Five Ways to Improve Your Focus
Many people, especially we creative types, have trouble focusing. I myself have had trouble focusing from time to time. I’m continually learning new things, which is good. But at some point, you have to take action. If I’m always learning, I’ll never put that knowledge into practice. Instead, I’ll go from idea to idea, never seeing any idea through to completion.
That’s not to say it’s bad to have multiple balls in the air at once. But even a juggler coordinating the movement of 3, 4, 5, or more objects, he does one thing at a time. Throw the ball A from the right hand to the left. Throw ball B from left to right. Catch ball A. Throw ball C from right to left. Catch ball B. Throw ball A to right. Catch ball C. And so forth. He can never be manipulating two balls at once.
That’s the way it is if you want to get stuff done. You have to focus on one task at a time and see it through to completion. So if we have trouble with focus, we’ll have trouble getting stuff done.
If you’re a creative type, like me, here are 5 things you can try to improve your focus:
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Accept that you will never know everything. Even in your narrow field of expertise, you will never read all there is to read. You will have to take action without having read everything. Furthermore, there are many excellent resources you will never be able to read. Accept it; move on.
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Keep track of how you spend your time. I do this with a simple log. When I change tasks or end a task, I add a line noting the time and what I’m doing now. This is the first step to controlling how you spend your time. Moreover, sometimes just the act of writing down how you spend your time can make you aware enough to use the time more responsibly.
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Set a goal at the beginning of each day. I’m talking about a bite-sized accomplishment. This is something that takes you further toward your long-term goal, but it’s something that you can complete in a day. It’s something that by the end of the day, you can say, “It’s done.” Put together a month’s worth of such accomplishments, and you’re burning rubber.
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Limit the time and energy you spend learning and researching. This goes hand-in-hand with the first item on the list. It’s very easy to get hung up with all the interesting things I’d like to read. Off-load them, and get back to them later. (Or never.) That’s what del.icio.us is for.
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If you know what to do next, do it! If you’ve learned enough that you can tell in what direction you ought to be going, shift into action gear. It’s okay if you don’t read any of those interesting blog posts or emails for a week, as long as you’re applying stuff you already know. Unless you’ve discovered the secret of telekinesis, it’s better to take just one step than to think about even a hundred.
-TimK
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Comments
Thanks for writing, Barry. WRT juggling: What do I know? I’m not very good at juggling, and I certainly wouldn’t call myself a “juggler.” Now that I think of it, I have seen routines where a juggler will throw two balls out of the same hand for a really cool effect. So I guess I need a new analogy.
-TimK
Hi!
Maybe the second paragraph should be replaced with a comment on the downside of multi-tasking. Work is done much more effectively when focussed and I seem to remember some studies that came out in the last month or so that supported this fact. Maybe a link to those would make a good second paragraph? If you can’t find those studies email me and I’ll look myself.
Good luck,
Barry
Hi, Barry. Multitasking is definitely a big inefficiency. I was just reading in The Dilbert Principle something that reminded me of this, supposedly a true story:
An employee suggests setting priorities so the company will know how to apply its limited resources. The manager’s response: “Why can’t we concentrate our resources across the board?”
(If you don’t see the humor in that, it’s not your fault. You’ve been ruined by bad managers. Re-read it until you do.)
-TimK
Nice post.
You may also check out http://www.GoalsOnTrack.com, a very nicely built web app designed for tracking goals and todo lists, and has time tracking. It’s clear, focused, easy to navigate, worth a try.
Hi!
Enjoyed the list. #2 is something I do at work but not at home on my various projects. It’s a good idea that should be applied there, too.
As a juggler, I have to nitpick your juggling example. It is not unusual to throw 2 balls out of the same hand simultaneously along different trajectories (multiplexing). Also, normally each hand is doing something at the same time as the other. I may be throwing something out of each hand simultaneously (1-up,2-up or maybe a crossing pattern), for example. Drop by a local club for a demonstration! http://www.juggling.org/meetings/close.html
Barry