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Ann Latham’s Tips for Peak Productivity - #7 Phenomenal Focus Finishes First
You can boost your productivity with phenomenal focus. But how do you create that focus? The secret lies in knowing the answers to these three questions:
- What am I trying to accomplish?
- What will success look like?
- How much time am I going to spend on this task?
Here are the three most common scenarios that prevent focus:
- You literally don’t understand what you are trying to accomplish. This usually occurs when trying to follow orders or advice. Someone else may know exactly what you ought to be trying to accomplish, but you don’t!
- You know what you want to accomplish by the end of the week or month or year, but not right now in the next 30 – 60 minutes. The task you see before you is large, complex, ambiguous, or long-term and you don’t know where to start.
- You haven’t committed to a specific task. You may have ten completely clear tasks on your radar, but you haven’t consciously decided which one is next and turned your undivided attention to it. Meanwhile, you wander. You check email, look up something on the web, wander into a task that is clearly a lesser priority, and the next thing you know, the hour has passed. People often confuse this with procrastination – avoiding an undesirable task. It may look the same, but it isn’t. You simply have made no decision, no commitment to get started.
Phenomenal focus begins with knowing what you want to accomplish. If not knowing is your problem, get help. If you are being pulled in too many directions, get help. Or just pick one. In many cases, almost any action would be better than wandering in the weeds.
Once you’ve made a conscious decision to move in a specific direction, zero in on the next concrete step. Visualize what completing the step will look like. You don’t want to wander through a task anymore than you want to wander between tasks. What is an acceptable outcome? How well does this task need to be done? Envision a successful outcome and then pursue that and nothing more.
With that clear vision of success, you can ramp up your focus further by allotting a specific time period to the task. Tasks have a way of filling all available time if you are not intentional about completing them quickly. Decide how much time the task deserves or needs before you begin. Set yourself a deadline. Use a simple baker’s timer to signal intervals of no more than 25 minutes so you can regroup and adjust regularly before too much time slips away.
Ready to push the start button? There’s one more thing to do. Forward the phone, turn off email, and promise yourself you will do nothing else but the chosen task for the next 25 minutes. Now press start!
This is the seventh in our series of Clear Steps to Uncommon Productivity that help you take control of your time, feel great about each week, and watch those weeks add up to impressive results. Enjoy the previous tips on our website.
© 2011 Ann Latham. All RIghts Reserved.
If You Found This Article Helpful, You May Also Want to Read These:
- Ann Latham's Tips for Peak Productivity - #1 Create a Friday List
- Ann Latham’s Tips for Peak Productivity - #2 Identify Concrete Next Steps
- Ann Latham’s Tips for Peak Productivity - #3 Eliminate the ‘Shoulds’
- Ann Latham's Tips for Peak Productivity - #4 Create Energy with Clarity
- Ann Latham’s Tips for Peak Productivity - #5 "Please, No More Good Ideas!"
- Ann Latham’s Tips for Peak Productivity - #6 What If You Had Another Month Every Year?