250. How To Stay Focused

Hello, hello, beautiful souls.

This episode is for you if you feel scattered all over the place and want to learn how to stay focused so that you can stay on track to accomplishing your goals this year. 

I’ve previously talked about this. Being scattered is a bad habit that can kill your confidence. 

The good news is being able to stay focused is a learned skill. 

So here today, I present to you the seven action steps to help you stay on track.

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The first step is to be super clear about your goals. 

When you write down your goals, if in any way you feel it’s unattainable or impossible, that just means you haven’t chunked it down small enough yet. After you write down your goal, ask yourself this question.

From a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being most likely, how likely are you to accomplish this? 

If your answer is anywhere below an 8 or a 9, that means you have to chunk down the goal even more. Make sure your goals are smart, specific, measurable, relevant, and timely. 

I’ve talked about SMART goals in another episode, so you can refer there.

The second step in staying focused is to plan and prioritize. 

We will always only have time for our priorities. So it’s important to consider your most important tasks, and we call them MITs.

These are things you need to take action on that will actually move the needle, that will actually help you move towards your goals. So these are the actions you actually want to be taking. Use Google Calendar and other tools to help you schedule in your priorities.

And don’t forget to structure your day around your non-negotiables. Non-negotiables are activities that you absolutely will not give up and negotiate of not having them in your life. So for me, that would be eating my meals on time, sleeping on time.

I know exactly what time they need to go in my calendar, and then I schedule my work around that. 

The third step is to time block. 

Establish daily routines that incorporate dedicated time blocks for your goals.

When I first learned about time management, I was doing half an hour blocks. So that means 25 minutes of focused work and then five-minute break. And then you repeat again for another half an hour. 25 minutes of work and then five minutes of break. 

Later on, I learned there’s actually a name for this technique, and that is called the Pomodoro Technique, which is exactly just that. 

Stay focused, sharp, and crystal clear on what you’re doing for the next 25 minutes, and then take a break.

This structured approach keeps the mind alert and engaged, and significantly reduce the tendency for you to procrastinate, and therefore a deeper focus. 

The fourth step to staying focused is to eliminate distractions. 

It’s normal, we all have them.

We all have millions of thoughts a day, many of them repetitive, unnecessary, unproductive thoughts while we’re working. 

So it helps to minimize these distractions if we have a cluttered workspace, clean environment, clear mind, decluttered space, declutter your mind. So of course, turn off notifications when you’re working.

In the beginning, it might be hard. When I try to stay away from my phone in the beginning, I would actually leave it in another room. So I don’t have the tendency to play with it while I’m supposed to be focused on something else.

You bet now my phone is on silent most of the day. And I love to use countdown timers. When you’re on YouTube, simply search for countdown timer for five minutes with relaxation music, or for however minutes you want.

There is a ton. And don’t forget to feel free to clearly communicate with those around you about your boundaries and how you wish to stay focused so that they’re not distracting you. 

The fifth component in staying focus is to manage your energy.

Remember that you are the CEO of your life. 

And that means you are the chief energy officer of your life. So you get to manage your energy, you get to decide where you let your energy go.

So work during your peak energy hours. And for that, everyone’s different. You could be a morning person, you could be a night out, there’s actually no right or wrong answer as to when you are productive.

I’m a morning person myself. So I schedule my calls in the morning. And even once in a while, I do open up my laptop at night, if I’m replying an email, I will still schedule it to go out the next morning.

So that way that recipient will receive it during my working hours. And therefore I’m letting them respect my working hours. And that’s when you can expect a reply from me is during the daytime.

Of course, good habits like staying hydrated, getting good food, healthy food, and enough sleep. Those are all essential. And stay motivated by celebrating small steps.

What gets celebrated gets repeated. So no matter how small of a win, feel free to celebrate it. Keep a reminder like a mantra or vision board or a phone screensaver, wallpaper, whatever that reminds you of what matters to you, sticky notes on the wall, whatever works for you to remind you of where you’re headed.

And because we’re human, because we have bumps on the road, because we forget. 

And that’s where number six comes in is to leverage accountability.

Check in with your accountability partner, or even better yet, share your goals with a coach because your goal is your coach’s goal. And as a coach myself, I know I am not judgmental.

I don’t care what your goals are. But if they’re your goals, they’re my goals. And last but definitely not least, and actually very important.

The seventh step is to be kind to yourself. 

Recognize that focus actually comes and goes. So avoid beating yourself up.

Don’t beat yourself up. Simply have more awareness when you lose focus and pull yourself back up. Meditate or use other mindfulness techniques.

There are tons of apps to help you stay grounded. But what’s important is you want to train your mind to be more focused. So being grounded is a great way to help the mind get there.

When your mind wanders, guide it back without being harsh on yourself. Time to time reflect on your progress, what’s working, what’s not. And remember that it’s okay to pivot.

It’s okay if something went wrong. It’s okay if things are not going the way you thought you wanted. And it’s okay to adapt.

These are great skills. And therefore, together, collectively, you are practicing your skill of staying focused. Keep restarting when distractions happen.

Persistence matters. Consistency matters more than perfection. 

So which one of these steps are you working on? Message me and let me know.