Category: focus

5 Tips for Getting into the Single-Tasking Habit

~ adminlife

For too long we’ve been conditioned to think that multitasking somehow equates with productivity. The truth is, multitasking leads to distraction which means each task takes longer and more effort to complete. And did you know that when we multitask, we lose IQ points?!

With that in mind, maybe it’s time to get into the single-tasking habit. How do you get your focus back when you’ve become so used to constant jumping from item to item on your To-Do list?

1. Make a practice of having only one browser tab open at a time. If you’re reading this on the internet, then chances are you have several tabs open right now. The first step to getting your focus back is to concentrate on just one item at a time. Shut down those other tabs and take back your life!

2. One app at a time. This point follows the same principle as #1, in that you likely have several apps open at once. Limit the open apps to only those that you’re using at the time. Fewer open apps mean you’ll extend phone battery life, reduce data usage, and the phone will be more responsive.

3. Make a commitment. Whatever you’re reading or doing, tell yourself that you’re going to see it through to the end. Finish that email and answer it while it’s fresh. Or finish reading that article all the way to the end before exiting out of the news site. If you find a pushback in that you don’t want to finish reading the article, then maybe that’s your brain trying to tell you that you’re not all that interested. If that’s the case isn’t it time to stop reading and move onto something more productive? Why are you wasting time on something you don’t want to do?

4. Build your focus. Pay attention to the task at hand. Don’t let other thoughts creep into your consciousness. Being mindful means that you’re going to get more from what you’re reading or doing. You’ll also be able to put more effort into any project you’re working on rather than being distracted all the time.

5. Turn off the screens. If you’re finding that you’re too distracted by your electronics in general, then maybe it’s time to walk away completely for a time. Ask yourself – do you need to be so connected that you can’t shut down the internet for half an hour to get stuff done?

Follow these steps, and you’re going to find that single-tasking is addictive. With increased productivity, and better focus and concentration, you’ll not only feel smarter; you’ll be smarter. Now put that intellect to work on the next task.

Consider Doing a SWOT Analysis on Yourself

swot
~ adminlife

When people create case studies on businesses, they often include a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. If you can do this for business, why not consider doing one for yourself? It can help you gain insight about yourself and reinforce the idea of believing in yourself.

The concept of SWOT is usually diagrammed in quadrants or squares, representing each of the words of the acronym. It’s up to you as to which squares to place each of the words. By convention, the upper-left square is for Strengths, while the lower-left square is for Opportunities. The upper-right square is for Weaknesses, and the lower-right square is for Threats.

Fill up each quadrant with appropriate items relating to the heading of the quadrant. To take this a step further, ask family and friends to help you fill up the quadrants. After you have them all filled, you can evaluate them to see what needs improvement.

Don’t let the negative aspects (Weaknesses, Threats) trip you up when creating your analysis. You are listing them to gain perspective in areas that you need your focus. In fact, some weaknesses you may not want to tackle because it doesn’t interest you. Threats are merely items to be aware of and may help you try to overcome them.

The key to success is to be as honest as possible with yourself about all the items included in the analysis. If you aren’t, it isn’t going to help you much, and you may focus on the wrong items to improve. Further, you may not be as strong in some areas as you believed, which can lead you on the wrong path as well.

A representative SWOT analysis will give you a great foundation for your life, both personally and professionally. You can use it as a tool to advance your goals. You will learn about yourself and who you are. Don’t rush this process. You want it to be as representative of yourself as possible. It’s better to take several days or even weeks than to try to list items for the sake of filling up the quadrants.

Once you feel comfortable that you have the right items for your analysis, you can use it to help you believe in yourself. It’s all there for you to reference, and it can help you to refine your goals and tasks further.

To your success

Michael W

Michael W

P.S. If you are looking for a confidence program that can help you with your self development. Send me an email at michael@youaresuccesslifecoach.com to request a copy of my “Maximum Confidence Transformation Package”. Afterwards we can arrange a discovery telephone call to discuss the package and how you can benefit further from developing your confidence level.

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/plant-computer-using-person-mouse-2798849/

Become a Negative-Thinking Turnaround Factory

insecurity
~ adminlife

Negative thoughts bombard your life. They are all over the television. The news or your favourite television shows contain negativity. You face it at work and even at home. You will see enough of it online as well. It invades your life.

What if you could picture your brain as a factory that takes negative thinking as input and processes it to churn out positive thoughts? Perhaps this seems a bit abstract as you are not indeed a factory. But, if you can think in these terms, you may be able to combat the negative thinking.

On your transition to factory status, you need to stop yourself from overreacting to what people say. When someone says something you don’t agree with, take a moment to consider what they are saying. When you get annoyed at others, you stop listening to them and only want to get your point across as to why they are wrong. Instead, after he or she speaks, take a moment and consider what the message is.

The next stage is to try and see the other person’s point of view. If you have a difficult time doing this, calmly ask questions of the person making the statement. You can say that you don’t understand the reason for the statement and would like to know more about why they said it.

You don’t have to agree with the other person, even after you start to process what they say. But, the act of listening and considering their point of view will transform you. You may start to challenge your belief system. Sometimes, you can get so focused on a belief even when the reason why you feel that way has changed. When you start to question your beliefs, you will consider what others have to say more openly. The process will help you turn negative thoughts into positive ones.

Negative thoughts seldom lead to believing in oneself. You will end up challenging what everyone says as wrong if they don’t agree with your way of thinking. You will become bitter towards others and eventually towards yourself. You won’t believe that anything is possible because you shoot down every suggestion. This type of thinking doesn’t make people happy.

When you start to open yourself to others, you will learn more and be accepting of different beliefs. You will become enlightened when this happens.

To your success

Michael W

Michael W

P.S. If you are looking for a confidence program that can help you with your self development. Send me an email at michael@youaresuccesslifecoach.com to request a copy of my “Maximum Confidence Transformation Package”. Afterwards we can arrange a discovery telephone call to discuss the package and how you can benefit further from developing your confidence level.

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/insecurity-fears-aversions-cube-1306280/

Focus and Action Go Hand in Hand

life action
~ adminlife


What good is having focus if you don’t take any action? Conversely, if you take action without a focus, how will you know you are doing the right things? As you can probably surmise, focus and action go hand in hand.

The concepts reinforce each other. Suppose you decide that you need to increase sales, or whatever your goal happens to be. You plan out the steps and use that to set your focus. Then, when you execute the plan by taking action, you will learn that your focus was correct. Or, you will learn that it didn’t work out for some reason and that you need to consider alternate plans.

The last sentence of the previous paragraph is important. Not everything you plan will work out and you need to keep that in mind. If you find something isn’t working out, and you don’t believe it is going to get any better, don’t hesitate to find something else. Otherwise, the focus-action loop will get stale, and you will get frustrated. This is a negative reinforcement that will only serve to help you fail.

Failure is part of the process. Your actions should be iterative along with measures of what is happening. It can’t hurt to have alternative plans defined at the beginning of the cycle if that is possible. If not, just determine those alternatives when they make sense.

When you continue in this manner, you will find your focus is more intense. This is because you believe the actions you take will lead you to the desired results and you’ll shift your focus if it doesn’t.

If you need to extend this entire concept to a team, make sure they understand that the possibility of failure exists. This will help you guide them to different paths. Of course, if a few of the team members are not doing their part, this is another path you will need to deal with. These members may not be clear on the benefits of the plan. When that happens, they will lose focus, and they won’t be able to take action. Or, the actions they do take will not coincide with what the team is trying to deliver.

When you approach your goals in this way, you will likely excel at your job or business. You’ll have a renewed sense of purpose, and you will bring the business to new heights.

To your success

Michael W

Michael W

P.S. If you are looking for a confidence program that can help you with your self development. Send me an email at michael@youaresuccesslifecoach.com to request a copy of my “Maximum Confidence Transformation Package”. Afterwards we can arrange a discovery telephone call to discuss the package and how you can benefit further from developing your confidence level.

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/board-result-excuse-me-failure-3240465/

Learn How to Make Mistakes

mistakes-1
~ adminlife

A big reason why you don’t trust yourself is you are afraid to make mistakes. It’s a common situation for many people. However, it could be holding you back in your success. When you learn how to make mistakes, you will be ready to start trusting yourself.

You may have heard people say that nobody is perfect. You should make it a rule to live by because it’s a true statement. When you make mistakes, you learn from them. That is what makes them so valuable. Of course, if you don’t learn from them, you will be doomed to making the same mistakes repeatedly. That’s why you have to do a post-mortem of your actions and evaluate where you made your mistakes.

If you try too hard to avoid mistakes, you end up making more of them. That is because no one is perfect. You simply cannot avoid mistakes and you shouldn’t.

Sometimes, the mistakes that you make will make people angry with you. It’s a part of life. If this happens, you first have to determine if your mistakes truly affected those people. If it didn’t, they have no right to call you out on them. If it turns out that your actions did affect them, do what you can to rectify the situation. A simple apology may be all that is needed.

Just as you would like others to forgive you when you make mistakes, be forgiving of others when they make mistakes, and it affects you. It’s not fair to expect others to forgive you if you aren’t willing to do the same. It’s okay to get angry in certain situations. But, open your heart and let them make amends.

Once you give in to making mistakes, you will find it a freeing experience. You will no longer need to put too much pressure on yourself to avoid them. Another factor to consider is that mistakes can lead to positive unintended circumstances. Just look at sticky notes by 3M. The researchers at the company set out to create a strong adhesive that resulted in a weak one. Someone at the company took the idea and used it to create the sticky notes product. There have been many instances of mistakes that lead to alternative solutions. These would not have happened if they were trying to avoid the mistakes.

Permit yourself to make mistakes which will help you to trust yourself.

To your success

Michael W

Michael W

P.S. If you are looking for a confidence program that can help you with your self development. Send me an email at michael@youaresuccesslifecoach.com to request a copy of my “Maximum Confidence Transformation Package”. Afterwards we can arrange a discovery telephone call to discuss the package and how you can benefit further from developing your confidence level.

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/mistakes-failures-opportunity-2460733/