Lazer Focus as your #1 Productivity Tool
Wed, May 9, 2007
Action Tips, Optimizing Your Business, Organization, Time Management Tips
One of the biggest challenges in operating an online business, especially as a work at home mom (it compounds the issue by about 1,000!) is trying to focus long enough on one thing to get it finished.
There are so many things competing for our attention and so easy to get distracted. There are a few fixes for this, one of them is lazer focus.
It’s quite simple and the sooner you begin to put it into practice, the better!
Decide on the number one task that you need to be doing at this moment.
Block out the time to do it (even if that means child care or swapping).
Do it and nothing else until it is finished. If you have a large time block, you can take a break, but don’t use it to do something else unless it helps you to clear your head or brainstorm.
If you are not finished at the end of the time period, book another one and continue with the project until you are finished.
Try it. You’ll love the results and wiping yet one more thing off your plate!
ACTION TIP
Choose a high priority project (start with a small one)
Follow the steps above.
Take a deep breathe and relax! It’s finished!
[tags]productivity, work at home, focus, time management[/tags]
Good idea. Focusing on getting the job done exclusively is important, but such a challenge sometimes!
I don’t have the chance to find child care all the time, so a trick I have learned with my very small little guys is to schedule my focus times when I know they are distracted.
For example, my youngest still naps in the afternoon. So I put him in bed and my 3 year old gets a special movie time. I know that I have a good hour and half while he’s watching the movie to really focus on my work and he loves the special treat. 🙂
A little idea that I’ve found successful! (so far!)
Thanks Janice! Good idea. Focusing on getting the job done exclusively is important, but such a challenge sometimes!
I don’t have the chance to find child care all the time, so a trick I have learned with my very small little guys is to schedule my focus times when I know they are distracted.
For example, my youngest still naps in the afternoon. So I put him in bed and my 3 year old gets a special movie time. I know that I have a good hour and half while he’s watching the movie to really focus on my work and he loves the special treat. 🙂
A little idea that I’ve found successful! (so far!)
Thanks Lisa, great tip! None of my kids where sleepers, so I rarely had much of a “rest time” to work in.
Another good way to really nail down a project time block if nap times are sporadic would be to have regular child care, even a few short time blocks a week that are prearranged whether through a babysitter or trading time with another mom.
I really wish that I had done more of that when my kids where young, it would have been better for all of us.
Hi, I’ve been thinking that with the tight job market, it may be easier just to start an online business than searching for a new job.
My main concern is that it’s going to take more hours than I can dedicate. With my girls going back to school, I can allocate a good 6 hours to an online business when they’re away, but after that, I don’t know if I can handle it.
The good thing about a 9 to 5 is that it ends at the end of the day, but with a business it seems like it might be 24/7. Don’t you have problems balancing your business with your family life?