What If Your Focus Problem Is Not About Focus at All?

Introducing the RGK Flow Formula: 

A Simple Way to Move from Effort to Flow

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Have you ever tried to focus harder… but ended up feeling more distracted? Or you sit to work, but your mind keeps running in different directions. The more you try to concentrate, the more tired you feel.

Earlier, and even sometimes now, I face the same issue in my own life and see it in my son as well.

While writing an article and researching a topic, I easily lose track  if something new comes up. It’s like I want to understand more about a new topic, I like to imagine, and new ideas keep coming fast, which creates a break in my writing flow. I felt frustrated with myself for getting distracted, and I kept questioning why I was wasting time and why I couldn’t stay focused on my work.

I kept searching for ways to focus better.
But slowly, I realised…
I was trying to solve the wrong problem.

I noticed the same patterns in my kid. Every time I explain the chapter and give examples, he understands the examples so effortlessly, but sometimes forgets the main lesson, which I was teaching earlier. And you know what, I ask the same questions to him. I realised I was repeating the same pattern every time this happened.

“What do you think the problem is?”

“Let me guess—the word that comes to your mind is ‘focus.’”

But “What if the problem is not focus… but how we are trying to focus?”

For a long time, I thought focus meant pushing myself harder, because we are conditioned this way, and we continue to reinforce it.

We are taught that ‘more effort = more focus’. It means we have to work hard so that we have great focus. And once you have a good focus, you can enter into a flow state.

I was thinking about it and started researching it. Over time, I started noticing something…. In reality, effort often creates resistance, and pressure creates distraction, because you are forcing yourself to focus.

“Focus is not something you force.
It is something you allow.”

Moreover, there are different layers of focus… We see focus as a main problem, but it is a surface problem. There is something more beneath that layer.

Many researchers like W. James, W.T. Gallwey, H. Benson, and M. Csikszentmihalyi have already worked on different types of focus, visualisation, and flow state. What I was missing was the connection between them. How could I bring all of this together?

That’s when I started connecting the dots…
and something simple began to take shape.

It wasn’t about forcing focus anymore.
It was about understanding how it naturally unfolds.

And then, it became clear to me:
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Fixed Focus + Lucid Focus → Passive Concentration → Flow State
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I call this the RGK Flow Formula, 

where RGK stands for Richa Goyal Katiyar

If these terms feel new to you, let me help you with a simple explanation of each term.

Fixed Focus - Choosing one thing, one goal, without distraction.

Lucid Focus - Being mentally clear and aware

Passive Concentration - Effort starts reducing. This is the stage most people skip—because they keep trying harder instead of allowing focus to settle.

Flow State - You feel ease, and time disappears.

Let’s understand with an example.

You are reading a book related to a new field. And because it’s new, you have to put more focus on that. But once you start imagining or visualising whatever you read, it makes you calm and easy to understand and connect it with something in reality, you will understand and remember it more easily. This effortless learning is called passive concentration, and then slowly and deeply you move to flow state.

Maybe the problem was never your focus.
Maybe it was the way you were trying to control it.

Before you leave, take a moment to reflect:

 “Am I forcing focus right now?”

“What does ease feel like in my work?”

“Am I clear… or just trying hard?”

When do you feel most focused — when you force yourself, or when things feel natural and clear?

You might want to write your thoughts down. Sometimes clarity appears when we pause and reflect.

Important Announcement:

In the next post, we’ll explore the first step of the RGK Flow Formula — Fixed Focus, and why it is the foundation of everything.

About the Author

Richa Goyal Katiyar
Creator of the RGK Flow Formula

Flow is not a talent. It is a process.

And once you understand it… Everything changes.

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© Richa Goyal Katiyar, 2026. Original Synthesis Framework. Foundational concepts credited to W. James, W.T. Gallwey, H. Benson, and M. Csikszentmihalyi.