10 Ways to Stay Focused

It’s that time of year when we have all slowly slipped back into our usual daily routine forgotten about Christmas and are now looking toward the next holiday.

I know it’s early, it’s very early, but are the cracks already starting to show in your plans for the year? Believe it or not it’s happening right now. According to the NY times one third of all resolution plans will not make it to the end of January. Crazy or what?

So how are you feeling right now?

Do you need to kick your own ass yet?

Well maybe not yet but hey, kicking your own ass is one way you can motivate yourself into working this year. Doing what you actually promised yourself you were going to do in those motivational moments during the holidays.

Whether the cracks are beginning to show or you are a goal busting juggernaut, these 10 stay focused tips are sure to help you out.

10 Ways to Stay Focused on Your Projects

1. Surround yourself with people with similar goals – Remember what your goals are and why you want them. By surrounding yourself with people in the same niches and talking about it, blogging about it, forum chat, Social network, literally immersing yourself in what you want to achieve you can stay focused. Try this especially with people more successful than yourself. It gives you incentive to carry on.

2. Keep a diary – Try keeping a planner of your goals and what you have achieved today, and what you want achieve the next day, and the day after that. By keeping a diary you can track what you need to do to succeed. Try writing your list for today and ticking the tasks off after each one has been reached. Check or write your list for the next day so you know what to do and how to tackle it.

3. Keep it simple – You don’t have to make a mountain out of your goals, keep them simple. Break them down into smaller pieces and deal with them this way. Baby steps rather than giant leaps! Watch your productivity soar by keeping it simple.

4. Do the worst first – By tackling your hardest project first you can eliminate the fear you have of completing your goal. By doing this you will also feel super focused and energised. There is nothing like completing something you were afraid or dubious of doing. Maybe it’s that blog post, or that report with the chapter you are a little unsure of. Do you have any fears to conquer within your goals?

5. Be positive – Attacking your goals with excitement and positivity is half the battle. If you start with the ‘can do’ attitude then you will succeed.

6. Diet – Believe it or not, diet can make a big difference to the way you work. Try to eat light and drink plenty of water. Try foods like Fish, nuts, vegetables, fruit, lean meats, even a little dark chocolate. Avoid junk food at all costs it slows you down!

7. Stay rested – Starting or continuing projects when you are tired can be a major task in itself. Your brain isn’t functioning on its full potential so you can become distracted, but you can’t simply go back to bed or use it as an excuse to procrastinate. Obviously circumstances are different for each of us, whether it be day job, kids, care etc. I suggest trying to stay focused on some easier tasks which are not too demanding rather than sitting on Facebook clicking the ‘like’ button. You know who you are!

8. Reward yourself – Set yourself a reward for the end of the week. Promise yourself something special for all the hard work you have done. If you don’t do it then you can’t have your reward. Simple.

9. Take a Break – You are not a machine, we all need a break from time to time to recharge our batteries. Structure yourself some time off. Work only Monday to Friday, and have Saturday and Sunday off. I like to think I take Saturday and Sunday off, but I am always checking my email (very bad habit I’m obsessed)

10. Time Box it – Allocate yourself a specified amount of time to complete your task or a certain task. Sometimes we can feel a deflated when we have a big task in front of us which we think is going to take a long time to  complete. Don’t worry of you don’t get it finished today, just make a dent in the work you have to do. schedule a time frame of the amount of minutes you can, have or need to work then go for it. Making small dents in the way makes a big project small. Try it.

If you are having a problem staying focused or need help with your product development you can apply some of these to your daily routine. Don’t be afraid to give them a try if you are losing focus. I’m sure they will help you out. Number 10 ‘Time Boxing’ works great for me if I’m short on time, I don’t look at the clock and think I only have an hour, I will watch some TV. I think I only have an hour what can I start, complete or build on within that hour. Time management at it’s best.

Discussion

Do you have any special techniques for staying focused?

Are there any cracks starting to appear in your plans for this year?

I would love to hear what you have to say.

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