these four areas in your life only guys, you will be able to focus on your task one, which is important, task two, which is second important. And then you will be more focused without any distraction. Okay? So understand this, guys. In the world, reels and shots and Instagrams are coming. It's because people have understood your attention span is only 9 seconds. And the Instagram algorithm works in a way that if you are focusing three to six seconds for one content and it will post more of that to you, and it will post more of that topic under subject to you because they know how to stick your attention with Instagram. Okay? Lot of people have lost interest in seeing one hour a particular thing or half an hour or two hours until they are very determined and specific to it. If you go to any art museum hundreds and 200 years before, people used to look at a painting for one hour, guys, one and a half hours, 90 minutes. People used to look at the one painting because they understand each and every stroke. They understand how the compositions, they understand what colors the artists have used. They'll understand what is the meaning and the and the deep meaning and the surface level meaning lying out of it. So people will decipher lot many things. But now if you show the same painting, people hardly spend nine seconds. So this shows that why Instagram reels and shots are becoming very famous because we are in the World of Destruction. Okay, to close this podcast I'll tell you an interesting story, guys. Before that I'll recap you. First, you can do 10 minutes of Vipassana technique or 30 minutes which is pasted in the description link. Second, you can lock yourself in a room for 60 minutes and do without any distraction. Third is you can tell your colleagues that I'll be not available for the next one hour and just tell them no, sorry, no, sorry, no, sorry. Because the more you say no, the better you will get time in your career, guys. That's the only way to find lot more important things and focused on it. Okay? And the third important thing is find out one task, one thing which is very important in your day and focus on it wholeheartedly and do it without any distraction. And the fifth important thing is tell always I like myself, I like myself, I love myself. That improves your self esteem. The fifth important thing is use your both sides of your brain when you're focusing on a creativity and ideation task. And the sixth important thing is focus on important one, two tasks and eliminate which is not required. And take action continuously on what you've learned in this podcast. Because hearing out will never change. Taking action will. Okay, now let us come to the last important story, guys. Particularly it has been a real thing, okay? It's not a made up story, it's a real story. So journalist and publishing people and lot of interviewing people were very interested in meeting some of the successful people in the world, okay? So it seems that, it seems that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and some of the relatives of Bill Gates and some of the most richest people in the world are sitting in a hall, okay? So it is found that almost half of the wealth is there. Who are the people who are sitting in the hall? So that much of important people are sitting in that particular some party or function. It has happened. So the journalist went and asked, sir, some of the biggest top five richest billionaires in the world are sitting here. I wanted to understand what is the one thing which you give for the advice for the youngsters which can make them successful like you in the world. You know what? Everybody in the room, like let's say Bill Gates, like let's say Warren Buffett turned and said only one thing, focus. Nothing else. Guys, they did not tell you do this, do that, save some investment, have some passive income, develop computer knowledge software. Nobody yelled at anything. Both of them at the same time turned to the journalist and then they said focus, determine exactly what you wanted to do and do it. That's it. So the first important element, the very basic important element of a distracted mind is having single minded focus on what you really wanted to do. And in this podcast I've told you how to find that single element also. And if you are able to find out that, and if you're able to focus on one that particular thing for a very longer point of time. Can I tell you something guys? Profounding benefits will happen to your life. Let it be health, let it be relationship, let it be anything in your life design nothing. If you focus on this single minded focus on one particular activity and do it consistently without breaking that habit pattern, you will find lot more success coming into your life, guys. You will find your relationships getting back, you'll find your health coming back, you'll find your wealth which you've lost coming back. You'll find your design career growing in a more profound way and you will see lot more things happen in your life which you have never imagined possible. Okay? So think about it, focus on that. And I'm giving you another task connectivity. Also in this podcast I've pasted you an audio called Stranger Secret. Okay? This is a very good audio guys. It will rewire your brain. I'll give you a special podcast on what is the importance of hearing to the Stranger Secret. But for now you, you can just listen to it every single day, one time. It's a 30 to 40 minutes audio. Just listen to it. It'll help you build your consistency and focus every day. If you're traveling somewhere, if you're doing any mundane task, you can put it in your headphones and listen to it. Because it helps improve your focus and habit and it keeps you inputting your consistency in your work. Okay? Because this improves your self esteem as well. Okay guys, thank you so much. I hope you've learned lot many things in this podcast. Why it is very important for a single minded focus for designers and take action. Take action. Because hearing to this podcast will not change anything. Take action. Will see you in another episode. Give me best star rating in Spotify and Apple. If you need my mentorship support, there is an email you can send me or my team will help out. You guys take care. All the best. Bye bye.