3 Tips To Help You Stay More Focused
As an entrepreneur, and even more so, as one with an ADHD diagnosis or with strong ADHD tendencies, we have so many things vying for our attention. We all have lives that never stop. Home life is in full swing with grocery lists, laundry, kids sports, household chores, yardwork...you get the point. But we are also trying to build successful businesses and serve our clients well. Here, our attention is summoned by things from emails, project deadlines, orders to fill, to dealing with employee issues, handling client relations, and developing ourselves as a leader or manager. Let us not forgot the never ending distractive pull of social media!
These days, it just never seems to stop. We carry our busy lives with us everywhere. From the office, to the store, to the kids ball games or dance recitals, then ultimately home.
With all of this pulling us in every direction possible, how can we ever focus and get anything done? And how are we supposed to be creative and lead our families or businesses? My hope is to inspire some thoughts in you that can serve you in your quest for greater focus amongst all the noise in your endeavor to fulfill your life’s vision/mission.
1. Staying True To Your Vision/Mission
“Is all this busywork in line with what I feel is my life’s work?”
~Brendon Burchard
When trying to get more focused, a great place to start is by considering if our busywork equals our vision/mission; our life’s work. There are too many things that we do on a daily basis that are not helping us achieve our vision/mission.
One of the best exercises, is to schedule a day to evaluate everything you have for the coming week. Identify the things that do not line up with your core values and your vision for your business. Jot down your core values at the top of a sheet of paper.
Create two columns and in the first column, place the activities for the week that align with your core values. Remember, these are tasks that are necessary for you to achieve your life’s work. ( i.e. meeting with a high level client, developing a marketing plan, learning a new skill, or maybe even attending Johnny’s baseball game.) Creating focused time for family should be important as well.
The second column (busywork) will be for items that you can either delegate or that can just wait. In your evaluation, write down those things you identify as busywork and be intentional in releasing them so you can stay focused on the things that keep you on course to achieving your vision.
2. Blocked Time = Focused Time
“I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.”
~Golda Meir
I titled this tip, “Blocked Time = Focused Time” however it could have been Discipline equals Freedom. Isn’t that what we are really after, more freedom? Blocking out our time gives us the ability to get focused and in turn provide more freedom in our lives. But really, is just blocking out more time going to make us more focused? After all we are talking to the ADHD Entrepreneur right? It is not a magic potion, pill, or tip in this case.
For blocked time to be focused time, you have to set intentiallity. Be purposeful and intentional about what you want to achieve during this time. What if we approached “our” blocked time with the mindset, that it is sacred time? This time is sacred for the tasks I have to accomplish. What if we raised our level of necessity? During this blocked time, it is a must that I am not interrupted and that I accomplish this task.
Do another evaluation, this time of the things that are keeping you from staying focused. Phone alerts, texts, email notifications, phone calls, staff, your thoughts, etc. Remember, this is your time and this is about you getting more focused towards you achieving your life’s work. So turn off the notifications, set your phone on airplane mode, put up a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign. Those that are serious about their life’s work will do whatever it takes to create focused time for themselves. Afterall, isn’t this just developing our discipline?
3. Create Daily Habits
“The key to forming good habits is to make them part of your 'rituals.' I have a morning ritual, afternoon ritual, and Sunday ritual. It's one way to bundle good habits into regular times that you set aside to prepare yourself for the life you want. Rituals help you form habits.”
~Lewis Howes
Once we have clarity on the necessary tasks that keeps us true to our vision/mission, and we have scheduled blocked time throughout our day, we can now apply daily habits. These are habits that will keep us on track to staying focused on achieving more.
Many of these habits are ones that we seem to overlook or the first to go as busywork creeps in. However these habits are extremely important fo
r you to operate at your highest true potential. In no particular order and certainly not an extensive list, these are just to help get the wheels turning for you, here are some great habits we can incorporate daily:
Hydration
Exercise/Create physically challenging situations
Healthy Eating
Prayer/Meditation
Self-Awareness Practice
I know for myself, some of these are the first to go and when they do I can carry on for awhile as if all is well. But fast-forward 12 months and now life feels overwhelming again. I know for me, these habits help maintain better mental focus, higher levels of energy and it drives me to want to keep life’s crazy attention robbers at bay.
Give these 3 tips a try and see how your life changes for the better. Get intentional about your attention to gain greater focus in life.