You probably hear me say it all the time, but here I go again: Time management is really self management. It is your ability to get yourself to take action. I want to show you how to improve focus by implementing these 3 simple steps. We can dream, plan, and organize all we want, but at the end of the day, nothing happens until we begin to take action on a consistent basis.

It is vitally important that you learn how to take regular action on your goals and dreams. In fact, this is an area that I am still working on all the time. I fall off the wagon a lot, but I dust myself off and get back into the game. I am going to let you in on a little secret: I am not a structured person by nature. In fact, I am as unstructured as they come. My personality thrives on an unstructured environment. That being said, it does not give me an excuse to be messy, unorganized and lazy. I can still adopt certain principles to my life when I really need to take action.

How to Improve Focus in 3 Simple Steps

Step 1. Set hard deadlines on today’s projects. Let’s assume that you at least have a rough idea of some tasks or projects that you are going to work on today. One of the things that has helped me the most is to work in blocks of time and then reward myself afterwards. Just yesterday, I set a block of time for 30 minutes and focused on getting a certain task done in that time frame. That one task was all I was going to work on in that moment. I allowed myself to get into “work flow” and just enjoy performing that one tasks. I did not allow myself to have 10 internet browsers open so I can bounce around on different tasks that came into mind. I just focused on one thing and one thing only.

I am competitive and so knowing that I was up against the clock motivated me to stay focused on the task at hand. You can use a simple timer or if you want a more complete program, use the Action Machine. It is a software that I use to keep me motivated on accomplishing my tasks for the day. I also like to reward myself at the end of that focus session. Yesterday, after finishing that block of time, I took my two kids down to the neighborhood playground and tossed some baseball with them for about 30-45 minutes. Once we walked back home, I was ready to get started on my next task. Set hard deadlines if you need to improve your focus.

Step 2. Control your “internal” distractions. This is probably my biggest battle if I am completely honest. My mind never stops. I am always processing new ideas, to-do’s, and projects. If you are going to learn how to improve focus, you have to control the distractions between your own two ears. I can get off track really easily. It is just my personality. If I start to get the slightest bit bored at what I am doing, I am ready to abandon ship. Learning to control my internal distractions has been a big help.

One way that I control these internal distractions is by having a 3×4 index card nearby. If I am in the middle of a work session (as mentioned above) and I begin to think of something else that needs to be done, I just take a moment and write it on the 3×5 card. I then tell myself that it can wait 30 minutes while I finish what I am currently focusing on. This has been a huge help for me. Sometimes, if I am not using a 3×5 card, I leave one extra browser window open for my time management app that I use called Wunderlist. I just quickly flip over to the App, record the to do I thought of and get right back to work. This has been great for me because I can easily distract myself.

Image by koalazymonkey via Flickr

Step 3. Manage your “external” distractions. Noticed that I said “manage.” The truth is that it is hard to manage distractions from other people. Even working in my home office, I have my kids coming in and out all day. I don’t want them to feel like work is more important, yet I need to get my work done each done. This is difficult for sure. One way that I manage the external distractions is to give them a firm answer. I will tell them that Daddy will be done in 15 minutes and will be taking a break and that I would be happy to spend some time with them then. Other external distractions are easier to manage. For example, let the phone go to voicemail if you can. Turn off the email notification feature on your email. Instead decide to check your email during your multiple break times in between your “work sessions.”

I hope you are beginning to see the power of learning how to improve focus. You can double your productivity in a short amount of time by following these ideas. Watch the video below for a better explanation of this powerful focusing process that I have been using to get more done.

Question: What tips do you have for improving focus? Please comment below…

Now, for the video:

If you can’t see the video above, you can view directly on YouTube: How to Improve Focus

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