Deep Work: How To Stay Motivated and Focused on Your Work and Life
Learn the best tips and tricks on productivity topics.
Recently I have wondered about learning productivity topics and the best tips we can find there. But like all of you guys, I keep avoiding some critical advice.
So, just now, I got the following question. How can we stay focused, motivated, organized, and energetic during the workday?
It’s essential to understand and learn. Because many days we can work on the maximum speed. And then get several with deficient energy when we don’t see any sense in our work.
People can usually have the following problems that stop them from achieving their goals:
- Procrastination
- Low energy
- Stress
- Distractions
These are vital points that stop us from achieving our goals. We can combine them and express them in the following sentences. I feel tired. I feel stressed. I feel distracted. I don’t want to do something.
To avoid these barriers, we need to find answers to the following questions:
- How can I feel full of energy?
- How can I get focused on my work?
- How can I feel more relaxed?
- How can I deal with procrastination?
These are the main questions. Only four, you can find some others if you need them. But these should be enough.
Let’s discuss them deeper!
How to Get More Energy?
Before starting any work, we feel lazy. It’s normal, especially when we understand that some work can consume much time.
Motivation can help. It’s the truth! The only thing, it works in the short run. For example, if you don’t want to do anything, you want to give up on your project, etc. Several motivational videos can solve this problem. And in the next several hours, days you will be able to work.
Just try to watch the video or a similar one.
The only issue with this approach is the next. It won’t solve your procrastination in the long run. The next time you feel laziness, it can be even worse. So what can we do with it?
We need to set a goal!
Easy to say but challenging to implement. Really? It would help to have a piece of paper or a laptop with notes. Write down your desires, wishes, and goals. If you have a project, write down your plan and why.
Why do you do these things?
After setting a goal, you need to split it into steps. Make it more straightforward and more achievable. To handle this, you can use the following approaches that will help you.
1. Set Yourself Realistic Goals
If your goal is too high or looks unrealistic, it won’t work. You won’t be able to accomplish a task that is too complicated for your body and mind.
Let’s split it into smaller tasks. Make a plan. Any goal can contain a lot of subgoals. But remember that everything should be achievable.
I recommend making SMART goals by the following scheme for this approach.
It’s easy to use. Let me explain each step of this scheme.
- Specific. Your goal should be apparent. In this step, you need to define the result you want to achieve.
- Measurable. You must understand how much time and money you need to accomplish it.
- Attainable. It would help if you were sure that you could achieve your goal. It would help if you saw a way you would do it.
- Relevant. You need to understand why you do it.
- Time-based. You can set clear deadlines to achieve what you need.
2. Take Enough Time to Complete Your Goals
If you are full of energy and understand the importance of your goal, you need the next thing. It’s time! Yeap, it sounds pretty straightforward, but many of us ignore it.
When we want to do a project, writing, or video creating, we have to spend enough time on it. It’s not enough to spend several hours per week on something.
For example, I remember finding time to create on TikTok and Medium in parallel! I thought it was possible. So, I have spent 30–60 minutes daily on such activities.
We need to understand the next thing. If you are ready to do something and you want it. You need more time! Your work requires more time! Your project needs more time! More time!
Suppose you want to do a side project. It’s amazing! Find at least one day per week, and work on it for 3 hours. If you do one set of these, you will do a massive project just after some planning and investigation.
All of us are lazy, my friend. And sometimes, we want to spend our time on something other than preparing, learning, investigating, discussing, etc.
We want to run right now!
But it doesn’t work. Don’t rush. Slow down. And let your head think. The next piece of advice will help you to become better at this.
3. Meditate
It would help if you learned to listen to your inner voice for better work of your mind. All answers live inside of you. But too often, we listen to anything around us but not to ourselves.
Just 5 minutes of meditation can fill you with energy and the right thoughts. Be hungry for your work. When you meditate, you can feel bored. That’s good! If you feel bored with closed eyes, you will be happy and interested in the work.
Also, if you get better at meditation, you will learn the next important thing. It’s patience. Be patient. You have enough time, but not for sitting and doing nothing. It’s more about your results.
Don’t look at your results. Focus on your work, and look for ways to do it even better.
One incredible video I’d like to share with you is linked below.
How to Be More Relaxed?
If you feel stressed, all your work will become an absolute nightmare. I have also wanted to add to this point of meditation, but it’s more related to energy, so that we will discuss other approaches here.
Why do we feel stressed? Nobody knows. All we have fears. You can be afraid of your boss or something else. It doesn’t matter. But we always are focused on something, and can’t give a real rest for our brain?
The real problem is that we can’t give ourselves a good portion of relaxation. We are most important in our lives. The person number one in your life is you!
So let’s look at some advice that can help us feel better.
1. Take Breaks
Number one rule. Take breaks during your day. If you have worked for several hours, take a small break. Go for a walk, or drink some water. It doesn’t matter. Just change your activity.
We feel bad when we sit all the time at our desks. Our brain and body need some rest and exercise. But when we sit all the time and look at the laptop, we don’t give any chance for good health for any part of our bodies.
It’s good to take several minutes and read a book or meditate. You can take a shower and make tea. Do anything other than your job for at least several minutes!
I recommend that you learn and start using the Pomodoro technique.
You need to set a timer for 30–40 minutes and work all this time. Then you make a rest for 5–10 minutes. Then you repeat your circle 3–4 times. Then you can take a more extensive rest.
You can read more about it at the following link.
2. Don’t Think
If you do your work, focus on it. Don’t think about anything else. If you have more prioritized work, take it in the first place. But if you are already on it, stop thinking.
I want to add a do-it picture right here. But I don’t want to take much place in this article for this. This phrase says much.
Our thinking usually leads to procrastination. We worry about how much time and energy something will take from us. But instead of doing it, we are sitting and thinking nobody knows what! It’s not right!
Try to focus on your work. And then when you finish, you can do anything you want.
3. Make Good Rests
Take the following rule as the most important in your life. If you work hard, then you need to rest to the maximum. If it’s your workday, then do the following things:
- Go to the gym
- Go for a walk
- Read a book
- Create something
- Get an amazing lunch
And other amazing things you can imagine you can do. Do whatever fills you with joy, happiness, and energy. Do it in your free time!
Also, it is even more critical if it’s your weekend. Go to nature. Meet your friends. Spend your time in the right way. Your body and brain deserved this rest! You deserved it!
4. Do Sport, Yoga, or Some Other Activity
You need to take care of your body first of all. And your brain as well. The best thing that can help you with it is a sport. First of all, it clears your mind of evil thoughts. It removes any ideas.
It also makes your body move more, and you feel better. Long sitting causes too many mental and health problems. We need to add more movements to our lives to deal with them.
Yoga makes it suitable. Especially after sitting the whole day near my laptop, my back and neck feel not so good. And half an hour of yoga helps me to feel better!
Also, you can go for a run. Or ride a bicycle. Some of my friends feel amazing from swimming. It’s your choice!
How to Stay Focused?
Okay, now we are full of energy and don’t afraid of anything. But still, something gets us away from our goals. Distractions!
And it’s not only about notifications, calls, and talks with others. We will talk about them as well. Our brain can get distracted because of some leak of clearance.
For example, we need to know the next step in our work. We need help with obtaining specific information.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you deal with it.
1. Write a To-do List
Making a TodoTodo list is an essential step to achieving your goals. It can help you. As discussed in the previous actions, you must split your plan into small parts.
After getting small pieces of the goals, you can convert them into a list of actions. This list of activities you can split into the days and add them to your to-do lists.
You can also use your to-do lists to unload your head with things you have to do. You can save your shop lists there. Suppose you have some meeting or appointment. Place them there with appropriate data.
Also, you need to have two types of to-do lists:
- Backlog
- Focus
You have a list of tasks you must complete but still need to prioritize. You can return to them in several weeks or when you have free time.
The focus list contains tasks that you have to work on right now.
I will leave a good article about setting the right to-do lists to achieve your goals better.
2. Prioritize Your Tasks
When you are ready with your to-do lists, you get a complete list of tasks. You have to choose those that are most important right now.
It isn’t easy sometimes to find only one or two more important tasks than others. In this case, it’s perfect to use Warren Buffett’s “2 List” Strategy for Focused Attention.
Also, you need to understand why you are doing it right now. If you focus on everything simultaneously, you won’t achieve any significant results.
You have to focus on too few things to get great results!
3. Use Time Blocks
Google Calendar is a fantastic application, website, and tool for those who want to be more productive if you can plan your work and add your appointments.
Also, it’s beneficial when you want to plan your work and split it into time blocks, as we discussed in the advice about getting enough time for your work. Here we can take as much as we want, for example, 1–2 hours, and just set them on some particular time in the day.
More tips about it you can see on this video.
4. Avoid Distractions
Turn off all notifications on your phone, at least when working. Use some application or timer to get your work’s time limitations and dive deep into it.
Set one rule for yourself. If you work, then you work. Don’t check your email. Close your chats. Remember that getting back focused after distraction can take several minutes; if you have ten distractions during your hour, you lose your time and energy.
Stay focused. Try not to use your phone. And look into the software and tools you need right now.
5. Use Pomodoro
A fantastic technique that can be a great bonus for you is a Pomodoro Timer. It’s easy to use but saves you a lot of hours.
The logic is next:
- Turn on a timer for 25 minutes
- Work 25 minutes
- Turn on a timer for 5 minutes
- Have a rest for 5 minutes
It would help if you only had a timer for this. But if you want a better experience, you can find an online website tool or download some app on your phone.
One of the tools is attached below. Try to use it!
How To Deal With Procrastination?
The latest chunk we need to discuss is the answer to the next question. How can we deal with procrastination? Different techniques exist, but I will show the most important and workable ones below.
1. Use 5 Minutes Rule
The rule is straightforward. For example, if you have to do something essential but feel tired to start. Please set a timer for 5 minutes and begin working on the task at hand.
Usually, after 5 minutes, you get used to it. And then you are ready to work longer and better on this task. Also, you get more energy and don’t feel tired at all.
2. Use 2 Minutes Rule
The name is similar to the previous point. But here is another trick. If you have some tasks that will take less than 2 minutes, do them right now!
Usually, our heads are full of information about upcoming tasks. We feel tired just because of one thought. So, if you finish some of them, you will feel more motivated, and your head will be less loaded with things you need to do.
3. Allow Yourself to Procrastinate
It sounds pretty weird! To deal with procrastination, we need to procrastinate. But in some cases, it works. We need it, especially if we are always productive and almost don’t have any rest.
Just open a Youtube or play a game. Give yourself an hour to do anything you want to do. No work, only chill. It’s essential to do because it’s also some relaxation.
Often I need to read something or learn some new skill. And still scold me if I spend videos on funny videos, etc.
But we need it. Allow it for you. If any other points don’t help you, then let it go. Give yourself one day off or at least several hours of relaxation. You deserve it. Just give yourself a promise to work at your maximum after you have a rest.
You will be surprised after finishing your procrastination process.
Also, I have learned a lot about different stuff while preparing materials for this article. Everything is interesting; some advise using other tools, frameworks, and approaches.
Pick what fits you better and make a routine. Make something that will work for you and use it. Don’t rush; stay calm. And listen to your inner voice.
I want to share some extra materials with you if you are already at this point.
