#55 Why You Can't Focus
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career development change community confidence connection decision-making empathy fitness focus growth health influence journaling leadership meditation mentorship mindfullness mindset negotiation networking personal growth productivity purpose relationships resilience stress time management transitions wellness willpowerHey, it’s Rafic.
Welcome back to this week’s edition of Peak Performance Insider.
If focus has felt harder than usual lately, you’re not alone.
You sit down to work…
And within minutes, your mind’s already somewhere else.
Too many tabs. Too many thoughts. Too much noise.
We live in a world that rewards speed and stimulation.
But that same environment is wrecking our ability to concentrate.
This week, we’re slowing it down to explore why focus is slipping, and how to start getting it back.
📌 Today’s Agenda
✅ What I learned about attention when I finally slowed down
✅ A few favorite resources to help you find more clarity
✅ Lessons from meditation and breathwork
✅ Gentle shifts that support deep, sustainable focus
First time reading?
🔗 Best Links - My Favorite Finds
🧠 Personal Growth & Mindset
🔹 Overwhelmed by Stress? Watch This Before You Burn Out
A short reflection on how moments of deep stress and pain can become turning points, not breakdowns. Powerful message for anyone navigating pressure.
👥 Leadership & Influence
🔹 The Magnetic Approach to Leadership
Leadership isn’t about pushing harder, it’s about presence, energy, and how you make others feel.
📈 Productivity & Habits
🔹 How to Stop Stress from Hijacking Your Productivity
A calm mind makes better decisions. This one offers simple reminders for staying steady under pressure.
💪 Health & Wellness
🔹 The Best Time to Stop Caffeine for Better Sleep
If your sleep’s been off, your focus probably is too. Here’s how to use caffeine more strategically.
✍️ Deep Dive: Why You Can’t Focus
There was a stretch in university where I could barely concentrate.
I’d sit at my desk and try to study, but my mind wouldn’t follow.
Restless. Distracted. Tired, but wired.
At first, I thought it was a motivation problem.
So I pushed harder. More hours. More pressure.
But nothing worked.
Eventually, I did something different.
I stopped forcing it.
I’d turn the lights off and work with just a single lamp.
Sometimes I’d just sit in the dark, not doing anything, just letting things slow down.
At the time, I didn’t have language for what I was doing.
But now I see it clearly:
I was giving my system space to settle.
That instinct led to one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.
🧘♂️ What a 10-Day Silent Retreat Taught Me About Focus
After graduating in 2017, I had some time off before starting full-time work.
That summer, I heard a few fellow coaches talk about something called Vipassana, a 10-day silent meditation retreat.
Some were going. Others had just come back.
They didn’t talk about it with hype.
They talked about it with respect.
So I signed up. I didn’t know what I was walking into, just that it felt like something I needed.
For 10 days, you give up everything:
No talking. No phone. No books. No journaling. Just silence.
But here’s the part that stuck with me the most:
You don’t even learn Vipassana until Day 4.
The first three days are spent on something called Anapana, a basic breath awareness practice.
You sit.
You breathe.
You observe.
Over and over again.
It sounds simple, maybe too simple. But in that stillness, something started to shift.
The fog I had been carrying started to lift.
Not because I made it go away… but because I finally stopped feeding it.
Focus didn’t return because I chased it.
It returned because I stopped chasing everything else.
🌹 Another Practice I Return To: The Heart of the Rose
If you’ve ever read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, there’s a technique in it I’ve always loved.
It’s called the Heart of the Rose.
You sit in front of a single fresh rose and bring your full attention to its center, its folds, its color, its shape.
Nothing else.
And when your mind drifts?
You gently bring it back to the rose.
That’s the practice.
Just like with Anapana, the goal isn’t to be perfect.
The goal is to keep returning.
“When you train your mind to focus on one thing,
you’ll be able to focus on anything.”
— Robin Sharma
Both techniques, Anapana and the Heart of the Rose, teach the same truth:
Focus isn’t force.
It’s a soft return. Again and again.
🔄 Gentle Shifts That Help
Here are a few gentle ways I return to focus when things feel scattered:
✅ Begin with breath.
Ten slow breaths before a task helps your system settle before your mind engages.
✅ Lower the stimulation.
Turn off extra screens. Use softer lighting. Fewer inputs = more attention.
✅ Focus in reps.
Start with 20-minute blocks. Treat it like strength training, attention builds with time.
✅ Pause between tasks.
A short breath or moment of stillness between meetings can change how you show up in the next one.
✅ Notice when you drift.
You don’t need to judge it. Just return. That is the practice.
⚡️ Work With Me
If your days feel full but your mind feels scattered,
you’re not the only one.
In my coaching, we don’t add more to your plate.
We create space: for focus, for clarity, for what matters.
If that speaks to where you are right now,
I’d be happy to explore it with you.
I’m welcoming one new client in August.
📅 If it feels like the right time, you can book a free 1:1 discovery session here, reply to this email, or just send me a DM on LinkedIn.
🎯 That's a Wrap
You don’t have to earn rest.
And you don’t have to force focus.
You just have to start by slowing down
Long enough for the noise to settle…
So the clarity underneath can finally come through.
Until next time,
— Rafic Osseiran
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