Right at the start of this article, we said that focus could make you better at pretty much everything and help you to get more out of your life. Focus and concentration isn’t just about working – it’s about being more present, being more observant and being faster to react.

So how do you go about concentrating more in day-to-day life?

Rich environments

The great thing about flow research is that it’s showing us more and more ways to be more engaged with the environment and more excited by what we do. There are plenty of ways you can increase flow and one of the most promising is simply to create more ‘rich environments’ to spend time in.

Simply put: if you’re working in a grey cubicle at work, then your brain is going to shut down and go into autopilot. Conversely, if you work in an exciting, modern office, then you’re going to find yourself feeling more inspired, engaged and interested in what you’re doing.

This can be traced back to our evolutionary routes. Being in a novel environment back in the wild would have meant discovering a new area with new potential threats and new potential food sources – thus it paid to be more alert and more focused.

You can work better then by making richer environments but you can also be more engaged with life by making other environments richer and more exciting. Decorate your home with more interesting ornaments, with plants and with more colorful paint and wallpaper. Take different routes home when you walk back from work. Wear more colorful clothes. All of it will help you to be more awake and more engaged.

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Find the Fun

When you play a computer game, you’re essentially training your brain and learning. And it’s learning that the brain enjoys and that we find addictive. Think about it: when you pick up a new game, you have to learn the controls, then you have to learn the rules and then you gradually get better. Each time you do well, you hear a satisfying sound and see a flash of light or a score to reward you.

Learning these new skills causes you to form new neuronal connections in your brain via something called ‘brain plasticity’. At the same time, the reward tells your brain that this was a good performance and thus the connection strengthens. This is what’s addictive about games. So why is actual learning so boring? Why is work so boring? It’s because it’s repetitive, there’s no instant sense of reward and there’s little in the way of challenge.

So instead of just going through the motions, you need to find what’s fun about your given situations or you need to make it fun. If you can turn learning into a game with lots of little rewards, then you’ll find studying better. Instead of just walking to work the same way every day, why not challenge yourself to discover new routes, to cut time off without jogging, or to avoid the cracks.

Sound childish? That’s the point. Kids love childish activities because their brains are so plastic at that age as they learn. If you keep making games for yourself, you’ll keep learning and your brain will stay plastic.
Instead of getting bored tidying, why not turn it into a game by throwing the rubbish into the dustbin from a distance and keeping a score as you go?

Making it Interesting

If what you’re doing can’t be made fun, then perhaps it can be made interesting. This is the same thing as we mentioned before – it’s staying switched on to the long term, disconnected benefits of the situation.Let’s be honest, sometimes it can be boring hearing our other half drone on about work.

But to be a better partner, we need to stay focused. So remind yourself why it matters and why it’s important. It matters because it will make you a better partner and if you’re a better partner, you’ll have a happier life. Or think about how it’s interesting: perhaps the social dynamics are more illuminating than you at first give them credit for? What does your partner’s mood tell you about them?

Likewise, if you’re forced to read something dull, try and find what’s interesting about it. If you need to do a project on door locks for your degree, then try to find some kind of passion for that subject. Think about it: door locks are essentially a type of cryptography, as expressed by a mechanic. If you like computers, then maybe think about how door locks relate to cyber security. There’s always some angle you can use to make a subject more interesting.