To Do Checklist: Finding Your Focus

You find yourself loosing focus for no reason, and you are not a lazy person? To Do Checklist explores the topic of how to keep your focus at work. Using the to-do list application on regular basis is great, but we have some really good tips for you how to manage your concentration better. Aside from the fact that we are all humans and we may lose the track of things as there are too many of them in a day, finding your focus should be easy if your will follow these easy steps. It is all about actions!

Imagine, you are a reasonably hard worker and you’ve never had problems concentrating, but suddenly things are NOT going your way! You find yourself in a midst of struggling to focus. What the best solution? Should your take a break or fight the problem?

#1 Problem is Chaos!

Feeling as you stalled on a project means that there is a chaos that stops you going further. Break down the project into smaller tasks or subtasks and put them in your To Do Checklist. While the inner voice may say “get away and do nothing”. Yet there is only one way out – to fix the problem you have to fight through it! If the tactic fails to work, here is the advice of a business coach.

Psychological Background

When events occur often, the brain works out a “brain map”. It may look to you as if only one action is performed, but in fact there a dozen of other action done in your brain. When specific sequence of actions are performed on a regular basis, it is easy for the brain to form a map, known to us as “habit”.

What You Need to Know about Brain Restructuring? Building a New Habit

1. Brain is highly plastic, so there is no “permanent” for it.
2. Whichever patterns are learned can be unlearned through a clean break.
3. If you go to a place, where “crazy brain map” unable to function, it will start from a clean slate.
4. When you slow down, your brain forms a “lazy / laid back” habit and a new brain map is formed.
5. The brain loves to lose the stuff that it doesn’t use.
6. By allowing yourself a sense of calm relaxation, the agitating behaviors slow down and stop.
7. Fighting the system back is NOT productive, but creating a whole new brain map will work!

Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Steps to Regain Your Focus

1.     Step Back!

Stop the chaos by finding a moment of sacred idleness. Oftentimes, we find ourselves being stuck in our tasks because we are very close, intimate and can’t stop taking care of them. We miss out on a whole picture. Imagine yourself as an artist stepping back from a painting to gain a better perspective. If a day away is not the case, taking a few minutes to relax will help. Also, following regular exercise schedule will help!

2.     Define “IT”

Identify “it!” your most important task – the most important Thing that you put in your To Do Checklist. See your to-do list as a funnel. Arrange your day around thing that are important from big to small. Oftentimes, we hope that many tasks will get done, but at the end of the day, understand that the funnel slows and narrows to the bottom. Yes, most of us work in a “world of unlimited possibilities”, but the time is limited! Keep that in your perspective.

3.     Use YOUR Resources

• If there are people, who may distract you. Find time to meet with them separately.
• Unexpected things are your common distractions.
• Seek solitude or use the soothing sounds like http://www.noisli.com/. Or use a channel that plays music with no lyrics to help you “stay in the moment”.
• Turn off the notifications from your email and social media. You may not attend them, but your mind start wondering around. Also, put your phone on silent too.

4.     Share/Communicate “IT” to Others

Talk to your colleagues and family about what is important to you. This way they can support you or contribute by respecting your time.

5.     Think in terms of Small Milestones

It is always easy to keep your feelings of overwhelm at bay if you choose to focus on milestones. You have to find what works for you. One man, who liked running was confused to keep his focus on miles, instead he was running from one utility pole to another pole. Find what works for you! See your task as “doable”. Learn to concentrate for an hour in a day instead of looking to what’s ahead.

To Do Checklist advice of the day: do not concentrate on how much time the task takes, but on its completion.