The Five Enemies of Focus
And How To Beat Them
Focus is a lost treasure. We admire those who find it amid the hustle of life. We seek it because it feels good: it gives us a sense of flow and it spikes our dopamine as a reward for doing something difficult.
We also seek it because it is good: we make better decisions, learn more effectively, and become more productive.
But it's also hard to attain, with obstacles in the way. Yes, distraction is one of the obstacles (I know because I've been distracted twice writing these words...).
It goes beyond distraction though.
There are five enemies of focus:
Belief that focus is one thing
Distraction
Overfocus
Rigidity
Blur
Who are these enemies and how do we handle them?
Enemy #1: Belief that Focus is One Thing
Focus seems like it's one thing:
What's the one thing to do?
Who's the one person to talk to?
What's the one project that by pushing it, will make everything else easier?
Sometimes those questions help.
But it can also be incredibly limiting:
What if the one thing I need to do is different for my work vs. relationship vs. health vs. community?
What if I don't know exactly what my goal is? Should I just set a goal for the sake of it?
What if doing that one thing comes at the expense of the non-negotiables, the enablers of my focus? When I focus on my most important project, can I afford to let healthy eating habits slip or ignore my family and friends?
It’s liberating to not think of focus as only one thing.
Instead, try these perspectives:
Portfolio view: focus on one thing per life area
Search space: focus on doing what's novel
Enablers: focus on non-negotiables that enable your focus (e.g., sleep)
I’ve written about these here.
Enemy #2: Distraction
Distraction is the enemy of keeping focus.
Imagine your focus is a candle flame, bright and steady. Every notification on your phone, every ‘quick chat’ from a colleague, every wandering thought is a gust of wind threatening to extinguish it.
What's sneaky is that distraction is an enemy in disguise. The disguise: it feels good. Distraction gives release from what is boring or difficult. Swiping through social media is gratifying; working through a hard problem is not, at least not immediately.
Three strategies to fight distraction:
Prevention: reduce unnecessary distractions in advance. Silence notifications. Create deep work windows. Design your environment to make focus easier.
Mindfulness: promptly noticing when you're distracted allows you to return your focus more quickly. The shorter the gap between distraction and awareness, the more control you have.
Recognition: understand that your brain craves distraction for a reason. It’s an escape from discomfort. Recognizing why you’re seeking distraction helps you address the real problem.
But don’t be lured into the opposite extreme: overfocus.
Enemy #3: Overfocus
If distraction is the enemy of keeping focus, overfocus is the enemy of seeing the wood for the trees.
Overfocus is when we lock onto something so tightly that we ignore relevant information outside our tunnel vision. It’s like staring through a straw: the view is sharp, but so what? You miss the important stuff around it.
This happens in decision-making, problem-solving, and daily life. Ever been so fixated on a single to-do that you ignored an easier, better solution? Or so absorbed in work that you missed important signals from people around you?
Focus is a tool, not a virtue. Too much of it can lead to:
Attentional blindness: missing key insights because you're too locked in.
Stubborn persistence: continuing down the wrong path instead of pivoting.
Mental exhaustion: focus consumes energy; overfocus drains it.
The antidote?
Periodically zooming out. Asking: What else is there? What am I not seeing? What if this was easy? How would a 5-year old look at this?
And that brings us to the next enemy: rigidity.
Enemy #4: Rigidity
Rigidity is the enemy of refocusing.
Focus isn’t just about holding attention, it’s about directing it toward what truly matters. And that requires flexibility.
Ever felt stuck because you didn’t know where to direct your focus? Or clung to a goal long after it stopped serving you? That’s rigidity.
It shows up in two ways:
Lack of clarity: if you’re unsure about your purpose, values, or priorities, your focus drifts aimlessly.
Attachment to outdated goals: if you never reassess, you waste focus on things that no longer matter.
The fix? Present-moment awareness. Regularly ask: What’s worth my focus now?
And that leads us to the final enemy: blur.
Enemy #5: Blur
Blur is the enemy of focusing on what really matters.
Sometimes we think we're focused, but we're actually being pulled by external forces - expectations, trends, what others around us value. This is mimetic focus: unthinkingly adopting what’s socially desirable instead of arriving at a view as to what’s meaningful.
Blur also happens when we mistake busy-ness for effectiveness. When we confuse effort with impact. When we go for motion over meaningful action.
To cut through the blur, ask:
Am I focused on something because it matters, or because it looks like it matters?
Am I focusing on this because it’s important, or because it’s urgent?
If I wasn’t already invested, would I still choose to focus on this?
Blur is sneaky because it feels like focus. True focus isn’t just about concentrating, it’s about concentrating on the right things.
Focus is a lost treasure. Finding it means fighting more than just distraction.
To truly focus, we must:
Expand our definition of focus beyond ‘one thing’
Manage distraction but also...
Not fall into overfocus
Stay flexible to refocus when needed
Cut through blur to focus on what really matters
Focus isn’t about staring harder, but about seeing clearer.
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