In a world that is filled with distraction, it is not very easy to maintain focus. Big screen TV, video games, smart phones loaded with social media apps – it’s just one distraction after another. How do we get anything done with all these distractions around us?
It is by maintaining our focus.
Say you are studying for your exam and not getting much done. Reason for not getting much is lack of attention. We achieve a lot while we are focused. With lack of focus, same task takes longer or forever. Since there is only 24 hours in a day and the exam is practically knocking on the door, we don’t have time to lose. We need to do whatever needed to get our focus back and get the work done.
Just like your study goal, focus is needed to achieve your business goal as well. No business can thrive without having a clear set of goal. Operator or the owner of the business must remain focused on achieving those goals. As an example, let’s say you own a professional photo editing services company. You will need to set a clear goal from the start of the company till the time your company starts getting routine clients. Once your company starts getting clients on a regular basis, it is just rinse and repeat. However, setting clear goal and maintaining focus is needed till then.
So how do you maintain focus? Below are 5 ways you can maintain focus to achieve your goal.
1. Plan Your Day the Night Before
Make a list of what you need to do the next day before you go to bed. Write them down one by one in your notebook or make calander entry if needed. Once the daily plan Is made, you can go through the items one by one without missing any. You book sufficient time for each activity. For example, meeting with Ron: 8.30 am – 9.30 AM. Lunch 12 Noon – 12.30 PM. Call photographer client Kim: 2.30 PM.
Once you have your day arranged in the timely manner, you will get everything in the book done by the end of the day. Not only you will not miss anything, you will not have a chance to keep anything for tomorrow that can be done today.
2. Distant the Distractions
As mentioned at the beginning of the article that we have various elements of distractions around us. We need to eliminate them to stay focused. Maybe turning the photo off or keeping it in silent mode for the time you are in an important meeting. Maybe you may be busy with an important report and don’t wish to be disturbed. Putting a do not disturb sign at the door and shutting the phone off will get your work done in a timely manner.
3. Measure Your Success
Everything has a measurement. How many clients you have in total? How many orders you are getting a day? How many men hours it takes to complete a specific job? How much profit you make per order? You need to be able to measure your success as well as your expenses. Set a goal as to what you need to achieve in a day and work towards that measurement.
4. Understand Your Job
If you are a professional photo editing service provider company for example, you need to understand what you job is. In order to be successful in your job, you need to understand the market as well as your competitor. You need to know how your competitors are running their business, how they are acquiring clients, what kind of pricing they are offering to their clients, how much money they are spending on advertisement, etc. It is important to be equipped with this information to be successful in your business.
5. Recharge Yourself and Boost Your Energy
We all get burned out at times. Long day and repetitive work burn us out at some point. It is important to recharge ourselves to boost our energy level so that we can gain our focus back. Take some time off work if needed. Maybe going on a small vacation doing what you love doing most will get your energy back. If you like fishing, go on a fishing trip. You will be surprised to see how much energy you have the day after a fishing trip. Even if you don’t end up catching anything, you will still have fun and get your energy back. They say a bad day at fishing is better than a good day at work. It’s just going out leaving work behind does the magic sometimes.