Summary: Not being able to focus is often the gateway drug to anxiety. If you’re anything like me, and many others who face anxiety you might’ve suffered from severe problems with focus…<br><br>Each day at school or work would be a mental dance in my head where I would try my best to genuinely care and pay attention, but without me even knowing or realizing it all of a sudden I would drift off!<br><br>As I would lose my focus, I would get even more nervous because I wasn’t aware of what was happening in the conversation or the social situation. I would try to focus but by then it would be too late. So I’d rather not say anything, which perpetuates the cycle of social anxiety even more. <br><br>The next day, the same thing would happen again and again.<br><br>I justified this by self-diagnosing myself with ADHD and thinking oh this is just who I am. Wow I guess I just can’t focus as good as everyone else for some reason.<br><br>What I learned is that your attention and ability to focus is not an innate ability.<br><br>It’s a programmable muscle that must be built.<br><br>It’s important to work on this muscle because if you can’t harness your attention in interactions with people your focus will go all over the place and usually default to paying attention about the signs of anxiety and what you DON’T want to happen.<br><br>So, how do you program your attention muscle?<br><br>In this episode I will lay out three different ways to build this muscle!<br><br>PS. I’m running another group cohort for anxiety coaching group over the course of 9 weeks. Spots are limited and early bird pricing ends next week: <a href="https://www.markmetry.com/group-coaching" rel="noopener">https://www.markmetry.com/group-coaching</a><br><br><br>Read the rest of the show notes: <a href="https://markmetry.substack.com/p/how-to-improve-focus-and-concentration" rel="noopener">https://markmetry.substack.com/p/how-to-improve-focus-and-concentration</a><br><br>- Subscribe to my FREE Newsletter: <a href="https://bit.ly/3eANWld" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3eANWld</a><br>- Read or Listen to my book Screw Being Shy: <a href="https://bit.ly/2PqV2QI" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/2PqV2QI</a><br>- Quickly Apply for 1 on 1 Coaching: <a href="https://bit.ly/2Pslqd0" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/2Pslqd0</a><br>- Sign up for my online course: <a href="https://www.markmetry.com/program" rel="noopener">https://www.markmetry.com/program</a><br><br>~~~CONNECT w/ MARK~~~<br>- LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-metry/" rel="noopener">https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-metry/</a><br>- Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/markmetry" rel="noopener">https://www.instagram.com/markmetry</a><br>- Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/markymetry" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/markymetry</a><br>- Website: <a href="https://www.markmetry.com/" rel="noopener">https://www.markmetry.com/</a><br>- Email: <a href="mailto:markmetry722@gmail.com">markmetry722@gmail.com</a>
