Are you focused? Can you spend an hour thinking about and working on one thing only with no divergence of thought? Are you consumed with checking email, immediately responding to texts and immediately answering phone calls?
How long does it take for you to reach that productivity zone when you achieve amazing things?
Becoming more focused is a journey and I am convinced I will never fully arrive. This has been a strong effort for over a year and only recently, do I feel that I finally have times I am focused. Just remember, if you decide to work on this do not be discouraged. It will take time to get the flywheel moving and to gain momentum. But stick with it, the journey is worth it.
What did I do to get to this point in my journey?
I spent time determining my priorities and goals (Success Number) and then committed to putting in the time and focus on achieving the goals.
In order to eliminate the Quadrant 4: Not Urgent Not Important activities, I worked first to eliminate the temptations. That started by identifying and then eliminating distractions that were not helping me achieve my goals.
- Surfing the web for news and human-interest stories and then heading down rabbit holes that ended up consuming way too much time.
- Checking emails multiple times per hour.
- Watching Local News.
- Responding to notifications no matter what site.
- Listening to radio in the car.
- Responding to emails or texts when in a meeting or out with family and friends.
There are many more distractions then this and you need to determine your own personal list. The first step to change is to acknowledge what is sucking your time. I hope you agree that almost all of these are not urgent and not important. If you are spending more time with your head stuck in your digital device than you are talking to actual people then you have a problem.
How did I personally address this issue?
- Turned off all notifications on all my devices for all sites.
- Stopped watching the news, eliminated cable TV.
- Stopped listening to the radio in the car.
- Started to listen to audio books in the car, when exercising, doing chores, or working around the house.
- Designated times to check email.
- Signed up for a news feed and designated specific time to review.
- Plan my week and then plan my day.
- Schedule 90-minute blocks of uninterrupted time to work on most valuable priorities/tasks.
What happened? At first, it was unbelievably hard and I had way more failures than successes. I had been so diverted by all the things that grabbed my time I had lost the ability to focus on one activity for more than a few minutes. I found my mind wandering and wondering… did I get any emails, did that person respond yet, is there something new on LinkedIn, did I miss something on the news, did something significant happen and I did not hear about it?
My mind had become so distracted and my ability to focus so compromised that when I tried to focus and not be distracted my body went through withdrawal. But, I stuck with it and slowly began to make progress. I do not do this even close to perfectly and have days that are a complete failure. Looking back over the past year, I realize how far I have come in this journey.
If you are going to improve your effectiveness and focus it will take hard work. Commit to starting today to take back your life and fully utilize the talents and gifts you have been given.
