The most foundational skill: Concentration and Focus

The ability to concentrate sits at the base of all human endeavours. It applies to learning, social interactions, creating or inventing something new (software, art, writing)—basically everything. 

Concentration and focus are often overlooked as an area of growth and improvement.

What many people don’t realise is that focus and concentration is a trainable skill. Your ability to be present does not have to be at the whims of day-to-day fluctuations, although these will still exist your base-level of focus can be much higher and so the changes that do occur are significantly reduced. 

When I first wanted to get better at concentration, I sat down to do some meditation and wow it was hard. My mind was all over the place. I felt bored, frustrated and pissed off. What I realised at that moment is that I liked the fantasy of being able to focus much more than the actual work required.

It is the most fundamental skill we can learn, all aspects of our life are affected in some way by our degree of presence and focus. Every other skill we might learn is directly impacted by our ability to focus and concentrate. If you consider all human skills as a pyramid with certain skills being broader and deeper than others. For example, to be good at basically any skill, you will probably need proficiency with literacy and numeracy - reading, writing and basic math are broader and wider and more generally applicable than say Social Ethics. The broadest and most generally applicable skill is that ability to focus and concentrate.

The process of learning concentration is similar to learning other skills, with the similar learning curve, as shown below.

I remember when I was learning software development, there were times that I was sitting at my desk, emotionally empty and crying, I just wasn’t able to crack the problem I was working on. Meditation and learning to focus are the same. It took me many hours of just making no progress until all of a sudden, it fell together, and I felt like I was making progress again.

I started learning software development at the same time I was learning meditation. I can see now how much easier learning software development would have been if I could have had the skill of concentration at that time. 

I compare this to when I started learning psychodrama (which is a method for working with groups and individuals that gets below the surface of personal and interpersonal dilemmas through the use of action methods). Having meditated for six years, my ability to learn the foundational concepts was sped up by my increased ability to focus. Much of psychodrama involves long days of practice and learning and sometimes 3-4 hours without a break. A few years ago, I would have been unfocused and scattered, and now I am able to focus, be effective and make faster progress.

There are lots of ways to cultivate focus and presence, with most of the major mystical traditions around the world having different techniques ranging for meditation, dance, chanting and bowing, to name a few. There is also often a secondary focus on simple physical labour, gardening, washing the dishes sweeping the floor. This is an activity that is somewhere between sitting still and the complicated situation of dealing with other humans. It is in-practice learning to meditate and focus, in-action.

The ultimate goal is that during even complicated, highly emotionally charged situations; you are able to maintain a high degree of this focus and presence.

If you think back to some of your most meaningful moments in life, more than likely, you will find that you were very concentrated and focussed at those times. As a general rule, the more focussed and concentrated you are, the more life will be enjoyable and meaningful. You also get a huge benefit of understanding yourself and your mind better, ultimately allowing you to pursue activities of value to you more effectively.

You go to the gym to be fit, do a vigorous activity to promote heart health and spend a huge amount of time learning and practising skills. If you don’t already, consider prioritising concentration in your list of things that you do to make your life better. 

I encourage you to spend time, each day deliberately working to increase your ability to focus and concentrate. It will absolutely serve you well.