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What good is having focus if you don’t take any action? Conversely, if you take action without a focus, how will you know you are doing the right things? As you can probably surmise, focus and action go hand in hand.
This is the third blog in this series on taking action to be more productive. Here are the links to the other posts, 3 Secrets to Help You Take Action Now and Reasons Why You Should Become an Action Taker.
The concepts reinforce each other. Suppose you decide that you need to increase sales, or whatever your goal happens to be. You plan out the steps and use them to set your focus. Then, when you execute the plan by taking action, you will learn that your focus was correct. Or, you will learn that it didn’t work out for some reason and that you need to consider alternate plans.
The last sentence of the previous paragraph is important. Not everything you plan will work out and you need to keep that in mind. If you find something isn’t working out, and you don’t believe it is going to get any better, don’t hesitate to find something else. Otherwise, the focus-action loop will get stale, and you will get frustrated. This is a negative reinforcement that will only serve to help you fail.
Failure is part of the process. Your actions should be iterative along with measures of what is happening. It can’t hurt to have alternative plans defined at the beginning of the cycle if that is possible. If not, just determine those alternatives when they make sense.
When you continue in this manner, you will find your focus is more intense. This is because you believe the actions you take will lead you to the desired results and you’ll shift your focus if it doesn’t.
If you need to extend this entire concept to a team, make sure they understand that the possibility of failure exists. This will help you guide them to different paths. Of course, if a few of the team members are not doing their part, this is another path you will need to deal with. These members may not be clear on the benefits of the plan. When that happens, they will lose focus, and they won’t be able to take action. Or, the actions they do take will not coincide with what the team is trying to deliver.
When you approach your goals in this way, you will likely excel at your job or business. You’ll have a renewed sense of purpose and you will bring the business to new heights.
Let’s work together to help you take action on your goals.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 2 minutes
Thank you for the question
“How do you recommend managing mechanical “mesmerizing” tasks like data entry that can literally put me to sleep?”
Distractions will always be around to keep you from focusing on a task. It may be boredom, people, technology, the list is endless. When you are able to actively focus on a task you get it done quickly with fewer mistakes. In the case of “mechanical mesmerizing tasks”, this means you don’t have to do it for as long. I think we all have tasks that we find difficult to concentrate on and begin to daydream.
Here are 8 suggestions
Let me know if any resonate with you.
- Use music with or without words, this may make the setting you are working in more enjoyable and help you to feel like working
- Do this task at a time of day when you are most productive and can focus well
- Break the task into smaller tasks (batches of data entry, invoicing etc) do a little each day instead of a lot all at once
- Add white noise to your working space so you are not distracted by other sounds that can draw your attention away from what you are doing
- Set a timer – agree to work until the timer goes off and then change tasks or take a break. Do this until the task is completed. Getting up and moving can really help to let you be able to go back to the task and concentrate again.
- Give yourself a reward, when it is done I can …….
- Change the place where you do the task, perhaps you need a cooler space, better lighting, an out of the way space, etc
- Make a game out of it. See how many items you can enter in 5 minutes. Repeat until the task is done.
I hope you find these suggestions helpful so you can focus and get the task done quickly.
If it takes less time because you are focused you will need to focus for less time.
In the comments share the techniques you use to help increase your focus on mundane tasks.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtuallythrough Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Thank you for the question “How do you recommend managing mechanical “mesmerizing” tasks like data entry that can literally put me to sleep?”
I think we all have tasks that we find difficult to concentrate on and begin to daydream. Here are a few suggestions to try, let me know if any resonate with you.
- Use music with or without words, this may make the setting you are working in more enjoyable and help you feel like working
- Do this task at a time of day when you are most productive and can focus well
- Break the task into smaller tasks (batches of data entry, invoicing etc) do a little each day instead of a lot all at once
- Add white noise to your working space so you are not distracted by other sounds that can draw your attention away from what you are doing
- Set a timer – agree to work until the timer goes off and then change tasks or take a break. Do this until the task is completed. Getting up and moving can really help to let you be able to go back to the task and concentrate again.
- Give yourself a reward, when it is done I can …….
- Change the place where you do the task, perhaps you need a cooler space, better lighting, an out of the way space, etc
I hope you find that these suggestions can help you to focus and get it done quicker. If it takes less time because you are focused you will need to focus for less time.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
