This is something I tend to come back to a lot when I think about what to do next. How do you get rid of all of the noise around you to concentrate and FOCUS on what is most important.
It is very hard to live in the moment and avoid distractions in this world we live in. I spoke about this a lot in my post below which was around notifications stealing from you.
However I am now writing about it in terms of a macro point of view. What I mean by that is when you have a big idea or direction you want to go in, how do you stop yourself from getting distracted and side tracked by the next idea that pops in to your head.
I've noticed this affects entrepreneurs a lot or people that are very creative in their thinking and are constantly coming up with ideas. It can also affect people that driven and impatient to succeed as they want things to happen quickly and feel like their current efforts are in vain.
If this sounds like you then read on...
Why Focus Is So Important
When you have an idea or a long term goal, it is important to remember that it is long term. Overnight successes do not happen in the vast majority of successes. It takes hard work, determination and a lot of focus.
If you were to think of anyone successful and look at their personality traits, undoubtedly one thing they would have in common is that they had an unbelievable amount of focus on what their goal was and did not stop until they achieved it.
To bring this back to Personal Development, if you had 5 things on your personal development plan that you wanted to go after. Let's say you dedicate one day a week to each of these 5 things and they need 2 days each to 'complete'. It is going to take you 10 days to complete those activities and therefore 10 days for your personal development to benefit from them.
But what if you had 1 thing on your personal development plan and you just focussed on that one thing? 2 days later your personal development has benefitted and then maybe this will cause the next thing on your personal development to be faster than 2 days to complete!
Your time and therefore your focus is a definitive amount. You can't create more focus or time, you can only apportion it. The more you apportion your focus the weaker it becomes. Use it to your strength and don't apportion it at all!
I realised this at work. I was doing about 5 different 'extra curricular' activities. As in part of groups or networks that I was a part of that was on top of my day job. I realised I was not giving these activities the best me and it was because I was spreading myself too thin.
So what I did is I came out of all of them apart from one. I chose the one I thought would make the most impact on what my goal was then gave all of my focus to that. Once I did that I instantly realised how much more I was getting out of it and everyone else that was a part of that workstream as I was contributing so much more.
How Can I Focus?
Have a think about what your goals in life are or what your personal development targets are. Just pick one of those things and give it your all. Do it until you succeed or do it until you think you have given it everything you can and it is time to quit and move on to something else knowing you won't feel guilty for it.
That is how I felt about my blog. I know that it isn't going to be easy for me to continue to write twice a week. But I have basically said to myself that I am going to give this blog all of my focus and attention for 2 years. If at that point no one is reading it and I am not getting any satisfaction from it then I will move on to something else. But I have promised myself I won't give up before then.
So basically, you can focus by:
- Refining what your goals are and putting all of your attention and focus on to it.
- Write down why you are going after that goal and write a commitment to yourself.
- When you feel yourself getting side-tracked refer back to your commitment and ask yourself if that distraction is going to help you achieve that goal? if the answer is no then store that distraction in a bank (notepad/notes on your phone) and get back to focusing.
I was inspired to write this post because I was talking to a close family member who is a very driven individual and someone you would describe as an entrepreneur but they can easily get distracted with all of the ideas they are constantly coming up with.
Also I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts (link below) and Russell Howard mentions on it that when he took up comedy his dad told him not to 'half arse' it and to give it everything he has for a couple of years and see where it gets him.
If you have found this post interesting, please share with others via the social media links below and click the Sign up button below so you receive my weekly newsletter (Sunday Snapshot) which has links to my new posts.
Thanks for reading,
Gav
