Find your Focus: Easy Tips to Help You be More Efficient

Time, we can all agree it is it one of the most valuable commodities we have in this life. Once it is gone, it is gone. I try so hard to make sure I am spending my time wisely. Technology is wonderful, however, it can sometimes be a distraction from what needs your  focus at the given moment.

 It is as if Facebook has trained us to respond to every single message that pops up. And boy, it can suck you in. Why is it that when you have intended to just answer an email from the school teacher it turns into 30 minutes of randomly browsing the web.While I love getting caught up on everthing this that is going in in Carbndale, Murphysboro and Marion, it can be such a tim suck.

In this blog, Southern Illinois readers, I will give you my top 3 tips to stay focused on the tasks at hand. 

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3 Easy Ways to Get Rid of Distractions

Cell Phone, Hell Phone 

This might shock you but I have to say it. PUT YOUR CELL PHONE AWAY!! i

The Problem: People have instant access to you when your cell phone is constantly next to you. It is alot easier to not answer a call you don't know has come in, than it is to resist answering or even  to tell someone you can't talk at the moment.
Oh and let's not forget how easy it is to procrastinate, when you have toy that  literally only figure tips away.  It is crazy how often I will be at my desk waiting on something to load and my natural grab my phone to past the time. By the time I look up to see what was loading, I have forgotten why I even needed it. 

The Solution: Keep you phone on low or silent. The constant triggers and reminders can be distracting form what you are trying to accomplish. Thinking of the next thing that is due doesn't help you complete what is in front of you right now. Also, try to keep you know off of your body. Think of the old saying, "out of sight, out of mind". 

Ease into this: I have a  Do Not Disturb setting on my Samsung Galaxy Note that will auto respond to people if they text or call while I am in a meeting or Calendar event. However, if specific people call more than once with in a 5 minute period, my phone will ring at full blast. All the while, silencing other notifications like Facebook and Twitter. 
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Phones are great tools that help keeps us organized, however it is much more than an calendar and task list.  It is the social media and instant results texting and endless family phone text groups that can be the bigger issues. This tip will help eliminate these items from being major distractions.

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Brain Dump! - Make a List and Check it Twice 

The Problem:If you wake up in the middle of the night because you had that weird dream where you forgot to drop off your child's costume or didn't make it to work on time for that big meeting, something tells me you have too many tasks running around in your head. 

The Solution: To help clear your mind  and regain focus, write out what you have to accomplish in a list format.

Tip from ME: If I am feeling completely overwhelmed,  I break out the paper and pencil and just write until I cannot think of one more single thing that I need to do.
This is just a cleansing process.  Then I refine the list in my GTasks App.

The GTasks App sync with my Google Task list and will sync across all my Android devices. The app allows me to prioritize by due date and even category.

Task organization is all about knowing how to get where you are going. Instead of drowning in the thoughts of all your have to do, draw a map out of the maze. 

Make you list, then work your list and your productivity will sore. 

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The Power of the Post-it

Sometimes you just need that little nudge to keep going and keep negative thoughts at bay. 

Visual learning is a teaching style in which ideas, concepts, data, and other information are associated with images. Obviously this practices is widely used and works incredibly well, other wise Youtube wouldn't exist. In fact, humans tend to recall things they have seen faster than things they have previously heard. 

When you are focusing on a goal having soft visual reminders will help you hone in on your target and keep you from deviating. 

Tip from Me:  I love the idea of a Vision Board, but for smaller little tasks or goals it isn't practical to have the big board messages up around my house. So what I do is write an inspiring & fun message like " Carrots are my friend"  or "You can do it" on brightly colored Post-its and put them on mirrors or wall around my home.  By looking at them literally at every turn,  I am always encouraging myself to keep going and therefore, discouraging giving up or speaking negatively. 

This is a very simple and fast way to constantly remind yourself of what you are working for or what you need to do. 

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Try out all these tips and let me know how they work for you. Or, let me know how you organize your chaos. 

And remember, We serve all of southern Illinois including Murphysboro, Carbondale, Marion, Harrisburg, Sparta, Chester, Anna, Pinkneyville, Carterville, and Herrin.