Stay Focused

10 More Ways to Focus on One Thing at a Time

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Focusing on one task at a time can help you get more things done, compared to multitasking that can divide your attention and in the end you will be doing less than what you are supposed or expected to produce.

Here are 10 more ways to stay focused:

  1. Accomplish small tasks first. This will give you enough time to do the rest of your tasks without worrying about the minor ones that could disrupt your normal work routine or pattern.
  2. Never ever start a new project for your business, unless you are completely sure that the previous one is done. Remember that you should also not think about the remainder of your tasks or taking additional workload that can affect your concentration and productivity.
  3. Flexibility is key. Do not force yourself to complete one task if you know that you do not have enough resources to do so. Doing a task haphazardly results to poor quality of work. What you need to do is to try doing as much as you can, and leave the remainder of work for tomorrow, until everything gets done.
  4. Stop procrastinating and start working! If you stop making excuses why you were not able to finish your tasks on time, it means that you have the wrong attitude towards work. Instead of making excuses and blaming others, why not focus and start working on one task at a time.
  5. Learn to delegate other tasks. While it is important to be efficient, it is also important that show effective management and work focus through assigning or delegating tasks to other members of your team. Note that handling everything on your will ensure that you won’t get anything done. Now, if you learn how to properly delegate work, you will see that each employee or person will learn how to focus on one thing and be productive at the same time, including you.
  6. Beat laziness. If you are lazy, even if you are doing just one task – to market your business online, you will never get anything done. Stop being a sloth and move quickly but accurately.
  7. Keep yourself from feeling rushed or always in a hurry. If all you can think about is break time, as well as the end of your work day – you will not be able to concentrate on your task. Do not rush, take your time and find a comfortable work pace.
  8. Avoid information overload. If you keep stuffing your brain with too much information that you may not be able to make use of, the chances of confusion and distraction is extremely high. Deal with data or information the same way when you eat at a new restaurant. Trying each dish one at a time to completely savor or taste every flavor for better appreciation.
  9. Do not force things to happen. Face it, if the only thing that you can think of is to get the job done the soonest time possible, you are forcing a result out of your chosen task. Let things fall in to place by focusing on one aspect of your campaign at a time – completion of your task is just within reach.
  10. Be one with your work – this means that both your mind and your body should be really into the project that you need to complete. If you are not grounded, your attention will be divided, your mind and body will not work together.

Finding your focus is never easy, that is if you do not have the right attitude and mindset. However, if you put your mind to it, you will be able to completely focus on the important things first before jumping on to the next one.

Win

Simple Steps To Beat Procrastination

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One of the better means that can be employed to beat procrastination is being aware of how to manage time in the best and most effective manner and though procrastination is a very common occurrence in our lives, there is still a need to overcome procrastination so that many of the adverse consequences of procrastinating do not end up spoiling your life. Thus, any help you can get cure your procrastination would be welcome and so there is a need to look at some of these steps that can do the trick for you.

A very simple step you can take in order to beat procrastination is to do the task that you consider is the worst at the top of all your other tasks. The advantage of taking this option is that much like swallowing a frog, once you get that into your system the rest of the tasks will pass off much better and will be easier to do. A second step that you can take if you want to cure procrastination is to break down tasks into easily manageable smaller tasks, Remember, the best way to climb a mountain is to take one step at a time. The wisdom of breaking down tasks into smaller tasks will make more sense to you and thus prove an effective remedy to procrastination.

Those putting off exceptionally difficult tasks can learn how to overcome procrastination by thinking of the task in small pieces rather than a large problem. Think back to other projects that were completed and relate them to the existing one. To help learn how to overcome procrastination avoid planning long projects, start with ones that can be done in five or ten minutes and do not stop until the either the time expires of the job is complete. Either way it will be a positive step in the right direction.
You can also beat procrastination by delegating work to others including friends, and once you get a task begun, the rest of the task becomes easier to perform and in the same vein you can also try and do parts of a particular task that is more pleasing to do first and then do the rest of the task later. That way, the unpleasant tasks don’t seem so unpleasant and you will have taken a step forward which often is the hardest part about doing your work on time.

Another useful method that can be employed at conquering procrastination is taking just fifteen minutes on every task that needs to be performed in which time you can get the task moved ahead and then a momentum can be built that will make the rest of the task easier to complete. Other steps that you can take to beat procrastination include tracking your goals and trying your best to keep the tasks moving ahead, and best of all you should have a system of reward and punishment for tasks completed on time and those have remained unfinished respectively. The best part of procrastination is that it is something that is not permanent and though you may be successful, procrastination can still affect you, and remember that with some of these simple tips, you can easily beat procrastination.

Focus

10 Great Ways to Focus on One Thing at a Time

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Focusing on one task at a time can help you get more things done, compared to multitasking that can divide your attention and in the end you will be doing less than what you are supposed or expected to produce.
Now, if you want to be more productive, there are at least 30 ways to practice single tasking – that is focusing on one task at a time.

  1. Concentrate and turn off everything that can distract you from completing your task. This includes your mobile phones, contact with people as well as locking your doors until you get your project done.
  2. Give yourself a target and a time frame – this will ensure that you are in synch with your schedule. If you are on the right track, you will notice that work gets finished easily and on time.
  3. Stop dilly-dallying and work! More often than not, interruption or lack of concentration doesn’t come from external factors. These distractions come from you. Convince yourself that it is a must that you complete your task and that you should avoid doing or getting into something that can keep you from single tasking.
  4. Post-its are great reminders. If you have a bunch of sticky notes lying around your office, try writing some motivating quotes to keep you focused on one task before moving on to the next. Especially if you are working in front of your computer, stick those notes on your monitor to keep you motivated.
  5. Since multi tasking doesn’t leave you room to relax, single tasking can give you enough opportunity to stop for breaks. So to take advantage of this privilege, take 10 minute breaks once in a while to refresh your mind and relax your body.
  6. Create a vision – of what you would want to accomplish at the end of each task. If you want to succeed in your online marketing business, envision that all your hard work has paid off and that you have gained more online followers and loyal customers and the results will not be far off from what you have planned to achieve.
  7. Prepare yourself emotionally. Psych yourself and focus on the task at hand. Just think about the positive results that working on single task can do for your business and your online marketing campaign.
  8. Use technology and make it work to your advantage. Since you are in the online marketing business, make use of your tech-skills and come up with a single campaign to promote your business, products and services online.
  9. Block out your schedule. Take note of what your project needs and how long it should take you to complete it. Set definite schedules for each part of your task and surely you will find it easier to accomplish.
  10. Start fresh every day. And because you are single tasking – which means that you are focusing and doing one task at a time, you will have more room to take breaks and start fresh come every work day. Since you do not feel tired, you be refreshed and ready to face a new day.

Finding your focus is never easy, that is if you do not have the right attitude and mindset. However, if you put your mind to it, you will be able to completely focus on the important things first before jumping on to the next one.

Mindfulness

The Importance of Developing Mental Clarity

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Sometimes new ideas or opportunities can come at you in warp speed. That’s because we live life in the fast lane and that’s not likely to change. But it does mean that you have to be ready to grab the chances that come your way.

Life is not a yes or no experience. It’s more multiple choice. You won’t be presented with simply one choice or one route to take in life. Instead, you’ll get hundreds of choices that come your way every day of your life.

These choices that you make will decide whether you experience success or suffer through a setback. Sometimes we make choices based on what we’re focusing all of our mental energy on.

We can become so focused on accomplishing something a certain way or before a certain time that we close our mind off to any other options. This means a different opportunity – a better one – can get overlooked.

You should always take the time to develop mental clarity about every move that you make in life. Don’t allow yourself to be led by your emotions and don’t make snap decisions.

If you’re presented with an opportunity that requires immediate action, you’ll want to be careful that if you take this action, it keeps you on the track you want to be on.

Some opportunities really are a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and if you travel toward them, you’ll get success. But others only have an empty journey that takes us farther away from what we intended on doing.

Check every idea and every opportunity to be sure that it lines up with your plan – that you don’t have to lower your morals or change who you are to grasp the chance.

It’s better to remain true to who you are and the vision that you have for your life than to be misled by too good to be true opportunities that can affect what you really want.

This is why it’s important to have goals. Goals can help give you clarity when things become less clear to you. You can check every opportunity that arises against your goals.

Every opportunity that you take should bring you closer to your overall end result. If it doesn’t, then it could be a wasted experience. Having mental clarity can help you get in touch with your inner self and quiet the clamor that comes with a busy life.

It can let you see whether or not you’re engaging in peak performance in how you’re managing all areas of your life. Clarity comes from being mindful. Practice making thoughtful decisions and get in the habit of living life from a clear perspective.

Time Management

Just What Is Time Management?

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Forget all the complicated and sometimes confusing definitions you’ve heard in the past. Time management is actually very simple. It is the way you choose to spend your time.

Whether you realize it or not, you already do engage the process of time management. You simply can’t help it. If you are living and breathing, and make any move to do anything, you are applying a process in time management. In short, you are choosing what to do with your time.

What this means is that there is good time management and bad time management. When you choose to engage in productive or good time management, you are organizing the tasks or actions you want to accomplish into a logical and cohesive progression that will allow you to complete each and every task within an equitable time frame. At its best, this type of time management does not create stress or drive up your blood pressure. Instead, it actually makes the day run smoother, and empowers you a little more each time you can strike one action item off your list.

Good time management is a proactive process. You define what must be done within a given period of time, prioritize those action items and then develop a plan of action that will make it possible to successfully accomplish each one within the time allotted. With your plan laid out, you then take the initiative to start at the beginning and keep going until everything on your list is done.

By contrast, bad time management does not make the day pleasant at all. You are much more likely to feel constantly stressed out, as action items appear as if from nowhere. People are constantly demanding to know what a report was not completed or why there is no food in the cupboard.

Bad time management leaves you feeling powerless to do anything to improve the situation. The hopeless feeling continues to grow until you more or less shut down, deciding that those action items weren’t that important anyway. You put yourself into a state where you basically move through the day, never quite getting a handle on what is going on and only accomplishing something when pressured by outside forces to do so. At the end of the day, there are still many action items left to accomplish, leaving you a general feeling of having failed.

If you are still reading, then there is a good chance that you recognize a bit of yourself in both these scenarios. Most of us do tend to engage in both good and bad time management from time to time. The goal will be to rethink the way we apply time management principles so that we are exercising good time management more of the time and finding ourselves bogged down due to bad time management much less often.

Move forward

Not Moving forward? 10 reasons why!

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1.You are focusing on the wrong things or tasks. Sometimes, the thought of success and doing a lot of things for your business can get you to miss on seeing the real picture such as what your business actually needs.

2.Your projects’ aims or goals are not clear. What does your business actually need? What do you want to see it do for your business? Set your goals straight.

3.You think about yourself and what multiple projects can do for you compared to what it can do for your business. Come on, everything is not about you, and although being able to accomplish a lot for your company can make you look good, it would still help if you plan for the good of everyone else.

4.You overload yourself with too much information that you fail to distinguish which ones are relevant to your company. Pick out and use only the pertinent information, otherwise you will end up confused and unable to complete your tasks with accuracy.

5.Distractions can get the best of you. This means that having a lot of things on your mind can keep you from focusing on your goals. And take note, distractions are not just about other tasks that you have in mind, distractions also include friends, partying too hard and too often and those times that you spend lollygagging during office hours.

6.Disorganized and dysfunctional work system. Of course, this is pretty much understandable, considering that fact that having a disorganized system can greatly affect you and your company’s productivity.

7.You get affected by too much negativity from yourself and other people around you. Obviously, if you let yourself be taken over by all those negative comments such as: you are not good enough for the job, or that you are too much of a perfectionist that you can’t seem to focus on what you want and what you have to do. And if you procrastinate too much, this attitude will also pull you down. Besides, making up excuses for not being able to accomplish something is totally wrong.

8.Too much multitasking and very little single tasking can seriously affect your productivity. If you are taking in and doing too many things, you will find yourself being pulled away from your actual goals.

9.You are too afraid to fail, that’s why you think of several strategies to succeed. But in reality, instead of being led to one major achievement, you end up being a major collector of failed projects and tasks. Failure should not be taken negatively. Failure should be your fuel to propel you towards success.

10.Lack of strict rules and work ethics. The thing here is that, you should always have to have a strict set of rules to make sure that you and your team would be able to move according to your original plans.

Certainly, you can add more to this list. Just think about your old work practices that didn’t seem to work to your advantage. And now that you know what you have to avoid or what causes you and your work to stagnate, it’s up to you to work on things the right way.

Writers Block

Painlessly Overcome Procrastination, Foot-dragging And Writer’s Block

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When procrastination nags at you, you need some way to convince yourself to get moving right now. Try these five steps when you’re delaying on a consequential project:

1. Articulate what exactly you are doing or not doing, in place of the label “procrastination.”

Example: I just can’t get started. Or: I keep quitting halfway.

The all-purpose label “procrastination” isn’t as illuminating as a more specific description of your problem.
Get the medicine for writer’s block that gets you writing quickly, easily, consistently and well, and that you’ll enjoy “taking” again and again.

2. Ask yourself, “What could I possibly be afraid of here?”

Perhaps: Fear of talking with strangers; Fear of ridicule; Not knowing what you’ll do once you finish.
Unacknowledged fears are the #1 cause of continually postponed projects. Just naming the fear often enables you to ignore or overcome it.

3. Ask yourself, “Do I really, wholeheartedly want to get this thing done?”

Choices: Yes; No; or Maybe.

Ambivalence is the second major cause of procrastination. If you resent having to do something, or aren’t sure its the best course of action, recognizing hesitations allows you to make a deliberate choice of whether or not to go ahead.

4. Brainstorm ways to get the task done that would be fun for you.

For instance: Invite friends over for a most-hated-task party; do your exercise walking at a favorite place; turn music on and dance while cleaning up.

Who said your task has to be unpleasant? With a little imagination, you can re-engineer it so you’ll have more enjoyment getting it done.

5. Take some step immediately toward completion every time you find yourself thinking about the task you have the problem with.

Do something small right now! Make a phone call; collect your tax records; find the supplies you need.

By taking advantage of the energy of the moment, you make progress.

Know what you want

Know What You Really Want

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There are far too many people working hard to go after achievements in life that they really don’t even want. For some of these people, they’re following the advice of a family member or friend.

They’re allowing what someone else thinks is best to govern their lives. While everyone can benefit from guidance, it’s not beneficial if deep down, it’s not really what moves you.

Your core beliefs will propel you to carve out the life that you want. If, deep down, you’re telling yourself you’re never going to succeed, then you’ll make sure that comes true.

What would your life be like if there were no obstacles and you could have the life you dreamed of having – in the niche that made you extremely happy? This isn’t about winning the lottery and never working again – it’s about knowing what provides satisfaction in your world.

You can’t be excited about performance in any area of your life if it’s not something that you’re passionate about. Passion creates motivation. Motivation gets you going.

When you’re motivated about something, you can’t wait to approach it. The two work in tandem to make things happen. This is true for both your personal and professional life.

Motivation fuels the drive within you and causes you give everything you’ve got to a project. Knowing what you really want allows you to look for opportunities to do things that you enjoy.

It helps you learn to say no to even potentially good things if they’re not something that you’re passionate about. When you really want something, it’s easier to keep your motivation and your energy level up.

It’s easier to keep on going in the face of difficulties or setbacks. When you have a passion for something that stems from going after what you really want, you won’t stop until you find a way to achieve it.

When you care about something, it causes you to give your all – to do the best possible job that you can. It’s the opposite when you don’t care about something. You just want to get that task over with using as little energy and effort as possible.

Knowing what you really want makes it easier for your mind to come up with creative solutions and ideas to make your passions succeed. It unleashes a deeper problem-solving mentally.

Before you wake up going through the motions in your personal or professional life, decide what it is that you truly want and then you can focus your mental energy on making it happen.

Become very aware of every benefit regarding what it is you’re aiming for in life. Seeing those benefits mapped out can give you strength to plow through difficult times and reach the finish line.

Don’t just say what goals you have. List why you have those goals – how achieving them would better your life – what it would personally mean to you when it comes true.

Beat Procrastination

Seven Ways To Beat Procrastination

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Even though I am big proponent of Time Management, a big part of time management is actually about beating procrastination. We all procrastinate, even those of us who pride ourselves in having good time management skills.

From my studies, I have come up with seven proven ways to beat procrastination. You will notice that none of the following are actually about “time management” per se, they are about the emotions and psychology behind putting things off.

1. Do the worst task first: I have used this technique for years. I have even created more than one first thing. There is first thing in the morning, there is first thing after lunch, and there is first thing in the evening. I take a look at the items on my To Do List and figure out which one I am dreading the most and spend a limited time on it at least moving it forward. This is known as swallowing the frog first thing; if you begin your day by swallowing a frog, then the rest of the day looks good.

2. Break it down: Often the reason that we procrastinate is because the task ahead of us is too big. Often there are small parts of the task that can be done. How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time.

3. Use a friend: I am not actually referring to delegation (but of course I dont mind that either); what I mean is to tell a friend what you want to do and get them to help you start the task. Often it is the act of starting a task that is enough to get the task done.

4. Do the pleasant part of the task: Often many distasteful and large jobs have some parts to it that are not particular distasteful. Do them so at least you are moving forward on your most important items.

5. Fifteen (15) minutes: Just spend 15 minutes on a task. I have the attitude that I can spend 15 minutes doing virtually anything and I can certainly survive spending 15 minutes on something. Often by spending the 15 minutes on a task, I either complete it or I will get it moved forward enough that it has momentum to finish.

6. Track it: The simple act of tracking a goal is often enough to keep the goal moving forward. It seems odd, but knowing that you are going to write down whether or not you have done something is often enough to make you move forward.

7. Reward or punish: The reason we do something is because it is more painful than not getting it done, so if we can make the completion a task more rewarding or the consequences of not completing it more painful, then we tend to move forward on things. Tying successful completion of a task to a reward is often a successful technique.

Remember that even successful people occasionally procrastinate. Procrastination is not a permanent condition.

Perfection is Stagnation

The 3 Ps: Perfectionism, Procrastination, and Paralysis

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Do you set your standards high, but always feel like you’ve failed? Learn about the 3 “P’s” and end the vicious cycle that keeps you stuck and ineffective.

The Vicious Cycle
Perfectionism, procrastination, and paralysis one often leads to the next, in a vicious cycle, especially on large, long-term projects with no clear deadlines. Lets look at each part of this cycle, and explore some concrete steps that you can take to disrupt the cycle.

Perfectionism
Perfectionism can be defined as striving towards impossibly high goals. Perfectionists are caught in a trap they can never be good enough. They engage in rigid, black or white thinking about their own performance if it isnt perfect, its horrible.

Ironically, perfectionists often achieve a product that is far less than perfect. At times, their performance is mediocre. In contrast, those who aim at more realistic goals can outperform the perfectionists. How can this be? The procrastination and paralysis that results from overly high standards causes the perfectionist to wait until its too late, then rush to do something; anything. The more relaxed realist, in the meantime, is able to put an effort in earlier, over a more prolonged period of time, with more chance to let time and subsequent changes or editing improve the final product.

Procrastination
When you believe that your next project should set the world on fire, you are setting yourself up for failure. At some level you know that this level of achievement is unlikely. You lose your energy and excitement for your project.

On a football field, when the coach yells at the team that they are a bunch of @$#% for playing so poorly, the players may play better. That is because they are enraged at being humiliated and they can use the rage to batter their opponents. This doesnt not work in other spheres! Criticism, whether from your boss or your own inner critical audience slows you down, and interferes with your thinking process.

It is so easy to put off the next step of your project when thinking about it makes you experience unpleasant feelings. So you procrastinate. Ill get started tomorrow, and work twice as hard. But its hard for you to ignore the fact that you are not living up to your own high expectations for yourself. Im lazy. I have no will power.

As time goes on, you start to grind to a halt. That leads to the third P.

Paralysis
You do absolutely nothing on the very project that is most important to you. This is devastating for your self-esteem, and very discouraging. Its hard to plan your next project when you failed to complete your last one.

How to Avoid the 3 Ps
There are steps that you can take to avoid falling into the vicious cycle of the 3 Ps.
Become aware of the perfectionist audience voices in your head (no, you’re not crazy.) You cant learn to ignore them if you don’t know that they’re talking to you.
Learn how to answer them back (don’t do it out loud or people will think you’re crazy.) An example would be, OK its not my best work but at least I’m finishing it.
Look for role models who are satisfied with good enough. Note how they get things done and are not looked down on by others.
Set up realistic goals. One way to tell if a goal is realistic is if you can actually do it. For example, Read two articles and write for 15 minutes before 5:00 tonight is a realistic goal. Read two articles and write for 6 hours and write 10 pages before 5:00 tonight is not a realistic goal.
If you have reached the third P, drastic steps are needed. Talk to a trusted friend, find a project buddy, or seek coaching. Do Not Give Up it is very possible to get yourself out of the paralyzed state and back to productivity with just a little help.

A Final P. Or Maybe Two.

Productivity
Start with baby steps. Do a little every day. As you observe your own productivity, however small it may be, you will start to feel better about yourself. You were capable all along its just that your unrealistic expectations stopped you from functioning optimally. Eventually your productivity will start to look like Progress. And that’s the last P for today.