Focus at Will

As I try to make a breakthrough in how relaxed I feel throughout the day, I've learned something unexpected.  When I'm working on a complicated task, I find that concentration and relaxation are linked.

If I can concentrate on the task, if I can tune out distractions, if my mind stays with my work, if I'm feeling fully engaged, then I can also relax my body.  Perhaps not quite as much as when I'm laying in a lounge chair with a cool drink.  But, still, even if I'm rushing to get the work done, even if there is a tight deadline, I can feel calm and loose as long as I'm focused.

Contrast that with those many, many times when I'm working on something difficult and I keep losing my place.  The phone rings, or I get a text, or someone drops by my cube.  Even when the outside world doesn't intrude, my inner world often intrudes.  Instead of staying on task, I'll needlessly shift my mind toward other concerns.  Either way, whether the interruption comes from within or without, it's hard to get my mind fully back on track.  It's even worse because I have ADHD.  I like to say that when something derails my train of thought, the train doesn't just leave the track.  It rolls.

At times like this, if there is pressure to get the job done quickly and I'm not sure I'll get it done in time, how can I really relax?  If I really want to be relaxed almost all the time, I have to concentrate better, ESPECIALLY when the task is very complex or ambiguous.  Concentration and relaxation are as connected as Yin and Yang.

One thing that has been helping lately is listening to the music on the website focusatwill.com.  There is also a "Focus at Will" music streaming app on iTunes.  The website claims that it is a "neuroscience based web tool that uses phase sequenced instrumental music to increase your attention span up to 400% when working, studying, writing and reading."  The basic idea is that the music is JUST BARELY catchy enough to engage the part of your "non-focal" or background attention.  This is that part of your attention that is most easily pulled away from the task at hand.  If this part of your attention is busy with the music, the rest of your attention can stay with the task at hand.

Sounds somewhat plausible, and you can peruse their website to read about the science, but I wanted to try it for myself.  I've been using the website for a few weeks, ESPECIALLY when I'm working on something difficult and confusing.  So far, I think it's making a big difference.  This week I was working on complicated Excel models that normally get me going around and around in circles.  I felt as if I was able to stay on task, that I made better programming decisions (fewer "dead ends"), that I enjoyed working on these models more than I ever have before, and that, yes, I was much more relaxed.