Finding Time by Finding Focus: 5 Tips
"If you chase two rabbits, both will escape."
Chinese Proverb
Finding time becomes much easier when you bring your full awareness to the time you have. But perhaps maintaining your focus is your problem. Do competing priorities, interruptions, worries, or daydreams distract you? As the examples below prove, you are not alone!
The Time Pickpocket: Your mind wanders and time gets lost as you try to complete a task.
You’re balancing your checkbook on Saturday morning. You notice the check you wrote last month for plane tickets. The next thing you know you’re five-minutes into a daydream about your trip to Barbados!
In this example, you get your task done, but it takes longer that you expected.
The Time Mugger: Multiple tasks steal your focus.
You begin a task – say, writing an article about FINDING FOCUS! First, you turn on your computer and decide to check your e-mail. Then you remember that you need to let the dog out. On the way you notice the dishes that need washing. Before doing them you pick up the mail in the entryway … and so on.
In this familiar scenario, you accomplish things, but they are not the things you planned to do.
The Time Annihilator: Others’ worries and tasks, added to your own, distract you and pull you off course.
Your boss has a pressing deadline, your kids need rides to their lessons and games, you’ve got bills to pay, food shopping to do, the phone is ringing and Sparky needs dinner! Setting a course and sticking to it feels just about impossible.
When you’re in this zone, you feel chronically stuck, torn, and unproductive.
Here are 5 Tips guaranteed to help you Find Focus and Find Time!
1. Start with Mindfulness. Notice when your attention is wandering. Don’t do anything about it. Just notice.
2. Bring it Back. After you get good at noticing when your mind wanders, start gently bringing it back to the task.
3. Explore, Don’t Ignore. If your mind keeps wandering to the same place, try setting your task aside for a moment. Ask what you are trying to tell yourself. Set a time frame for this, and don’t spend too long. Your exploration should not become a distraction!
4. Make a Note. If what’s tugging at you seems important, make a note and promise yourself to come back to it later. Set a specific time for doing this. When you can trust that you’ll come back to something later, you will be more willing to let it go in the moment!
5. Focusing Means Saying No. You must have boundaries to stay focused. Once you have decided on a task, keep saying YES to your focus and NO to your distractions.
The way you spend your time is the way you live your life
What are you saying YES to when you let yourself wander? What are you saying NO to? How about when you stay focused? Experiment a little. Try the 5 Tips above and document your successes. You can develop focus you need, and before you know it, you’ll be finding time!
Chinese Proverb
Finding time becomes much easier when you bring your full awareness to the time you have. But perhaps maintaining your focus is your problem. Do competing priorities, interruptions, worries, or daydreams distract you? As the examples below prove, you are not alone!
The Time Pickpocket: Your mind wanders and time gets lost as you try to complete a task.
You’re balancing your checkbook on Saturday morning. You notice the check you wrote last month for plane tickets. The next thing you know you’re five-minutes into a daydream about your trip to Barbados!
In this example, you get your task done, but it takes longer that you expected.
The Time Mugger: Multiple tasks steal your focus.
You begin a task – say, writing an article about FINDING FOCUS! First, you turn on your computer and decide to check your e-mail. Then you remember that you need to let the dog out. On the way you notice the dishes that need washing. Before doing them you pick up the mail in the entryway … and so on.
In this familiar scenario, you accomplish things, but they are not the things you planned to do.
The Time Annihilator: Others’ worries and tasks, added to your own, distract you and pull you off course.
Your boss has a pressing deadline, your kids need rides to their lessons and games, you’ve got bills to pay, food shopping to do, the phone is ringing and Sparky needs dinner! Setting a course and sticking to it feels just about impossible.
When you’re in this zone, you feel chronically stuck, torn, and unproductive.
Here are 5 Tips guaranteed to help you Find Focus and Find Time!
1. Start with Mindfulness. Notice when your attention is wandering. Don’t do anything about it. Just notice.
2. Bring it Back. After you get good at noticing when your mind wanders, start gently bringing it back to the task.
3. Explore, Don’t Ignore. If your mind keeps wandering to the same place, try setting your task aside for a moment. Ask what you are trying to tell yourself. Set a time frame for this, and don’t spend too long. Your exploration should not become a distraction!
4. Make a Note. If what’s tugging at you seems important, make a note and promise yourself to come back to it later. Set a specific time for doing this. When you can trust that you’ll come back to something later, you will be more willing to let it go in the moment!
5. Focusing Means Saying No. You must have boundaries to stay focused. Once you have decided on a task, keep saying YES to your focus and NO to your distractions.
The way you spend your time is the way you live your life
What are you saying YES to when you let yourself wander? What are you saying NO to? How about when you stay focused? Experiment a little. Try the 5 Tips above and document your successes. You can develop focus you need, and before you know it, you’ll be finding time!