Keeping at your Main Thing

What is your main problem? Not focusing on the right things? Not knowing what your Main Thing or???

Shiny objects and Rabbit holes – and doing “fun” distractions that keep you from the Main Thing?

Sometimes in a workday, especially for those who have the double-sided coin of flexible choices of what to do when, we are easily distracted by things that draw us from our “One Thing” or “Best thing”.

A person wrote me today and said that his answer to the question of what is an Entrepreneur's "Achille's Heel" “I think it's loosing focus and spending too much time on things which are not relevant for customers. “ – I think this is true for a lot of people who are in leadership in companies, but especially for those who are on the forefront of the company.

A former client just wrote that she is still having problems with doing the Main Thing, too: “I’m getting lots done, just not the right things”.

So, how do we remind ourselves in the day that is so full not to go down much less important rabbit holes and keep the Main Thing in our mind and the focus of our activities? AND, more importantly, how do we know what those right things are?

Mind you, 100% focus for a long time is a myth. But you can work on what you want to focus on and set your time limits and then focus for that time. This, when formalized, is called time-blocking or even more formalized, the Pomodoro Technique (see photo) and they don’t take too much energy to organize and follow.

Then take good breaks. Make a coffee, go for a walk, pick up a bit (but not for too long). Then go back and focus on your main thing again. Avoid starting to do “other work”. Leave the emails till the end of the day or until your main thing list for the day is done.

To keep yourself focused may mean doing other things, too: turning off the internet, quitting your email apps/programs or at least closing the tabs on your browser, going to a co-working, or working from home if your office is full of interruptions. Keep a list of what’s distracting you and find new ways to cut them out. Period.

Also, social media is a no-no. It does NOT relax you; research says it is not at all helpful for you to “relax” with it. Close it down and do not engage.

Keep track of how all this is working.

Finally, at the end of the week review the work times and see how it is going, what’s working, what isn’t and maybe why it isn’t working, times/days and energy levels (and why), and what has still been distracting you. Then try to eliminate those distractions, too.

If, after a few weeks, there is still a problem, the issue may be “deeper” and then the question of how you know what is important becomes the prominent question.

This will be dealt with next week.

Stay focused,

Patricia Jehle                patricia@jehle-coaching.com