Focus

13 Habits to Increase Focus - by Kirby Ingles (via Adam Smith)

Do you spend your day with a clear plan or strategy?

What has the most emotional impact on you?

How are you spending your time? On the Urgent or the Important?

How Do You Contribute to the Problem?

You will normally do the things that distract you like checking email, answering phone calls, sending text messages and responding to notifications on your smart phone. Productivity requires you to focus on your day. Analyze the key components of your day, create a plan and focus on what you can control. We live in an age of distraction. Everyone wants your attention and you are connected to the rest of the world 24/7. I can even log onto the internet and get a live feed of the space station right now.

Your Focus is Being Targeted

You can focus on the things that are barriers or you can focus on scaling the wall or redefining the problem. – Tim Cook

Everything you do, interact with and see is marketed towards you. The study of human behavior is so good that we know how to stack shelves to catch your eyes and your kid’s eyes, the type of colors to use and packaging that will attract your attention. I even know what times are effective to send emails to you and my co-workers so it increases a higher percentage of being opened. Each popup window is strategically placed based on your past behavior. This is why in today’s world it is increasingly important to focus on the task at hand.

Take Back Control of Your Focus

1. Get clear-cut on what you want. There are a thousand things on everyone’s to-do-list. Which is more important and moves you towards your goals?
2. Make sure you focus on what’s important. Select 1 or 2 things that are most important to you and are related to your core values.
3. Keep it to a minimum. Only select 2-3 items per morning to work on. Anything more has your brain cluttered and juggling more than it can handle.
4. Disconnect from the world. Probably the toughest, but best advice you can receive. Your will power and ability to resist is higher in the morning.
5. Turn off your notifications. Smart phone and computer notifications keep us up-to-date, but pull us away from important tasks.
6. Clear the clutter. Whatever work station you might have, keep it clear and minimal. Whether it is a lad, cubicle, or service truck, clutter distracts the mind.
7. Email kills productivity. Control how you check your email so it doesn’t control you.
8. Train people to respect your time. Someone needs something at every second of the day and what they are working on is more important to them. Take the time to do something for yourself while meeting the needs of others.
9. Don’t try to do too much. Think quality over quantity. Efficiency is much more productive and faster than working frantically.
10. Stop multi-tasking. Attempting to multi-task destroys focus and prevents efficiency.
11. Take more time. Plan more time to complete tasks. If you get done early, use the extra time you have as a reward.
12. Plan the night before. Planning the night before allows you to reflect on today’s current success and failures and lets you apply lessons learned before tomorrow gets here.
13. Take breaks. Breaks are rewards. Breaks refresh will-power and focus.

Bed Time Productivity

10 Things Productive People Do Before Going To Bed by Luigi Potneza at Life Hack

The most productive people all have certain habits in their daily routines that contribute to their success. They understand that their success starts and ends with their mental and physical health, which is almost entirely dependent upon their habits before bed time.
So, here’re 10 things successful and super productive people do that leads them being in the top 20 percent of money earners in our society

They review their day

Steve Jobs was a strong proponent of living life to the fullest every day. He wonderfully explained this concept when he said: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.”

All successful and wealthy people, before going to sleep, they think about if what are doing has meaning. At the end of each day, they think about how have positively contributed to the world and review if the goals achieved are in line with their overall vision. Thus, they make plans to track their progress and take notes to put the best in every single things they do.

So today, before going to sleep, review your day because it will force you to clarify what you want and motivate you to take action on your goals.

They write down their thoughts

Emmy-winning talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres used to write down her thoughts, feelings and emotions when she was younger: “Writing is truly cathartic, because it just lets it all out and brings the best out of you”.

Super productive and successful people write down their thoughts, sensations, feelings and emotions. They try to analyze when and why things went right and wrong. They write to improve their communication and thinking skills to be a better leader. So, by writing things down you can help yourself to sharpen your thinking, clear your mind, destroy negative self-talk and pay attention to your most dominant emotions through the day. Journaling may tell you something that you haven’t really paid much attention to about yourself or about your life.

People like Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Winston Churchill kept a diary, so why not giving a shot?

They stick their noses into books

This is the proof that readers are great leaders. Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates is an avid reader. Each night before bed, he spends an hour reading a book, ranging on a variety of topics.

Many successful people in the world are voracious readers. They read at least for 10-20 minutes before going to bed every day and they learn from what others talk about. They expand their know-how to be better prepared to lead and motivate their team and build multimillionaire businesses.

Another big benefit from sticking your nose into a good book on a nightly basis is because reading improve the long term health of your brain.

They set priorities for the next morning

With so many things happening on a daily basis it can be really easy to lose focus on what you are trying to accomplish. That’s why, before bed time, productive people review their schedule and plan for the following day.

They make a list of everything they have to do and before they start working they set priorities on the list. This allow them to go into the next workday feeling better prepared, more confident, and less stressed. Include this life-changing tip in your daily routine by writing down your top 3 to 5 most important tasks you need to do the next day. If for any reason you don’t do this, it should be the first thing you do every morning. And remember, every minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution.

The Perfect Day

Some good ideas on prioritizing and scheduling in How to Have the Perfect Day by Bruce Harpham at Life Hack

How can we make our work days more effective? The specific details will like vary depending on your industry and responsibilities, but there are still universal hacks we can all apply.

The infographic below suggests a number of excellent ways to perfect your work day. Let’s explore a few of the important ideas. Sleep sets the foundation, so make sure that you get 7-9 hours per night. When you cut sleep time, everything in life and work becomes more difficult.

Next, exercise before work because daily exercise improves your performance at work. Take small breaks throughout the day – no matter what work you do, breaks are important (for more tips like this, read: 21 Counter-Intuitive Break Ideas to Boost Your Productivity at Work).

Early in the day, choose one difficult task to get done – completing the hardest work done early makes the rest of the day will be easier to handle. And to finish the day on a strong note, record daily wins.

After all, the perfect work day has at least one win – an accomplishment that you are proud of. Take a few minutes to write down your wins in a journal at the end of the day (or in Evernote).

What if you want to improve your work day even more? Simply add two more habits to your routine: generate ideas and adopt a robust problem solving strategy. Developing new ideas at work makes you stand out from others who simply go through the motions, so take the time to generate new ideas on a regular basis.

Next, solve problems effectively by applying a problem solving strategy to all those surprise requests you keep receiving from your boss and other people.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the all the suggestions. Do yourself a favor and start small – pick just one idea and put that into action.