I Focused Like a Monk For 2 Days: This Is What I Learned

I tried to focus on what was important but taking a few hours here and there throughout the busy day felt too shallow.

So I took a weekend off from everything.

I wanted to experience deep focus.

The goal was to learn how to focus deeply and leverage limited time of retreats like this in the most efficient and repeatable way.

To live like a monk with a single purpose.

To solve this riddle.

Who did I do this?

I prepared the top 12 books on deep focus and just started.

I learned from Christian and Buddhist monks. Martial artists and Renaissance artists. I studied ancient philosophers and modern science. I experimented with my mind and my body.

And it was a wild ride.

What I Learned From This Experience

According to science, the more hours you spend in flow (deep focus) the higher is your life satisfaction. And I can confirm. Taking time to focus felt very enjoyable and fulfilling.

The deep focus was so addicting that I overdid it the first day. This taught me the power of rest and barriers. End your day before you get too tired.

Going deep with so many sources in a limited but long time allowed me to see deeper connections. This was due to all the important information being in my working memory.

What surprised me was that clearing my mind properly before a deep focus session increased my ability to focus better for a longer time.

What didn't surprise me was how easily I was getting sucked back into the world of distractions. It is the exact reason why I chose to isolate myself for a whole weekend.

The Age of Distraction

Life is hard. So we love to get distracted.

There is nothing like a hit of cheap dopamine after accomplishing an easy meaningless task.

This is nothing new.

People wrote about this phenomenon thousands of years ago.

What distinguishes our age is the sheer amount of distractions.

We get exposed to the same amount of information in one day as people pre-renaissance era in a whole lifetime.

I can go on and on about this but it's not the point.

The point is that we need a way of overcoming this fact.

We need to learn how to focus on what is important.

And deep focus has become an unfair advantage in this day and age.

Those who can do this are increasingly rare, making them incredibly valuable.

Cal Newport explained it like this:

High-Quality Work = Time Spent x Intensity of Focus

Your 48 Hours of Deep Focus

Monks in monasteries can afford to focus all the time. You and I have to make time. And when we finally take the time we should make the most out of it.

This is how:

1. Let people know: You need isolation to focus. Let your favorite distractors know when you are going to be available.

2. Choose the purpose of your focus: It's mentally challenging to focus, so don't waste your energy. This is the most important step. Set a meaningful goal for your retreat.

3. Change the environment: Isolated location without distractions. Fuel ready (Healthy food) and ability to take a long walk (Or other physical activity). Don't be afraid to turn off your phone and the internet.

4. Prepare the materials: Focus is mentally taxing. Don't waste time in this precious state with finding materials. Get organized and prepare anything you need beforehand.

5. Brain Dump: Clear your head. Empty your mind. Write everything on a paper, until there is nothing left. Imagine you want to climb a mountain. You don't want to drag dead weight with you.

6. 10 minutes of Mindfulness: Mindfulness meditation will ground you in the present. Focus on your breath. It will improve your ability to focus long-term. In this case, you need it to clear your head even further.

7. Preparation: This is the most counter-intuitive advice. I was skeptical until I tried it myself. For 30 minutes do some mentally easy physical activity (Walking, cooking, ...) and think about the topic. Get genuinely excited. Now you are ready.

8. Deep focus: Clear head, materials ready, and no distractions. Your excited mind has nothing left to do but focus. At this point, it's easy to overkill so set a timer for 2 hours. Do what you need to do and then STOP.

9. Take a break: You cannot focus like this forever. It's exciting but you need to stop. Do something else. Go for a walk, or just lay down and close your eyes. Calm your mind.

10. Repeat: Brain Dump -> Mindfulness -> Preparation -> Deep focus (2h) -> Break -> Repeat.
    You can get a few of these cycles in your day. But please don't overdo it. Set an alarm for the end of the day and chill until the next one.

Bonus tip: Active meditation

Do you know what improves focus? Better memory.

Do you know what improves memory? Using your memory.

When you are about to finish your first deep session, try to remember the most important things about the topic. I love to use the Memory Palace technique for this.

Then when you get to the next 1 hour preparation, instead of thinking random thoughts about the topic, do the thinking in a structured way. This is how:

• Question: Prepare an open question (Or more) on the topic

• Meditate: Try to answer it in your head with memorized facts.

• Focus: Bring your attention back when your mind starts to wonder.

• Final answer: Consolidate your answer before moving to another question.

Practicing active meditation will not only improve your memory and focus, but it will get you excited for more. You will find original connections and a lot of weaknesses in your knowledge.

You can practice this easily outside of this "Retreat". I use it every time I commute to work and back home.

Bonus tip 2: Power of Mantra

This tool caught me by surprise. At first, I thought it was just a cool way of DIY brainwashing. But to be able to learn, we need to dump our preconceptions, be curious, and try things ourselves.

I tried it and I love it.

Next time you find yourself wandering instead of focusing say your Mantra. A sentence or a word of your choice to remind you of what is important at the moment.

"FOCUS!"

I like to shout "FOCUS" and it gets me back on track super fast.

Pull The Trigger

It's fun to experiment on myself and write about it. But what really matters is you.

You either try this for yourself and make your own adjustments or you get distracted and do nothing.

Focus or distraction.

It's up to you.