Conventional wisdom routinely offers us athletes and trainers an easy equation: Smart work + Hard work = Progress. This is, of course, easier said than done. Smart work, for example, assumes we consistently absorb our industry’s best research and content, and then have the wherewithal to actually incorporate it. And hard work assumes we can frequently tap into our well of inspiration to engage in those kind of dig deep training sessions that push us toward progress.
 
Industry leaders worth their salt know there’s much overlap between the two. This is perhaps easier to see when we consider the fusion of smart work and hard work in the context of overtraining or developing a comprehensive 12-week routine. It can actually be incredibly hard work to be dogged in pursuit of a goal or competition but maintain the heightened sensitivity necessary to realize when overtraining is around the corner. Likewise, while developing that 12-week routine on the surface appears like smart work, it’s actually hard work to whittle through mountains of research to create the best routine for yourself or your client.
 
However, there’s an unheralded star at the intersection of smart work and hard work. It’s rarely talked about, but often alluded to. When it is discussed it’s often framed in terms of how our training can improve it, rather than how it can improve our training.
 
Focus.
 
Coaches and athletes alike often refer to it as “dialing in” or even as that state of “being in the zone,” but my experience leads me to believe that deep focus is something far less mystical and far more accessible than many of us may think. With just a few simple steps, we can call on it whenever we need to, and I’ve seen athletes make big gains as a result.
 
For starters, it’s worth mentioning that focus is most often studied in relation to how physical training can improve it. Countless studies, such as this one from Psychology and Aging, continue to prove how there’s a direct correlation between physical activity and enhanced affective experience and cognitive processing.
 
Awareness about this link has reached the tipping point whereby it’s often written about outside of scientific literature. Consider this Scientific American article titled Why do I think better after I exercise?, in which Justin Rhodes, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, breaks it down in a way we can all understand:
 
“Part of the reason exercise enhances cognition has to do with blood flow. Research shows that when we exercise, blood pressure and blood flow increase everywhere in the body, including the brain. More blood means more energy and oxygen, which makes our brain perform better.”
 
And if you’ve spent any time reading articles on the web, you’ve likely seen the almost cult-like obsession with blog posts about productivity, many of which are increasingly about how multitasking is killing our brain and killing our ability to perform optimally in whatever line of work we’re in. These articles are juxtaposed with articles on pop-mindfulness, and glimpses into how elite athletic teams such as the Seattle Seahawks credit their on-field performance to their brief meditation sessions.
 
At the heart of all of this is the fundamental concept that harnessing our focus is an incredibly smart thing to do, but that it can also be an immense challenge (which is why people can’t get enough of list articles telling them five ways to do it better). While it’s easy to blame the technology attached to us, a client recently asked me if it would be okay to check their Twitter timeline in between sets.
 
What makes focus so difficult is also the timeline in our minds. You need not be checking your Twitter in between sets to be distracted. After all, your mind can take you anywhere and at any time, and this is exacerbated when we haven’t cultivated the resources to gain some control of it. If you’ve been in the game long enough, you’ve likely heard someone say “my head wasn’t in it” as the reason they underperformed in a training session or competitive event. You may have even said this yourself. But the burgeoning field of studying focus for optimum physical performance is seeking to eliminate this, and finding some unexpected benefits along the way.
 
An article for Outside titled Cracking the Athlete’s Brain, opens with this vignette to show how practicing focus can mean athletes are able to reclaim their focus when most they need it:

“During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with one length remaining in the 200-meter freestyle final, disaster struck. Isakovic misjudged her final flip turn, and as she uncoiled her legs to explode off the wall, she could feel her toes just barely graze it.

“‘I remember thinking, This is not happening! Why now?’ Isakovic, 25, recalls. ‘Then, in a split second, I was able to refocus.’ Riding on a surge of adrenaline, she tore down the last length to nab a silver medal, breaking the previous world record and missing gold by just 0.15 seconds.”

UC San Diego research Martin Paulus, renowned for his work on brain-training techniques to build resilience, has for years been studying how athletes can build more focused, resilient brains. The greatest tool he’s discovered is an ancient one: meditation. Paulus couples 8-week training courses in the basics of sitting and walking meditation, where participants are asked to simply focus on their breath and notice if their thoughts become tangled or judgmental, and he couples this with brain scans to show the results. Yes, consistently engaging in meditation in order to develop better focus not only can help us dial in when we need to, but can also positively alter the interplay between our insular cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex.
 
While it’s clear what this practice can mean for you and your clients, how can it actually be implemented into a day already packed to the brim? Here are, you guessed it, five ways I’ve found most successful in helping athletes harness their focus to unlock bigger gains:
 
1. View sets between reps as opportunities for meditation. Rather than immediately finding a distraction, or filling those seconds/minutes by checking your phone, close your eyes and visualize the technique you just completed or the one you will complete next. This allows you to stay fully focused on the task at hand, and such visualizations may actually improve technique.
 
2. Consider unplugging during training. Like the strategy above, unplugging during your training period may help you unlock a new level of focus because the act in itself reinforces your commitment to training and it shuts off what is most likely to distract you in the first place.
 
3. Sit for five minutes immediately upon waking each morning. This may take six to eight weeks before it becomes so habitual you no longer need to think to do it, but once the practice takes root in your life you may see some of the results Paulus found above. You need not sit cross-legged or in any particular way, but do focus on maintaining good posture and on the rhythm of your breath.
 
4. Download a free meditation app (I especially enjoy Insight Timer), and set it to alert you by gently ringing a bell at various points every few hours throughout the day. At the sound of the bell, take no action except to recognize your breath. It can be helpful to take three deep breaths as a way to amplify this recognition. Again, this practice can serve as a reminder to recognize where your focus is compared to where you want it to be.
 
5. Associate your focus practice with a symbol. I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to make your favorite morning beverage the symbol. When you’re drinking your morning tea or coffee (or whatever) this is a time to slow down, take a few steady breaths and conscious sips, and then go on with your day.
 
Building focus takes a few small lifestyle changes as well as consistency, but the results can pay off in your training, in your brain, and out into your life. Smart work + Hard work = Progress, but only when focus is kept at the forefront.