We are busier than ever, driven to distraction by any number of factors including technology (always-on portable devices, more TV in the home, computer games seemingly always on), busy careers, kids, annoying family members that come to visit for days on end, major social events that distract us – all of which make staying focused more of a challenge than ever before.
Have you ever felt like just taking off to a cabin in the woods for a week just so you can get your work done?
Have you locked the door to a room to keep potential distractions from disruption or distraction?
How about the desparate act of driving your car to a vacant parking lot so you can get a few minutes to get some peace and quiet, think or finish a project you have been working on?
I’m certainly guilty on all counts…in fact staying focused has become one of the major challenges of our lifetime. In Attracting Greatness, there is no doubt that to achieve higher levels of success and maintaining happiness and fulfillment in your life, being able to periodically keep your focus is absolutely essential.
3 Methods of Staying Focused and Avoiding Distraction!
1. Reserving A Block Of Time For Essential Tasks: This one may seem obvious at first, but really this means that you need to a) Understand what the critical, specific tasks are that you need to spend time on each day to achieve your objectives b) Which implies that you understand what your objectives really are and c) That you change years of habits where you previously have NOT operated by blocking your time – so getting this right is much more challenging than you may first believe. However, as someone who is merciless with their blocked time during the day can attest – you can achieve incredible things in your life by applying yourself to this one simple technique for staying focused
2. Have a Plan and Track It: Step 1 is definitely knowing what you want to achieve and having a plan where you are crystal clear on the important tasks you must perform to achieve that objective, but you must also build in an ongoing realization that the best plans will not succeed 100% or even 50% sometimes, so you need to test and track your progress and re-align your plan at the end of each block of allocated time. This will ensure that you stay on track, maintain your focus even when things seem to be coming off the rails
3. Vivid Visualization of The End Result: I have found that staying focused is made much more likely when I have created vivid internal visualizations of what it will mean to achieve the end objective. I internalize the feelings of what it will be like to live according to the plan of focus — who I will get to be around, what I will look like to others, how that will make me feel and all of the positives that will come from working toward achieving our goals. I also like to keep a daily meditation routine where part of that meditation is focusing on the ultimate goals and objectives in my life.
Staying focused in critical to achievement of any kind (health, financial, relationships, personal fitness) – PERIOD!
The good news is that keeping your focus is a learned behavior, you may not have been a focused person in the past, but you can learn it starting today.
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