Focus

My mentor often has to remind me, "focus, focus, focus" when he thinks I'm taking on too much. As a typical entrepreneur I am easily distracted by a new "shiny" business idea and can find myself being stretched too thin.

This is a common issue in business and one I often here about from our BLAM Partners too. I've compiled this list of suggestions to help you find laser beam focus, some of which I use regularly. The key is to find the tools that work for you and diligently stick to them, it's really easy to loose focus on what helps you focus!!!

1. Prioritise your tasks daily , making the fastest way to the money your first task. There are a thousand ways to organise your to do list but by focusing on the fastest way to the money first, if you do loose focus, at least the money will still be flowing in.

2. Work at the right time of day for you. Are you a morning person or an evening person? Studies show that most people focus best at either first thing in the morning or late in the evening, allocating important tasks to the time that suits you, gets "stuff" done.

3. Train your brain. Your brain works like a muscle and will learn by repetition. If you are constantly multitasking and being distracted by numerous devices and communication tools, your brain will learn to focus only in short bursts. Train your brain to focus by allocating time every day without any interruptions. Turn off the phone, email and TV and work totally undistracted-try and build up to 90 minutes a day working in this way.

4. Shut your door. It may seem rude or against the "my door is always open" mentality but shutting your office door to avoid unnecessary interruptions can help when you need to get in the zone. I know of people who like a witty message like "only knock if the office is in fire", it may remind you of a teenagers bedroom but it does the trick!

5. Keep a tidy desk. A desk full of clutter and paperwork not only kills your feng shui but also distracts you from your focus. By getting into the habit of tidying your desk last thing before you leave it or first thing when you arrive at it you'll ensure the least amount of distraction right from the start of the day.

6. Diarise your tasks like they're an appointment. Studies show a large number if successful people diarise their to do's as appointments in their calendar. If tasks are treated this way, they are given an allocation of time with a deadline and therefore more focus can be given as the are treated more like goals that need to be finished within a given period. This is s personal favorite of mine and I've definitely found my productivity increase since I began employing this tactic.

I'd love to hear of any other hacks to help keep focus in business, in world full of more and more distractions we all need to focus more on our focus.

Have a great week.