So often we find ourselves with loads of things we would like to change, work on or complete but it can seem like a mountain we need to climb. In sessions with my clients I hear a lot about how their biggest block is that they cannot even sort through their thoughts to figure out what they need to do. I understand this myself and when it happens I end up completely procrastinating, which is even more unhelpful as I then end up with more to do and a feeling of guilt for procrastinating in the first place. Below we will look at 5 ways to get focused:
#1. De-clutter the Mind
One of my favourite ways to gets focused is to begin by de-cluttering the mind. I find this is helped by de-cluttering my house, car, office space and clothes. An organised environment is most definitely a great way to clear the mind. When I have this done, I then sit down and write out what parts of my life are making me feel overwhelmed and stressful. I then ask myself why I feel this way. In these few steps, the mind begins to clear and while the results have not happened, I have created a clearer path.
#2. Simplify Your Priorities
When I have my space and mind beginning to de-clutter, I then set about looking at the parts of my life from Step 1 that are stressful. I rate these in order of priority. What needs to be dealt with urgently and what can wait a little. I take out my diary or you can get a notebook and I write down when I would like to have these things addressed by and I am realistic with my time frames around these. When I do this, I begin to see that some things are not a priority at all but in the chaos of my mindset they had become that way. I may leave them for now altogether.
#3. Do One Thing at a Time
This is the best advice I would give anyone trying to get focused. You are only ONE person and as much as you may try to be, you can not be all things to everyone doing everything. Taking your main priorities, try to take one of those and work on that. I do understand you may have very urgent and constant priorities so perhaps doing a bit of each thing on a specific day so that you are doing only one thing at a time on a given day.
#4. Exercise
To help keep the mind clear and give you some great personal space exercising is a great way to have some time out. A simple 10/15 minute walk in the fresh air can keep you grounded and give you time to breathe deeply. You may also prefer to just sit in stillness for this time. Whatever feels good to you, try it for 10-15 minutes per day or more if you can 🙂
#5. Have Less Distractions
I wrote about this last week in the 5 Ways to Start Fresh Article. Our days and lives are so busy and full of unlimited distractions. TV, phones, social media, people, traffic etc. I know myself that I can log onto my laptop to look up one important thing but before I do it, I recheck my email, Facebook and websites and then completely forget what I was doing on my laptop in the first place and never get the information I need and don’t get my task completed. Where possible try limiting your distractions by being disciplined or at least aware of the distractions you are facing.