How to Stay Focused and Get More Done

Just say no to distractions

If you are anything like me, once you get in the zone, you can accomplish a lot. But also if you are like me, you have to be dragged into the zone kicking and screaming. Let’s face it; life is a distraction. Family, personal commitments, and, may as well admit to it, social media can keep you from getting important things done. But it doesn’t have to be that way. And you shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality time with your family to achieve focus.

We have limited attention spans and so we need to manage them and the distractions to stay focused and accomplish our goals. And therein lies part of the problem, not having well-defined and attainable goals. Note, I said attainable. I want to write one article a week, or even a day, is an attainable goal I can focus on. I want to write a book by this weekend is not, so you will quickly lose focus.

Define your goals

So, the first part of maintaining focus is to define your goals. But remember the short attention span. You need to break the goals down into small chunks so you can focus on them. Depending on how prolific a writer you are, maybe writing an article a day is a small enough task. But for most of us, that’s too broad. So break that goal up into tasks you can manage and focus on for short periods of time. Finding a topic, researching the topic, proofreading the article; these are all manageable tasks. So then your goal isn’t, “I want to write an article,” but “I need to find a topic.” You can easily focus on that for the twenty or thirty minutes required to do so.

Set aside a day to go through all of your projects and commitments. Break each one down into small tasks that you can accomplish in a half-hour or less. Depending on your ability to stay focused for a sustainable period, you may go longer, but no more than an hour. Then, based on deadlines, urgencies, and importance, place these tasks in your to-do lists. Remember, you will work in sprints on these small tasks and then take a break. There is no point trying to cram your day full of tasks, jumping into one the moment you finish the last. You might get away with that for a day or two, but burnout is inevitable. Plan for breaks. Don’t propose more than 45 minutes of work per hour, for instance.

Focus on your objectives

Now, it’s time to get to work. Put your phone on mute, or preferably in another room. Close all browser windows and apps except the ones you need for the current task. If the task will take longer than your designated work period, get a Pomodoro timer. This way, you can sustain focus on even an unpleasant task. I can do anything for twenty minutes. Then take a break and continue with the next task.

To recap, you should break all projects into manageable chunks that you can complete in an amount of time for which you can maintain focus. Clear all distractions when you are ready to start each task. Set a timer to let you know when it’s time to take a break. Rinse and Repeat.

But remember, I said, “time to take a break.” Don’t make the mistake of getting in that zone and wanting to pluck the next task off the pile and keep going. Eventually, this will become unsustainable. It will fail. When it’s time to take a break, take a break. Check out Facebook. Make a phone call. Talk to your kids. If the people that want to monopolize some of your time know they only have to wait twenty minutes, they will. But their behavior has to be trained and reinforced just like yours does.

• Set attainable goals.
• Focus for short periods of time.
• Take a break.

Nothing could be easier.