My Personal Tips for Staying Focused

Sometimes, it’s challenging to stay focused on a particular task when there are lots of distractions around you. You are in the office and need to finish up the documents staring at you on the desk then your colleague comes in to start talking about his dead dog, how his neighbors brought in a new girl home last night, etc, and because the conversation is getting interesting, you stop what you are doing to contribute and when you check the time, an hour is gone already. Think of what you would have achieved in such an hour.

Or a time you have planned to tick off those boxes on your notepad in 5 hours with full focus, but suddenly, a call from home came in and the conversation went on for another two hours, but you couldn’t take an excuse because why? Family is everything. We need to create time for them. But we forget that we can always make time and not allow anything to steal it from us.

Or when you thought no one would disturb you and thought you could finish writing an article, and then suddenly, you heard a noise outside, only for you to peep through, but you couldn't get the whole gist, you changed your dress and stepped outside. Before you know it, two hours are gone because you're trying to get the full information. Getting inside, you start thinking about the incident, forgetting the pending task.

Like many people, I have always been distracted when I need to focus on achieving a task, and other times, once I am determined, nothing is stopping me until I am done. These days, I feel so fulfilled having to take charge and be in control and not the other way round.

They talk about setting goals which is very important. The SMART technique does work so effectively and I do find myself doing it because if there is one thing I believe in, it is that a little step taken consistently will add up and become a big result later.

Each day when I wake up, I tend to store my tasks in my head because I feel too lazy to type them down or jot them on paper and I would just be attending to them one by one and it always works most times except on days when I just decide to be distracted by something else.

With happenings around us today, mostly on social media, we are easily distracted by one news or the other, and this is something I try to avoid at all costs, but still find myself being tempted. One thing I do in this regard is put my phone on Do Not Disturb mode so I won't get notified or pick up calls that come in.

For instance, my mornings start with a personal study time with God, and after that, I take care of my room and brush. I find myself in such a routine that feels automatic and does not need to be thought over. Once I am done, I move on to writing my post and doing some engagement. This happens when I am determined to get things done as soon as possible.

Another way I don't get distracted is to avoid multitasking. It's so funny how I have tried to stop doing this, but still do it because of the urge to do it all at once, and most times, it doesn't work that way. Some days ago, I was cooking beans and at the same time typing on my phone. I was carried away, and what brought me back to reality was the smell - my beans got burnt, so I had to stress myself transferring them to another pot. It stopped my flow of writing, which made me lose some ideas, too.

I try to focus on a task and once completed, move to the next one. With this, the possibility of getting distracted is at a lower rate.

Getting enough sleep. I don't trade this for anything, even my afternoon naps. I believe that to stay focused, one's brain must be clear, and one way is to get enough sleep to relax and re-energise. When I don’t sleep enough, it affects me which could distract me from doing what needs to be done. My sleeping time has always been consistent for a few months now.

Currently, where I live, it's hard not to be distracted by noise here and there. When there's no light, my neighbours turn on their generators, and when there's light, their speaker is always on a higher volume with music flying across everywhere. This does disturb me a lot, but since I have realised that there wouldn't be anything done but to endure and tolerate excess like this.

What I do is to stay calm and do what I need to do by all means. Most times, when there is no light and they haven't turned on the generators, I quickly do my task and stop all distractions elsewhere, and this has always worked for me, mostly by waking up very early in the morning.

These are the simple ways I get to be focused in a world full of distractions.

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