We scroll social media for hours. We’re bombarded with news notifications too tempting not to click on, and we’re always only a text away from distracting conversations with friends at any given time of the day. It’s no wonder a lot of us struggle to get anything done with all of these distractions right at our fingertips. 

But don’t worry– there’s hope! Here are a few tips to maintain your focus. They’ve worked well for us, and I’m positive they’ll help you too.

Look At Your Goals, Often

A great way to keep yourself focused is to remind yourself of your goals. A great way to remind yourself of your goals? Write them out, and look at them often.

I’m talking about your big, long-term goals. Whatever they are, tape a sheet of paper with them onto your wall near your desk, or keep a card with your goals on it in your wallet. Maybe even set your goals as your desktop background, or have a goals  ‘sticky’ in the corner of your computer. Make sure they’re specific too!

Make a Schedule

Okay so the written goals thing is to keep you focused on your long-term goals, but a schedule is to help you more with the day-to-day and even week-to-week tasks that will bring you closer to those big goals. 

Write out what you’re going to accomplish every day, and make a detailed schedule as to when you’ll complete what. Sometimes you’ll have deadlines from work that you already need to meet– break down your schedule so you know exactly how you’ll meet those deadlines with ample time. 

If you don’t have a set deadline from work, make your own deadlines. Be realistic about how much time each task will take you, and set aside blocks of time to work. In these blocks of time, put your phone on “do not disturb” and commit to not checking it while you work.

Try your best to plan your day either the night before or early in the morning before you start. And get all the big stuff done first– that way you can enjoy the rest of your day and not have big tasks looming over you! 

Carving out a set time to focus on one task at a time, early in the day if that works best for you, (maybe you’re a night owl– that’s cool too!) will naturally help with your ability to focus.

Avoid Multitasking

This probably sounds counterintuitive given that our fast-paced society largely sees multitasking as the ultimate skill. Take a look at pretty much any job description for confirmation of that — they all emphasize the importance of multitasking.

But here’s the thing: the way you’ll see the most progress is when you put all of your focus into one thing at a time. Think about it: if I’m writing a book, I’m not gonna be cooking dinner at the same time. That would probably result in a sh*tty book, right? I can’t keep my readers’ attention if I can’t keep my own on the important task in front of me — writing an awesome book. 

Of course with how crazy life is and how much a lot of us tend to juggle from day to day,  it’s not always possible to *not* multitask. But try your best to structure your schedule in a way that makes it possible to focus on one thing at a time, at least for the very important things you need and want to get done to bring you closer to achieving your big goals. 

—

Remember: this stuff takes practice. Be kind to yourself if it’s still difficult to keep your focus, especially in the crazy times we’re living in.

We’ve talked a lot about focusing on your big goals, but what if you’re not entirely sure what those goals even are? That’s a great sign you should enroll in PrimeMinds if you haven’t joined us already.

We’ll have you dig deep to discover the future that you’re yearning to work toward — and we’ll keep you in check with how to stay focused, too.

Consider signing up for our 4-month challenge today!