Are you a business owner or a project manager?
Then answer this question: Is it a struggle to find focus?
Let’s be honest, there are days when you think you got your day right: you listed down your to-dos, you turned your phone and other notifications on silent. But something’s just gotta give. Soon, you found your day wasted.
Good thing Jeff J Hunter bumped into The Power of Focus author, Jack Canfield. Jack generously shared his thoughts on focus and how we could win our day.
Here’s the video of the conversation.
Let’s break down The Power of Focus: Lessons from Jack Canfield and how we could immediately apply it to our daily lives.
1. Focus is important.
What do you really, really want to do?
Answering this question is already putting focus into the spotlight.
When a person focuses on his strengths, he channels all of his energy to the area. He will invest in training, mentors, and activities that will make him brilliant on his focused strength.
Why do people do this?
Because being a jack of all trades is really mastering nothing.
Learning to focus is critical to success.
2. We live in a distracted world.
Jack Canfield is right on what he mentioned in Jeff’s interview. How many times have you seen yourself opening many browser windows of different videos or articles? Have you observed the times you have a must-read book in your hand but then you remember a Netflix show episode that you want to watch?
How many times have you realized that the things you are doing were not apart of the day you planned for yourself?
Here’s the truth: Distractions are getting more creative these days. Don’t let them own you.
Distractions are going to make your life a disaster if you don’t do something about it.
It’s time to pull out a Post-It note just like Canfield’s, and write these words: “Is what I’m doing now the best use of my time?”
3. Scheduling your day in blocks of time
Have you heard of Pomodoro?
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.
Scheduling your day in blocks of time could be easy if you try the Pomodoro Technique. Instead of working against time to work on what you need to do, you work with time.
Do you think the Pomodoro Technique could work for you? Well, why don’t you try it for a week and see how it goes? Here’s how to do it.
4. Eat That Frog!
Some of us seriously dread the sight of frogs. But Brian Tracy could get us thinking of frogs in a better perspective.
What is your biggest and most important task of the day? Do it first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before going on to something else.
That’s why Jack Canfield mentioned that we need to beware if we’re doing to-do lists. When we create a to-do list, we tend to work on the easy things first.
Why don’t you improve your to-do list by putting the biggest and most important task of the day on top? By finishing the “frog” first, you can activate your happy hormones, therefore giving yourself a sense of clarity, confidence, and competence.
Got two frogs? Brian Tracy says to eat the “ugliest” first.
5. Having an accountability partner
Jack Canfield is also a firm believer of having a powerful network (he calls it mastermind). So it’s no brainer that he mentioned having an accountability partner.
Having an accountability partner is great for achieving our goals. Having a person who is going through the same thing (thus is as emotionally invested as you), will help you be on track, no matter what happens on your journey to your goals.
Does this mean that you have to forget having mentors? Not really. Mentors are people that you consider as the “person that I’d like to emulate”. These people have both the experience and skills that you’d like to have soon.
The best team for success is an accountability partner and a mentor.
6. Commit to things that you care about
Jack Canfield is right: when you care about something, you invest time and effort into it. On developing the power of focus, get your act in order and focus on your true priorities.
How about you? How do you use the power of focus on your day? Share them with us.
TAKE BACK YOUR TIME!
Our team can save you a ton of time and energy that can be better spent elsewhere.
You know that already, that’s why you’re here!
