How To Increase And Maintain Focus
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Focusing on what is important is becoming both more relevant and difficult to practice. We can see it in the way we work every day, in how a vast majority of people do not keep their goals or resolutions longer than a month, or in the insane number of times we check our devices for new information.
During the pandemic, I had difficulties focusing on my work and priorities. There were simply too many distractions – the need for connection through my phone and apps, ensuring I had enough provisions in case I got sick and could not go out for at least two weeks, dealing with BAU work in a full-time remote environment, and the list goes on.
Two years later, now that life is closer to what I was used to before the pandemic, I find myself lacking focus once more. There are a different set of distractions and adjustments. Last week I went to an office for the first time in two years. There is a war in Europe that may feel eerily familiar to how other wars in the last century started. Inflation is high. And this new list goes on and on.
Keeping ourselves busy (i.e., without a break to think and/or feel) is a well-known coping mechanism. I used it first during the lockdown and now coming back to a hybrid work environment.
My symptoms include checking my phone for messages and updates very frequently (sometimes more than twice in one hour), using delaying tactics before starting an important task (e.g., using the restroom, getting a cup of tea/water/coffee, etc.), and being mentally distracted during meetings to the point of task switching (aka multi-tasking) with my phone, email, or websites. Some days I do not have much to show, and I am exhausted because my brain has been all over the place.
So how could I get back to my productive habits and focus my time and energy into the things that are important to me?
1) Plan and prepare
Planning skills are essential for everything we want to do in life. We start by defining what we want to accomplish in a specific timeline (in five years, this year, this quarter, etc.) as the basis for the annual, quarterly, or monthly objectives. Having clear goals makes it easier to create an action plan on how to achieve them.
As we prepare for the year, the quarter, the month, the week, we want to put our goals front and center. This will help us answer the question ‘is this task or activity taking me closer or farther away from my goal?’
At the beginning of the month, I make a list of the things I want to accomplish in the next 30 days aligned with the goals I set for the year. This list then becomes the basis for the weekly ‘things to accomplish’ list where I write 3-5 tasks to complete in the next 7 days.
Some people put the monthly and/or weekly tasks on their calendar to assure they allocate time to complete them and to have them visible.
2) Use your prime time for the big rocks
A big rock is an activity that brings you closer to your goals and that requires brain power and attention to perform (it is included in your monthly and/or weekly list of priorities). Some examples are writing a book proposal, thinking about how to best organize the team, defining the most important goals, creating the strategy for the function, personal development activities, etc.
Ideally you would have a solid 45-minute block first thing in the morning to tackle a big rock (or part of it). If 45 minutes sound too overwhelming at this moment, start where you are – that may be 15 or 30 minutes – and build from there.
Unfortunately, many people use their prime time to check their email and/or social media. Unless your job is to actually respond to emails or doing social media management/marketing, processing your inbox or social media messages is not a big rock. Do not use your brain’s prime time for this task. It is an empty pleasure – we feel ‘accomplished’ at that moment because we have zero unread messages but nowhere closer to our goals or growth.
3) Delegate
We may think that being a superhero is to do everything ourselves. And the overachiever in us completely supports this behavior because, who else is going to do it as perfectly as us? Fortunately, the pandemic forced us to delegate or stop doing certain things. It was simply too much. As we readjust in a post pandemic world, we do not want to go back to the model of us doing everything.
Be clear on what you must do personally and in person. Do you have to clean your house yourself or can you provide a livelihood to someone else? Do you need to go to the supermarket, or can you order online, and have it delivered or just pick it up?
I like to do a simple calculation to determine if I must personally do something. I jot down how much I make per hour and how long the specific task will take. I also consider how much joy I derive from that task. Then, I think about how much I would pay someone else to do that work. Once I have the numbers and the qualitative information (how much pleasure the assignment gives me) in front of me, deciding what to delegate is a no brainer.
Note to parents and other caretakers: if you decide to hire someone to take care of your family, like a babysitter, people will criticize you. If you decide to quit your job to become a full-time parent, people will criticize you. If you keep your job and take care of your kids, people will criticize you. My message is that no matter what you do, someone will disagree with your decision. So do what is best for you and your family. People who genuinely care about you (and do not feel intimidated by your success) will respect and support your choices.
4) Set boundaries
One of the most precious assets we have is time. It is finite and cannot be renewed or expanded. We all get 24 hours in the day, no more no less. The nurturer in us loves putting other people’s happiness and needs first in detriment of our own priorities and health, and it finds it difficult to delegate.
Clear is kind and that includes the fact that we need time to rest and recover. If you have a demanding boss who wants everything done within the hour, it may be time to have a conversation on what is realistic and what is not. If your family often makes unreasonable demands of your time and energy, it may be time to teach them how to do certain things on their own, ask and/or pay for help, or team tag with other family members.
If we allow it, other people will absorb our time and energy. Not because they are bad people or want to take advantage of us. Not at all. It is because it is the path of least resistance. Remember that our brain conserves as much energy as possible as a survival mechanism. It is easier to ask mom where things are than trying to find them ourselves. It is easier to ask a colleague to resend the email than to look for it in my inbox.
The beauty of setting boundaries is that it can be done with love and empathy. And if we start making a habit of it, people who care about us will understand, support, and respect our boundaries.
5) Hide your cell phone
I can hear the collective cry of ‘I can’t, it’s impossible! This woman is irrational!’
I know this is controversial and many people will tell me they cannot do it because that is the only phone they have, what if there is an emergency, etc.
Even with all notifications off and the phone in silent mode, seeing it triggers a need in our brains to check what is going on resulting in losing our focus and taking much longer to complete a task. No wonder we end up exhausted after a day of constant interruptions.
When there is a true emergency, people will call (vs. sending an email or text). You can also designate a special ring tone for those people for whom you are their emergency contact so their calls and/or messages bypass the overall phone settings.
Put the phone away in a place where you cannot see it and that, preferably, is out of reach. At the office, I leave my cell phone inside my backpack. At home I put it on a bookcase (not visible and out of reach). This allows me to focus on the task at hand with minimal distraction.
“Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” George Lucas, American film director
Being distracted and task switching (aka multitasking) is easier than creating a low to no distraction environment. Taking the easy path comes with a price, though. In this case, it may be sacrificing the time and energy we need to accomplish what we defined is important to us.
Our time and attention are precious assets. How we use them will make an enormous difference and will position us either in the vast majority who is happy with busyness, infinitely scrolling in social media, and complaining about how nothing goes their way, or in the exceptional population who is pursuing their goals and growing.
What do you do to increase and maintain your focus on the priorities that will take you closer to your goals? Please, let us know in the comments.
As a leadership coach, I enable talent to achieve bold goals with high standards. My mission is to help underrepresented women in the financial industry transition from mid to senior level leadership positions by creating awareness, increasing emotional intelligence, and unveiling the tools and choices available to them.