I’ve mentioned a few times I have issues with focusing on one thing at at time. I still struggle and it takes mindfulness and purposefulness on my part but I’ve narrowed down all the advice I’ve read and tried to apply to these 5 things.
- Meditate. I found this on a list of the 10 things that successful people do early in the morning. But I knew that before I read that list. Meditating on God’s word and praying is the only calm I have before the storm of the day. Everything I do within this day must have the aim of glorifying Him or it has already failed. And, it starts me out knowing that fail or succeed I am His and He has my best in mind.
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- Make a List. At work I have a little tablet right by my right hand where I have a list one million lines long. I have phone calls and emails and people stopping by my desk every few seconds (literally) asking me to do/find/answer something on some remote topic that has nothing to do with what I was doing. My response is generally this. “I will do that right after I finish this. In fact, let me write it down so I won’t forget.” I jot it down on the notepad in my list and I finish the task at hand. The interruption has been dealt with and written down so it isn’t forgotten and I can finish what I started. Refer to the list often. Don’t be afraid to take time to organize the list or create your day/week agenda from this list.
- Decide what is an unnecessary distraction and decide to get rid of it. Do you get Facebook or Instagram notifications on your phone? Are your email notifications on your computer screen just not necessary? Do you get text messages that are not urgent at all hours of the day? Silence your phone, get rid of your email notifications. Even if you don’t want to, you may need to- just to be present in the moment.
- Clear Clutter. Clutter = 500 distractions just waiting to happen.
- Take mental breaks. My mind is always reeling, there is a million thoughts about a million things passing through my brain faster than I can even express or completely explain. I learned how to take mental breaks from my husband. Evidently men have this thing called “The Nothing Box” in their brains. When they are sitting, doing nothing, staring into space, that is where they are. They literally think about nothing. My husband has killer focus. When he starts a task or a project nothing- almost nothing- can get him side tracked. I never connected that with his “Nothing Box” until I created my own nothing box and started spending a few minutes there in the middle of a crazy day. I just breathe and think about nothing. Then, after a minute or two I glance at my list and begin the next task with my brain a little clearer than it was before.
