2. Subconscious Distractions Also Undermine Focus

In the course of any normal day, we are bombarded with a seemingly endless series of things that demand our focus. Navigating traffic, responding to e mail, paying bills, keeping track of assignments from school or work – the list could go on and on. Dealing fully with everything in our lives that demands attention is simply impossible. To navigate through life, we have to triage. All of us do this. We rate some concerns as high priorities (meeting important deadlines, keeping dates - at least the ones we want to go on), and other concerns as low priorities (dentist appointments, getting our taxes done early). We devote our attention to the high priority cases, and the low priority cases get shelved. All in all, the ability to prioritize in this way is critical – we could never get through life without it. But there’s a catch. The concerns we put out of the front of our minds don’t just go away.

When blow off important things that we don't want to deal with like our annual physical or throw away that third notice about unpaid parking tickets, our subconscious mind doesn’t just forget. Any important issue that we fail to deal with invariably weighs on our subconscious.

The subconscious mind is a tricky topic to try to deal with. Science understands very little about how it works. But the one thing that’s certain is that our subconscious exerts powerful and inescapable influence on our emotions, behavior, and productivity. Have you ever felt uneasy about something, but weren’t sure what, only to suddenly realize that you had forgotten your keys or misplaced your wallet, or failed to make an important phone call or keep an important appointment? These instances, in which you suddenly become aware of a subconscious stressor that has been producing anxiety, are the tip of the iceberg. Most of our subconscious stressors stay submerged in our subconscious. We never become aware of them. None the less, they produce anxiety, consume resources, and erode our ability to focus.

What can you do about this? The simplest thing is to make up your mind to pay attention to your subconscious concerns. If you’re feeling stressed and distracted, take a minute to clear your mind, take a few deep breaths, and really ask yourself what is bothering you. Frequently the answer will pop into your mind. Once you commit to dealing with whatever is nagging you, the associated stress will diminish. You don’t have to get up and resolve the issue right then. Simply make a commitment to dealing with it as soon as you can. If it’s a task that you need to perform, add it to your to do list or send yourself an e mail. If it’s an emotional issue that you need to deal with, make up your mind to deal with it. If it’s an issue that doesn’t have a clear solution, simply recognizing the problem and saying to yourself “there’s nothing I can do about this right now, but I’ll deal with it when and how I can” can prove remarkably cathartic. Clearing subconscious stress will make it far easier for you to focus.