Does Anyone Have Any Suggestions About How To Stay Focused?

[wwwEcoBoomercom]

Hello Self-Starters,

I sometimes feel like it is hard for me to stay completely focused on what I have to accomplish on a daily basis, a weekly basis, and even a monthly basis. Only because their is so much that has to be done when running online businesses. How do you keep yourself organized, on track, and get everything done that you need to do without losing steam and your concentration? I guess what I mean is, does anyone have a system that works for them and gets the results you want every time? I feel as if I may need to take a different approach so that I don't get sidetracked to often by other projects. Thanks for your suggestions-

[Lynn Terry]

Great topic, Charles!

What distracts you the most? Other projects, or things there at home? When it comes to business objectives & long-term goals, I use John Reese's method for the Brain Dump. This really helps you to gain focus and get a clear task list in front of you.

For household distractions - and lemme tell ya, I have a lot LOL - it may take a little more work. I use a timer here in my office, which both keeps me on task, and lets others in the house know that I'm right in the middle of something (and takes the heat off of me, and puts it on the timer! ).

"Just a second" doesnt usually work with kids - who have learned that could mean an hour or more (lol). But "there is 17 minutes left on my timer, and we can do that just as soon as it goes off" does work. Go figure

Back to the Brain Dump - have you tried that yet? It's a great experience!

[stephfoster]

[LuckyMommy]

[wwwEcoBoomercom]

[ChristyK]

Definite focus problems here! I'm going to try something new. I'm either going to set pop-up reminders to go off every 15 minutes (yes, I'm that bad) that remind me of what I'm supposed to be working on or put a big note in front of me somewhere naming the item that I am supposed to be focused on at that moment. I'm so tired of seeing how much time has gone by and realizing how little I got done because my thoughts and focus were all over the place.

Christy

[Lynn Terry]

[kdwells]

Earlier this year my dr diagnosed me with Adult ADD/ADHD. I felt like I was constantly running on quadruple espressos!! Since then, I've decided that blaming my inability to concentrate and get things organized on that, was not acceptable.

So I set about creating my own ways to get things done!

Here is an article I wrote on Ten Tips how to Focus. http://www.k23enterprises.com/besmart/a ... ocus.shtml

Also, a tip for reminding yourself to do things...actually two.
1. Invest in a cell phone that lets you set reminders. Once I started doing this, I didn't have to worry at ALL about missing appointments and birthdays. You can set the alarm to go off at the event, or a few minutes before you need to leave...or whenever!
2. I created a custom start page that's saved on my hard drive, with all the links for my projects (on the hard drive and the web addresses), links to my fav sites, a list of forums I need to visit regularly, and the all important online banking and finance sites I need access to. I also keep my username and password 'encrypted' next to the link. (Since I use about 20 different passwords, I mark the link with the reminder for which one it is. Yeah, I'm weird
3. Ok, I guess I have three tips. When I need to send an email on a specific day, I save it in my drafts folder with the date in the subject line. Each morning I check my drafts folder, open emails for that day, change the subject, and Voila! I'm so organized! Or so it seems, hehe...

I have a label on my monitor that reads, "Is this the best use of my time?" This constantly reminds me to always be working on my priorities. I have several electronic kitchen timers that I bought at the dollar store, that help me spend just 20 more minutes to finish something up.

Hope this helped!
~Kimberly

[WAHumor]

VERY nice article, Kimmy!

If you don't mind, I'm gonna use it.

Your custom start page sounds a lot like the "to do" lists available at WAHumor.com.

[kdwells]

Absolutely! Just include the signature info at the bottom.

THANKS!!

[Shannon]

[ChristyK]

[ChristyK]

If you do not mind me posting the link, Lynn. I think the following web page has some interesting exercises for strengthening your power of concentration:

I must be getting really bad, because I get frustrated and distracted by just the idea of sitting still and trying these different exercises instead of doing something else. I may give these a try, but my biggest distration is fear of not bringing in more money soon so I get distracted by "will this work?", "should I try this instead?". And the biggest resolution for that is to take make a choice and take action.

Christy

[ElevatingYourBusiness]

I keep lists
I use my Outlook calendar
I have had a coach for 6 years (and mentors before that)
I have a business plan that I use daily.

[Lynn Terry]

I'm currently using the Success System by Mike Litman - awesome so far!

After the Free GHH CD, reading his book & being subscribed to his newsletter for several months now... I feel real good about starting 2005 under his guidance!