Staying focused

Yes, We all do have the same 24-hours in a day.  But regardless of what we do we spend most of our time putting out fires.  And the things that we want to do end up on the back burner, and many times forgotten about.

I had an instructor tell me that If you don’t fill your day with tasks to accomplish your goals, someone else will fill your day for you to accomplish their goals.  And no matter how hard you try, It is difficult to get your life back once someone else has control of it. That is why setting and accomplishing your goals needs to be a priority in our lives. Setting goals gives your life purpose. You are much more likely to achieve a well-defined goal than you are without one. As Earl Nightingale says in The Strangest Secret “… the man who has not goal, who doesn’t know where he is going and whose thought must therefore be thoughts of confusion and anxiety and fear and worry, becomes what he thinks about.” In other words If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. With your goals at the forefront of your mind, you will have a driving force that will help you to succeed at any task.

Get your copy of Today Goals!

It is not however, just a matter of setting goals. You have to take action as well. You have to move toward the accomplishment of your goals with such an intense focus, that you have now choice but to succeed. How do you get that focused? I’ll tell you. But first, I am assuming you know how to set “SMART” goals, If I am mistaken, and you need a quick lesson on goal setting, feel free to read my blog post, where I give you instructions on how to set Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals.

Get a web based software that helps you track goals and sub goals, manage tasks Build habits and helps you to visualize your goals!

Now that you have your goals, Let’s work on helping you achieve intense focus, to see it through to completion. Here are three tips that I use every day to maintain focus on whatever it is that I am trying to achieve.

1. Have an image of what it is you want to do! Mental pictures are good. But If at all possible turn your mental picture into a physical representation of what it is you want to accomplish. When I first imagined this blog, It was a part of a bigger picture for me becoming an entrepreneur. Since I did not have a physical image of the business I wanted, I drew a flowchart detailing exactly how I wanted the company to look. I keep that flowchart readily available so I can see it for inspiration. This image keeps me motivated to move every day towards making this picture a reality. You can do the same or something similar. If you don’t have a picture of your goal, create one. Either way, the point here is to have an image so that you can look at it for inspiration and motivation to achieve it.
2. Break your goal into baby steps! One of the best tools that I have ever learned with regards to goal accomplishment is the use of baby steps. Although I cannot claim responsibility for creating this concept, there have been multiple renditions of the baby steps used over the years, their implementation will prove invaluable. The movie Analyze This with Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro, was probably not the first movie to use the baby steps, But I must admit, I didn’t notice them there. I originally noticed the use of the baby steps from Dave Ramsey’s book the Total Money Makeover. The baby steps simply break your larger goals into smaller, manageable tasks. By doing this, it makes your goal seem more attainable. Every step that you complete brings you closer to achieving your goals.
3. Schedule time to work on your goal. I don’t mean this figuratively. literally take out your calendar, look at the blank time slots and write down ( or type) WORK ON MY BABY STEPS!. I don’t know about you, but when there is an empty space on my calendar, I usually fill it with things that may hinder my productivity. Usually Facebook, Twitter or email. I tend to look at those free slots as times to take a break. If you have to schedule your breaks as well. This way you are more likely to stay focused until then.  Don’t be surprised or get frustrated if you have to move this around to “put out fires”. This slot on your calendars is not to be so firm that you put everything off to get it done. It also cannot be so rigid, that you blow it off when it comes up. It is there to serve as a reminder to you that you have something to do where ever it is on your calendar.

The longer you stay focused on things other than achieving your goal the more difficult it will be to achieve it. Here is what I want you to do.  Turn that mental picture that you have into a physical image, keep it where you can see it everyday.  Use it to motivate you.  Break your large tasks into smaller tasks to make them more manageable, and schedule the time to complete each task. No matter what you are attempting to do, use these tips to help you to stay the course until you achieve success.