Your level of success will be determined by how well you've learned the talent of staying focused on the task at hand.
You'll quickly notice that you're off track on your most essential goals if you're not organized or careful about how you manage your days.
As an entrepreneur and changemaker, there is a learning curve to becoming an effective planner. As the leader of a social enterprise, you must identify a planning method that works for you and make following that plan a part of your job.
The big challenge is how to stay focused in a world filled with distractions. In a time when your attention is constantly demanded and everything and everyone is pulling you in different directions?
How productive you are and how quickly you reach your goals will be determined by your capacity to concentrate, or the ability to focus all of your attention on the task at hand.
Here are 5 things that will help.
1) Fill Your Life with Important Things First
Consider your life to be a jar when you consider all the things you want to be a part of. There's only so much room in the jar, so if you fill it with medium-sized rocks or second-level priorities, you won't be able to add the huge rocks or top priority since there won't be enough space.
It's actually easier to fill the jar with smaller stones and whatever else you want to add if you reverse the order and put the larger rocks in first.
You can fit everything into your life if you start with the most important things. Make sure your most important task is on your calendar.
2) Eliminate Distractions
Reducing or removing distractions is a big step toward becoming more focused. Every distraction is a small hole in your bucket if you consider your focus as a bucketful of water. The more distractions you have, the more holes you have, the more water will leak out, and your bucket will finally run dry.
Remove as many visual and audio distractions as possible from your environment. If you're writing on your computer but have a lot of to-do lists or notes surrounding you, it's easy to get distracted. As a result, reduce or remove as many distractions as possible. Create your own library and meditation room; something that allows you to enter Zen state, focus, and remain focused on the subject at hand.
Every time you are distracted, study has shown that it might take up to 21 minutes to regain your focus. Do not squander your time. As much as possible, eliminate or decrease distractions.
3) Have A Plan
If you can, you must have a plan.
You're in a different mindset if you have a plan, if you know you have to do this one task between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. Your perspective shifts; you're aware that you're supposed to be doing this one thing. So you don't have to wonder if you should be doing this, if you should be doing that, are you doing the right thing. You've devised a strategy. You're aware that you're supposed to complete this one duty between now and this period. It makes staying focused a lot simpler.
4) Take Regular Breaks
We live in a world where taking breaks and relaxing is frowned upon since we are expected to be on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but taking breaks will allow your attention to recharge. Every day, your energy levels rise and fall in a predictable pattern: it rises for approximately two hours and then falls for about two hours. And when your energy levels drop, so does your ability to focus, concentrate, willpower, and even your mood.
However, this is not well received. When our energy levels drop, we turn to coffee, energy drinks, and sugary foods to re-energize ourselves. Taking a break, on the other hand, will refresh your attention because your energy will be boosted.
Give this a try: work for 50 minutes. For the next 50 minutes, give it your best. After that, take a ten-minute pause. After that, focus for another 50 minutes before taking another 30 minute break. Get up during your breaks. Get up, walk around, and shake it off if you're sitting at a desk.
Take a break not only physically, but also mentally.
This will help you increase your energy, which in turn will increase your focus, willpower, mood, creativity, and everything else. Always remember to take a rest. Take a break, even if you don't think you need it. Nothing will alter your attention more than taking a break when you're fatigued, wiped out, and it's 2:00 p.m. No amount of sweets, no amount of productivity applications, nothing will change your focus more than taking a break.
5) Learn To Say No
I discovered that I had too many commitments and not enough time to focus on my goals for this week after reviewing my calendar. When you face this scenario, you'll need to learn to say no and delegate the tasks that you don't have time for.
If you want to move on with the less urgent but more significant goals, you must make room for them.
To do so, I had to drop out of a few projects, which was a bummer. It can be difficult to relinquish control and allow someone else to take over. Just remind yourself that while others can fill these positions, you are the only one who can run your organization.
It won't happen if you can't lead yourself forward to create development because no one else will do it for you.
It's never just about the effort when it comes to getting things done. Sure, your capacity to perform activities is influenced by how simple or complex they are, but it's also influenced by your mood, your surroundings, and what's going on in your environment - think about these things too.
Thanks for reading and I hope you are able to use some of these tool to stay focused – I definitely do and will continue to do so!
