Written By Guest Contributor, Sade Tagbo
A WORLD OF DISTRACTION
If you are like me, you’ve come to the conclusion that we are living in a world of distractions. Life is moving at the speed of light. Technology and media are putting more conveniences at our disposal – making us think we can do more in the 24 hours that we have. Every day, we cram more things into our already maxed-out schedules.
If you’re a woman, odds are that you do this even more than men do. As women, we pride ourselves in our ability to multi-task. We juggle careers, relationships, kids, household duties, friendships, social media, and hobbies.
We have it all. . .or do we?
RETHINKING MULTI-TASKING
The truth is that while we’re insanely busy, the lack of focus that comes from doing too much simultaneously is making us more disconnected in our relationships, putting stress on our minds and bodies, and we’re getting less and less done.
Without laser focus on what is most important and effective, you cannot do one thing well. Instead you do many things half-heartedly and with mediocrity. In other words, you do more, but achieve less.
Let’s say you are working on your new book; your cell phone rings and you answer it. That call may create a five minute interruption. When you are done with your call, it may take you up to ten minutes to recover and re-enter the flow of your writing. Now imagine that you have three or four such interruptions during a two-hour period: you stop to check your Facebook feed, your child wants your attention, someone sends you a request, etc.
Because your mind is on your book, you are not able to bring your full faculties to attend to any of the interruptions. In addition, all the interruptions take away your ability to fully focus on your writing. Your productivity goes down and you cannot get the time back. You end up losing in every area.
THE KEY TO SUCCESS
A lack of laser focus nibbles away at your time, making it impossible to achieve what you really want in life. That’s the bad news. The good news is, while a lack of focus will reduce your level of achievement, laser focus is the key to achieving balance and success in every area of your life. Lack of focus can be a slow drain on your dreams and goals, but laser focus will make your wildest dreams come true.
This is the truth behind laser focus. If you can understand and embrace this, you can restructure your life for laser focus. Here’s the secret to achieving laser focus:
You can only work effectively on one thing at a time. If you laser focus on one thing and do it with excellence, that one thing will create the opportunity for success in other things.
In other words, you can have it all, just not at the same time. You can create a connection with your spouse, and you can answer your email. You just cannot do both at the same time. Any attempt to multi-task will create failure in both areas. Don’t try it! Put the phone down and look in your spouse’s eyes. Or, ask them to wait until you are done with your email and then give them your full, undivided attention.
Apply this rule to everything you do. Do one thing at a time, making sure that you are present and purposeful and giving your all to what you have in front of you. When you stay completely focused on one task, you will eventually whittle that large pile of work down to nothing. As you focus, you find yourself moving into a state of flow where you do your best work.
Next week, I will share a few tips for building laser focus into your daily life.
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