How to Gain Focus in a Loud World

Creating focus in a high tech, high touch, instant gratification world almost seems impossible these days.

Tell me if this sounds familiar?

You plan your “tasks” the night before. You have a goal and you’re trying soooo hard to get there!

Every day you are prepared with a plan!

You have already asked yourself:   What top 3 things will I do today to move myself closer to the mirror ball?

Next, you sit down at your desk, start working and after multiple distractions and interruptions you realize you worked right through lunch!

So with alllll your best efforts, you eat “while working” … next thing you know… BAMMM, it’s 5 o’clock!

You look back upon your 3 big meaningful things you swoooore you would get done today. And you managed #1 and a part of #2.

You sit there and ask yourself “what did I do all day”, “I was sooooo busy!!”

Sound familiar?

This is because we allow all the outside forces to come into our “work zone”.  Who are the typical culprits?? I’m sure you can name quite a few, but I’ll start:

• Text messages
• Emails
• Phone Calls
• PM/IM chats
• Social Media ( ohhh…look something pretty on Pinterest!) ( oh…oh…oh… Did you see what Angelina wore to the awards?? OMG!! )

( sorry, I’m back now… ) I’m sure you get the hint!

Trust me, you are NOT the only one who goes through this! I have totally done this because of course, I can multitask right!!?? (Wait a minute, someone is knocking at my door)

Seriously though, this happens to everyone! It’s become a natural acceptable form of communication in our high tech, high touch, immediate gratification world!

So I’m going to provide you 3 Simple Strategies to Stay Focused in a brrring, poing, tweet kinda world!

I’m not sure if I ever mentioned this before, but we all have a “high creative” time! It’s a certain time of day, that writing and focused creation comes easier to us. It’s the time our brains tend to function best for creative work flow. We can all answer emails, texts, sales questions and lots of the other back end stuff we are required to do during our “non-peak” hours.

But our creative stuff needs to be done during “peak time” and we each have about 3 hours of peak performing time a day!!

Have you ever tried to write a book, listened to a speaker, even organized a closet?? Somewhere after 3 hours, your brain starts getting all mushy inside and the same focus and creativity you just had…is gone.

 3 Simple Strategies to Stay Focused are:

1. Identify your peak performance time
   • For example, my peak creation time is typically 10 am to 1 pm. Then I take a lunch break, regroup and put in another couple hours of correspondences, emails, follow ups, and all those other little things that need to get done.
2. Block out your peak performance time
   • Once you have established when your peak performance time is, put it as a repeating appointment with yourself into your calendar! Now of course you can’t block this time out each and every day, but look through your calendar and identify just two times a week that you work on “creation”. If you have a VA or someone who helps manage your schedule let them know that this time is nonnegotiable!! Because without creation there is nothing to share or sell.
3. Protect your peak performance time
   • Block out all interruptions during that time.
   • Leave your phone in silence for just those three hours a day! Leave it in the other room, and vibrate does NOT count because you still hear it two rooms away as it crashes onto your floor.
   • I try to avoid using “techy” interventions to avoid techy overwhelm.  I choose to go the route of least resistance, and when I am in focus time I DO NOT OPEN EMAIL or the WEB AT ALL!
   • If you need something on the computer as reference or research look at it in book form or print it out. You’ll have the information you need without the “bread trail” into the unknown black Hole of the world wide web.
   • For you tech lovers: Use software to block out what you are fishing on or set time limits to social media sites.  Here is a great resource for you: http://alternativeto.net/software/stayfocusd/

I know this is all information you’ve heard before, but hearing it and doing it are two different things! When I started doing this religiously, I immediately became more productive and less stressed. I no longer feel as if my brain is on rapid fire like a game of Space Invaders waving back and forth shooting through emails, texts, poings, tweets and every other noise imaginable!

I really encourage you to give these strategies a try!! Then come back and let us know how it worked for you!