Three Steps to Developing Focus
Focus — My word and objective for this year
Starting this year, I have decided to identify my number one goal in just one word. My word for 2024 is Focus and here is how I am developing that focus. It’s something that anyone can do if they follow my lead.
All of us have the same number of hours in a day, so how is it that some people can get more done in a day than others? They develop the skills required for focus. These skills are organizing a plan, removing myself from distractions, and finally, creating a time limit in which to achieve what I planned that day.
1. Organize a Plan
Before you plan, know whether you’re trying to accomplish a task or a project. You must understand the difference. A task can be done in a few minutes. A project will take an hour or more. You can break your project down into various tasks that you can do in just a few minutes and quickly check them off. For instance, making the bed is a task, but deep cleaning the bedroom is a project. A project like deep cleaning the bedroom might take more than one day and be broken down into more than one project depending on the time you have for that day’s project.
Once you have determined that you have a project that you want to accomplish, you should take a few minutes to break the project down into tasks and then put those tasks in order so that you can do them most efficiently. You don’t want to do your tasks willy-nilly because this will slow down your process and disrupt your focus.
Once you have put your tasks in order, you can put them in a document and check them off. This will show that you are making progress in that project and if you can’t complete the project in one day, you’ll easily know where to pick up on the project on the next day.
2. Removing Distractions
Next, you’ll want to remove any distractions from what you intend to focus on. If I am going to write, I find it necessary to turn off my phone and notifications on my laptop so I can focus on my work. In addition, I close myself in my bedroom so that I am undisturbed by my husband as I write. I don’t necessarily want to be completely without sound around me because that can be a distraction equal to phone notifications and calls. A little soft music in the background may be fine for many people. Others, however, may discover that soft music is also a distraction. Everyone has to discover what is a distraction for them and what isn’t.
3. Having a Time Limit
Finally, to keep myself focused on the task at hand, I limit how much time I take to work on the project. I work through each task according to how I planned. I mark off each task so that I can get as much done as possible during that allotted time.
It may sound counterintuitive to limit the amount of time that a person works on a task, but Parkinson’s law comes into effect here. This law states that we make a task fill up the time allotted to it. For instance, if I know that I have an hour to do the dishes, I could take that hour “putter” doing the dishes. However, if I know I only have fifteen minutes, I might be able to do those same dishes in fifteen minutes instead of taking the entire hour while doing an equally good job. If I’m writing and I have given myself a limited amount of time to write, I’ll write a lot faster especially if I have a plan in place for that writing project.
When doing projects that require longer periods to complete, and I want to work more than an hour or more, I recognize that my ability to focus is limited, so I use the Pomodoro technique. This is a technique that makes the best use of our ability to focus.
To use this technique, I set a timer where I limit my time to forty-five minutes and then focus during that time on the task at hand. Once the alarm goes off, I get up and do something else for five minutes, and then go back to focus on that project again. Some people can do this for up to four hours using this method, but I can only do two sessions in a row before I need to move on to doing something else.
4. Rise Above Your Excuses
Learning focus techniques is not that difficult. The skill is as easy as planning what you want to accomplish during your focus time, getting rid of distractions, and setting a time limit for your focus session.
Don’t make your disabilities an excuse for not being able to focus. I have heard many people talk about ADHD being the reason that they cannot focus. Rather than rising to the challenge, they use their short attention spans as an excuse. A person who is obsessive-compulsive feels strongly that they must have everything perfect before starting to write. I’m not saying that these problems aren’t real, but there are ways to learn to focus no matter what your disabilities are.
What I am suggesting you exercise focus by stretching your focusing ability. Recognize your limits, and then aim to increase your focus by stretching your focus time longer by as little as a minute. The length of time that almost anyone can focus is limited to 45-minute segments so be sure to use the Pomodoro technique when working on extended projects.
Now It’s Your Turn
How about you? Can you identify a word that embodies your goals for 2024? I would love to hear about it in the comments.
Do you have issues with focusing on a task without being distracted? Do these tips offer a solution to your difficulties in focusing on finishing your work? Please share your results!
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