"How to be more focused," my friend asked me yesterday, feeling deflated. She has tried "everything" to get her kids to be more focused, ie, finish dinner quicker, or do homework a bit faster. 

I smiled my "we are in the same boat" smile, knowing this is not just a parenting concern, but we are all "needing" to focus more. 

If we try to do too many things at the same time, it's like we have 1 stove top and trying to cook a 10-course meal at the same time. Our attention is naturally divided. 

Performance is inevitably compromised. 

The ability of multi-tasking, while still being celebrated by many, is causing us to jump from task to task. We become easily distracted. Less time is spent on each task, not because we become more efficient, but because we feel "rushed" and must attend the next task and the next and the next...

We are not able to do deep work.

So what was my answer to my friend? 

"Be the change what we seek" - if we want our children to learn to focus more, we need to show them to focus on less. 

On that note, I am going to get my favourite cup of tea and practise 5-minute of Tea Mindfulness and do nothing else and enjoy my tea.