Indian Saint’s way to focus at work
I have been observing and learning from many saints, sadhus, and their works, and almost all of them could easily focus and do everyday tasks and seemingly complicated tasks with ease.
I have listed out 3 principles below in no particular order, if we adopt them, focus comes automatically and we do not need to struggle.
Let go of the result
Keeping your mind on the result would make you more distracted and you will just lust over it. If you ever talk to any Vaishnav saint, they would just keep working, and once they complete their work they would say “Krishna-arpana-mastu” literal translation is “Lord Krishna, I submit this to you” this has a deeper meaning, it is not the work which is being submitted, but it is the fruit of work which is being submitted to the God. In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says — “Do your work, leave the result to me. I will give you what you deserve.”
Once you let go of the attachment to the result and when you start enjoying the process, focus is automatic. Your attention to detail, concentration and memory heightens.
All you need to do is to take care of the roots, flowers will happen and you cannot force it.
Do as much as possible and little more
If you have ever been instructed into Yogasanas by a proper Guru you would know this. Whenever the Guru teaches the yoga poses, he says not to forcefully push yourself into the pose instead a he says, do as much as possible and a little more. This is an amazing formula that can be applied to any part of your life.
When you start your work, do not get overwhelmed by the amount of work you are supposed to finish, instead just start doing as much as possible with ease. Do what you can and push a little more. If you are currently a total slacker and unproductive, start with this formula, your productivity and focus will exponentially increase.
Do what is needed and not what you wish
We are all trapped by the idea that we need to follow our dreams, we need to be free to do whatever we like to do. But most successful people, look out in the world and see what is needed and serve that. More people you serve, more successful you will be in any field.
Stop giving too much importance to your thoughts, just start doing what is needed to do the job in the best way possible, you will see miraculous improvements. At your workplace, your peers would start recognising the changes in you soon and you will be well respected for the work you are doing.
This will increase your focus because your mind would slowly go out of your way and stops the chatter in the head with time. The more you align yourself in doing what is needed over what you want, you are in a way walking the spiritual path. Your anxiety will slowly vanish and productivity will increase.
Give the monkey something to hang on
In Indian cultures, mind is often referred to as Markata meaning Monkey. It keeps doing silly things and keeps jumping all around. If you try to control it, it will run away and does more harm. Instead, give it some work, so that it can hang on to it and it is recommended that you give it some kind of easy repetitive or oscillating task so that it will hang on to it easily.
One of the most commonly given task is to observe breath in and breath out, another common task is to give it a chant or mantra to keep repeating. It may be God’s name, or a positive sentence etc.
Once you engage your Monkey, you will be free to focus.
All of the above mentioned ways gives better results as you practice it regularly. You might see yourself becoming more calmer over the days.
Let me know what you think of the above suggestions in the comments.
