Being busy does not always boil down to getting real work done.If you get up at 7:00 am and go to bed at 10:00pm that is a 15 hour window gap that you had in absolute consciousness to execute productive goals in both your personal and professional life. One way of looking if “busy” was really busy or just a mere passing of time is to see how much closer you got to each of your high priority goals through the activities performed in that window of time.
When you throw your day in this perspective it is at times hard to even recall or qualify any such activity. The problem area is not that we are not doing anything or sitting ideal it is quite the opposite, it’s because we are doing too much. It’s like a crossroad with no working signals.
To break it down simply, you wake up every morning with a limit cognitive bandwidth of focus and concentration. As the day keeps going ahead multiple tasks demand your attention and as you keep ticking them of you leave an impression of this priceless portion of focus and concentration on each activity. Before you even know it you are juggling multiple tasks sending your focus into turmoil.
The end in mind for any task that is to accomplish activities that drive goals that bear maximum results.
It is better to generate phenomenal result from fewer goals than achieve average results from multiple goals. Take the example of the shoe company “crocs” they took one goal of making shoes and made it the only focus of their company. Single minded focus gave then sky rocketing performance, brand recognition and market share.
How do you beat the cyclone of scattered focus?
Cut the goals down
In both your professional and personal space there should never be more than one at max two goals that you are working on at a time. This is the stepping stone to mastery. When you focus on a single goal it gives you the ultimate power to channel your creative and physical energy on high value activities that drive real results. There are many activities that come along the day wearing a mask of urgency it is critical at this point to take a step back and see if they move you towards or away from your high-value goal. Once you have identified that place it on your to-do list accordingly, with the parameters of highest quality attention at the first half of the day and lowest focus at the end of the day.
Channeled focus
Just like a map gives you a clear guided focus on where you are, where you want to go and what the most efficient and fastest route to get there it is equally important to plan your day with the same precision. Get all the activities that need to be accomplished in a day, then prioritize them on the basis of the ones that move your biggest goals. Give these high value activities the finest quality of your cognitive bandwidth to generate exponential results. Set down time blocks by placing the high-value actives on your calendar first and then filling it up with the smaller routine activities.