Tag Archives: Focus

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Rise Above the Noise

Take Time for What's Important to You

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Have you had it?  Everyone wants a piece of your time, your day, your life?  Making a conscious effort to disconnect will help contain the barrage of continual requests for your time and attention.  Scrutinizing those requests could help eliminate them.

I just finished reading a condensed version of Essentialism by Greg McKeown. “Essentialists create a space to design, a space to concentrate, and a space to read.”  The space to design is a place you make for yourself where you can go to get away from everything and think about how you want your life to be.  The space to concentrate is where you go to think about where all the information you have been taking in fits into the bigger picture.

Basically, you have to figure out what is really important to you in your life and gear your choices around that.  You may be involved in places that are good, but not necessarily the right place for you now.

Evaluate Your Level of Involvement

In light of what is truly important to you, evaluate all the places where you are connected to see if they are a good fit for you right now.  You may have to gracefully exit from demands that you have let others place on you, with a graceful “No”.  In today’s world, it takes a great amount of energy to live a simplified life.

I agree with Greg when he suggests that we all need to be aware of the present in the moment we are in, take time to play, and get enough sleep.  Don’t be afraid of missing out on something because you are sleeping.  Luebeck University research showed that sleep increases brain power.

When you look back on your life, what are the major goals that you would like to have accomplished?  If you start now by living the life you have envisioned for yourself, you will not be disappointed.  I challenge you to find a quiet place, think about what is most important to you and write it down.  You may be surprised at what you find.  Now go make plans to do it!

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Four Ways to Achieve the Power of Focus

Focus on the task at hand.
Busyness is not better.  Work less by working smarter not harder.  We have heard these expressions before.  But are we listening to the point that we need to focus?
If we seek to understand the power of laser focus, we will accomplish much more.  The term multitasking is very popular, but not a good way to use our energy.  Our brains are wired to do one thing at a time.
Stanford University research has concluded:
“Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.”
Write down your plans.  A written plan helps give you clarity and propel you in the right direction.
Remove distractions.  Cell phones, email, people with questions are all important, but when you are trying to accomplish a task, they can be annoying.  So make a plan to deliberately check your email at certain times of the day, and then leave it alone.  Unless you are expecting a very important phone call, your cell phone will take messages until you can get done with the task at hand.
Establish a quiet zone time during the day when your staff knows you will not be available unless it is an emergency.
The extra time you gain to work on your most pressing projects will help your productivity and reduce your stress.  Keep focused and prosper!