Are You Distracted or Free to Focus?

Maybe you’re like me and you find yourself struggling with the day to day grind, accomplishing items on your to-do list, and the overwhelming feeling of I’m drowning and I don’t know which way is up. At the end of the day, we say I wish I had more time for the things that I want to do.

As Leaders, it’s easy to put the cart before the horse and we wonder why we’re not going anywhere fast. In other words, we look at the mounting piles on our to-do list and we wish that there was a system that could alleviate some of the stress that sits on our plates. The good news is, there can be freedom in your day-to-day grind.

If you were to see me in college, I was the preppy looking kid with a black portfolio and a day planner. I always added my week’s activities to my day planner so that I knew exactly what was coming up in the days ahead. Fast forward to 2012, I stopped using a day planner. I simply became overwhelmed with too many items on my to-do list, I didn’t know where to schedule them, so I gave up and just relied solely on my Google Calendar.

After years of trying to figure out a way to balance this blog, my duties as a pastor, my responsibilities as a board member for a writing organization in the Twin Cities, as well as being a father and husband, I was worn out, tired, and needed something to help me win at work and succeed in life.

This is where Michael Hyatt came in. I’ve been an avid fan of Michael Hyatt since about 2009. But recently, he’s developed an entire system of developing the whole person from a life plan, to yearly goals, down to the Daily Grind. His system was so simple that I felt it was completely revolutionary. And since putting his Full Focus system into practice, I’ve been able to be more focused, accomplish my goals, have the freedom to not be stressed, and actually learn to love what I do all over again.

At the beginning of April, Michael Hyatt released his new book, Free to Focus, a total productivity system to achieve more by doing less. As soon as the book went for sale, I purchased it.

Though his book just came out, I’ve been using his system for about a year now and it has revolutionized my day. I want to give you three powerful steps that will help you take your daily productivity to the next level by eliminating distractions, reducing a task list and freeing yourself from constant interruptions.

1. Stop everything you’re doing, dive deep, and evaluate your life.

In Michael’s book, he tells us that it’s so easy for us to start using a new system without first contemplating what that system can do for us before implementing that said system. So, his suggestion is to stop everything and really take a deep look at where we are at in our lives.

Like Michael, one of my favorite scenes from I Love Lucy is the Chocolate Factory. Lucy and Ethel get a part-time job at the Chocolate Factory and chocolates start coming down the conveyor belt. They take the chocolates they put them in the boxes and the boxes continue on. The manager comes out to see if they are doing a good job and turns up the speed. Before long Lucy and Ethel are scrambling to box the chocolates an end up eating and stuffing them into their clothes.

So often this is what our daily life looks like. We have meeting after meeting, item after item on our to-do list and then the frequent interruptions throw our whole day into a tizzy.

The best remedy to a hectic and busy life is to just stop and evaluate what needs to be eliminated from our lists. These are items in our drudgery zone. Things that drain our energy and keep us from focusing on what gives us energy.

2. Create a not to do list and evaluate where you can cut out your drudgery Zone.

There’s a misconception when it comes to time. We believe the look of busyness and actively putting your nose to the grindstone equal quality work and success. Michael Hyatt suggests that the more we do the less productive we really are. We have so many items on our to-do list that we trade our time with family and what is most important in our life for the sake I’m being busy.

One of the hardest things for leaders to learn is utilizing the word no. Michael writes, “one of the fastest ways to get focused on work that drives results is eliminating low leverage tasks and commitments that fill your list and clutter your calendar.”

This is why we must cut everything from our drudgery or disinterest and distractions zones.

When we begin to understand that our resources are finite we can determine what needs our attention and what does not need our attention. In other words, let your calendar say no for you by adopting a strategy of responding to request with a simple no. For example, if you have something on your calendar such as the day off you’ve planned to work on your garden, you don’t have to tell somebody that you’re gardening that day you just have to mention that you would love to meet with them but you have a prior obligation.

Try utilizing that simple 2 letter word and buy back your time. Because time is fixed–and we can’t buy anymore–we have to realize we will never become free to focus on the things that really matter, like our top priorities, unless we learn to delegate and move things off of our lists or simply batching them into a single activity.

3. Now we are free to act by consolidating, prioritizing our tasks, and eliminating distractions.

Before Michael Hyatt released his book, I began implementing the tips that I’ve learned by following his blog. One of the things that I have learned, and I’m still trying to improve, is the elimination of distractions. I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD, but I’m sure I have some form of that flowing through my neural network. My parents, when I was young took me to a specialist to help me learn how to focus my thoughts on the task at hand.

Michael recommends that we take charge of our environments by making our workspace less distracting and maybe simply updating the scenery in your space. One particular app that I’ve been trying out for deep focused work is, focusatwill.com. It uses the Pomodoro Technique in adding scientifically focused music to your timed work sessions. I’ve found it has helped.

When you begin taking a stab at total productivity, you’ll find the freedom to focus on what’s truly important. It starts by carving out margin in your calendar and to-do lists. This begins by clarifying what it is you really want to accomplish. Michael recommends starting with your week’s big picture.

1. Find your top 3 most pressing things form your quarterly/yearly goals and write those down.
2. Next, find the next steps to make those goals work – These become your daily big 3.
3. Write down your daily big 3. If you don’t get anything else accomplished, this is where you focus your time and energy.
4. If it isn’t important, can be delegated, or can be consolidated with other tasks, do that.

The goal isn’t to allow yourself to become overburdened with easy and meaningless tasks–we all have those and they suck the life out of true productivity–but to really dig down deep and pull out the top things you must focus on to further each goal that you’ve set.

If you’re wanting to take your productivity to the next level, focus on what really matters, and achieve more by doing less, I highly recommend you pick up Michael’s new book: Free to Focus. This book will change your life.