The fine folks at Freedom of Thought share tips on How to Focus Intensely, and it shares a lot of good ancillary insight in the process.
From the transcript:
Habit #1: Abstaining from Short-Term Pleasure Seeking
The best way to change our code, arguably, is through our habits. By cultivating the ability to abstain from short-term pleasure seeking, we can focus on activities that produce more long-term pleasure. So, here are some practices that can help us build the habit of abstaining.Meditation:
Meditation allows one to embrace boredom and to not be bothered by it. It trains the brain to not seek out immediate pleasure in boredom. It allows the mind to stay calm when working on activities that require more patience to produce pleasure.Deep Work Practice:
I’ve talked about this one too many times already. I have a video on it and discussed it in my podcast with Dr. Jubbal from Med School Insiders. You can check those out if you want to learn more and I’d also recommend reading Deep Work by Cal Newport.Not To-Do List:
This is the inverse of a to-do list. Instead of telling you what to do for the day, it tells you what activities to abstain from. The real difficulty is in adhering to this list. However, if you keep it out and in front of you (by using a PostIt for example), it can be a great reminder to abstain from short-term pleasures.
• How to Focus Intensely (YouTube / Freedom in Thought)