What sparked this journey of mental focus?
I once heard a friend saying that she couldn't even read a book anymore because of its low stimulation compared to her phone that allows access to the world. Found myself aghast and remembered saying to myself that I wouldn't let myself get to that stage.
The thing that frightened me was the fear of losing the joy of reading a book. I felt being able to read a book is a privilege and to lose that just because we allow our attention to technology to get the better of us made my skin crawl because I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened to me.
"Age of Distraction" is what the news would describe our current condition. Many blamed the advancement of technology but is it really tech that is the issue or how we have assimilated it as an extra limb. Without it, we can't function. As time went by this distraction finally caught up to me. I found it harder to concentrate on a book when I wanted to relax, I had to try extra hard to read a page and I have re-read a page 3 times before I catch myself distracted. I was experiencing what my friend was, only a few years later. How did I let this happen? Has this been your reality for a while too?
Do you find it hard to concentrate on something without getting distracted?
Are you present for that task at hand or just repeating 100 times without much improvement?
A lack of focus may be derailing you from your most important goals and growth in singing?
Instead of plainly avoiding this reality, I decided to find out how can I gain back control of my time, focus and energy. Stumbled upon Nir Eyal, an author of the book named Indistractable. Being the vocal nerd that I am, I dared myself to see if I could apply any of these teachings to singing as I believe this can be beneficial to my students and I seeing that we struggle with simple tasks like vocal exercises that only last 2 mins.
Many don't realise that singing is an activity that requires a good amount of concentration, discipline and mental work in order to sing well on demand. So if you are struggling just like everyone else then I hope this brings you value.
Who is this article for?
Focused and Effective Practice Session I want to sing but I don't have hours to spare
Lasting Vocal Conditioning I want my vocal progress to stick and not regress
"Less is more" Approach I want to make my practice to be more efficient
What will I be sharing?
In my related posts, I will be sharing my findings from Nir Eyal's book, Indistractable, chapter by chapter. I will share my thoughts and beliefs related to mental focus, the journey on how some of these beliefs might change with new knowledge and how I am applying them to my daily vocal practice experimenting to see my progress of mental focus. If you want to develop better mental focus then follow and bookmark this topic and I would love to hear your findings as well in the comment section below.
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