How to Stay Focused at Work

 

How to improve your focus at work

I just recently discovered this pretty cool thing called the “What I’m Doing Now” page movement.

If you haven’t heard about this movement, it’s basically this:

Your “What I’m Doing Now” page shares what you’re doing with your life and business right now. Your shared list makes clear about the things that you consider to be your main priorities and informs your readers/clients that you’re not interested in taking on other opportunities that could distract you from your focus.

If you want to see how this works to get some ideas to create your own “What I’m Doing Now” page, check out this site: https://nownownow.com/

And if you’re thinking, “That looks cool but I’m got like a hundred ideas about what I want to work on. How can I narrow down my list?”

Don’t worry. I can assure you that you’re not alone.

We are constantly being bombarded with messages, ideas and opportunities { especially with our overuse of social media! } and it causes us to easily get distracted. Which only leads us to spending way too much time thinking about the next bright shiny new thing, just adding to our inability to focus on our next step.

That’s the genius of the “What I’m Doing Now” page — it’s a short and sweet list that helps you focus on your priorities. It helps you narrow down all those options and gives you the direction of what opportunities that you’ll be working on right now.

I am totally loving this idea because my list gives me a reason to say ‘no’ to the next thing that hits my inbox that’s not aligned with my priorities. And seeing my list is a visual reminder to stay focused on the path I’m working towards.

Here’s my “What I’m Doing Now” list:

I’m in Orlando, Florida trying to make space in my life to breathe more while I’m working on my big projects for the Fall with my son Jake and two Golden Retrievers Winston and Cooper.

This is what I’ll spend my time doing:

• Being a supportive and present mom to Jake as he’s home more often due to the summer.
• Creating a new Six Month Coaching program for high-end coaches and mid-size companies that incorporate something I’ve developed called the Innovation Insight Process.
• Working to update the Pinterest Interest Sales Funnel group coaching program.
• Revamping my block scheduling to make sure all my work gets done this summer.
• Experimenting and working through new Pinterest strategies to deal with the new changes to the site.
• Growing my LinkedIn posting and engagement to start connecting with those high-end coaches and mid-size companies for the Innovation Insight Process.
• Getting my presentation ready for the Type A Conference in September in Chicago
• Reading books about starting clarity-filled conversations and money mindset

 

How did I narrow down my focus?

I’m sure it sounds like I’ve got it together but trust me — there’s like 10 other ideas swirling around in my head.

I’m one of those people who has a hard time going into a bookstore, especially the big ones like Barnes & Noble. It’s like all the energy from the different books is coming at me and I don’t know where to go first.

I know I’m in trouble if I tell myself to ‘just walk around for a bit’ and I’ll find what I’m looking for.

I’ve learned to make sure that I have some kind of plan before I go into the bookstore. I make sure that I know what kind of book I’m looking for and instead of just wandering around, I head straight for that section.

I deal with the same thing when I’m working the plans for my business. I have to stop myself from just wandering around with all these great ideas – should I start a podcast? should I write a book?

I have to remind myself, what are my goals for this year? And then ask, “Do these ideas fit into the direction that I’m heading towards or will this take me off track?”

How I decide what to focus on for work

This is the process that I use to decide what I need and should focus on and what is not a priority to reach my goals:

1. Do a brain dump

Write down all of your ideas, every product you want to create, every program you want to develop, blog post series you want to write or coaching/business program you want to take.

Let there be no judgements about how you’ll get it done or the cost of your ideas. Just write it all down in your brain dump list.

2. Circle your top 5 ideas based on the following questions:

• Is this idea aligned with your goals for the year?
• Are you looking to grow your income, clients or social media presence? Which one of these ideas fits with your growth goals?
• Why do you think that you need to work on this project? Does the idea of working on this make you happy or is it just something that you think that everyone else is doing it?
• Which one of these projects works with your current schedule and the time you can devote to get this done?

3. Schedule on a calendar

With your top five projects in mind, I want you to get out a calendar for the next 6 months.

Not that digital one in your phone but something that you can write on, like a downloaded printable from a free yearly planner. Make sure that each page is a different month and you have lots of room to make notes.

4.Write out your promotion and launch dates

Now with a PENCIL, map out each of your projects.

Write down the dates of your launch, the weeks you’ll start promoting it and block off the time to develop the coolest of the cool things you’re going to create. And don’t forget to block off personal time for the holidays/vacations and add in buffer time { at least 2 – 3 extra weeks } when life throws you off track.

Do this for each one of your top five projects.

5. Review your monthly calendars with all your notes and ask yourself these questions:

• Do I have enough time to get these projects done?
• Are the promotion dates overlapping and I’m going to be promoting too many things at the same time?
• Do I have the resources, equipment or programs to make this happen? If not, what will that cost me in time and money?

This is the time to take a realistic look at the commitment – your time, money and resources – your top ideas are going to require.

And if this is something that you haven’t done before, post up a question in your Facebook groups or ask one of your connections who has already been there, done that. They’ll be able to help you sort through the work you’ll need to do and the tools that you’ll need so you can realistically decide if you should move forward with this idea.

6. Narrow down your ideas

By this point, you will have removed one or two of your ideas due to the time involved or the resources needed. You may even decide that it would be best to tackle one of your big ideas next year when you’ll have more time to work through all the stuff to get this project launched.

7. Time to really think things through

And now I want you to take a creative break to think about how you can take your project plans to the next level.

To experience taking a creative break with the Creative Insight Process, get out your coloring books — or paints, crayons or get outside in your backyard, walk your dog, go for a bike ride — anything that you can do to take you away from getting wrapped up in all the action steps for your projects and all those monthly calendars.

Want to try out the Creative Insight Process?

What if you don’t own one of those adult coloring books or do anything artistic? Here’s a few ideas to try to help you think through your projects and how to take them to the next level.

You may feel a little silly trying out these things but know that when we step outside of our usual comfort zone, that’s the moment when we open up our minds to start thinking outside of the box.

As you keep moving forward with your business and blog, you need to find your focus for what to work on.

And if you move through these steps and you’re still confused about what to work on next? Pick the first choice on your list. You wrote that one down first for a reason { it’s been on your mind, it’s been something you’ve been researching, etc } so now go and do it.

Time to stop letting this ‘too many ideas’ thing overwhelm you. You know what you need to work on. Time to get to work.

 

Want more tips to find more focus with your marketing?

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