Updated: November 8, 2022
How do you accomplish an overwhelming number of tasks? What do you do when project deadlines loom and you’re nowhere near half of the work yet?
The short answer is to stop worrying and continue working. But I know that’s easier said than done.
In my life as a freelancer and entrepreneur, I’ve learned that one of the secrets to productivity is sustained work focus. This means prioritizing important tasks, doing them every day until they are accomplished.
But with so many distractions, personal limitations, and uncontrollable circumstances, it will sometimes be hard to achieve such consistent progress. Here are 12 tips that can help keep our energy, maintain our dedication, sustain our enthusiasm, and improve our work focus towards accomplishing our goals.
- Learn to delegate. Don’t be afraid to ask your family, friends, and colleagues for help in doing your minor but urgent tasks. This way, you can focus more on what’s important.
- Study your energy patterns. Determine which times of the day you feel inspired and motivated and note when your lazy times are. Being aware of this helps in planning your daily routine.
- Block out time for work. This means having a daily, non-negotiable schedule to do your important tasks.
- Remove possible distractions. Eliminate time wasters – turn off the television, tell your friends and colleagues not to disturb you and disconnect from the internet.
- Always have well-defined goals. Write them down on paper. State your desired results as clearly as possible.
- Assess your tasks at hand. Determine which are urgent and/or important. Act accordingly.
- Give yourself a powerful reason and meaningful purpose why you need to finish your task. Having this will motivate you to sustain your work focus.
- Employ finish-line focus towards your tasks. Before starting, decide the amount of work you want to finish, don’t stop until you meet that goal. Stay committed.
- Break down complicated tasks into simple ones. Make it a checklist. Track your progress and cross off completed tasks immediately. This will make you feel better and hopefully inspire you to do more.
- Take a break once in a while. When you notice yourself becoming less focused and feeling strung out, stop for a moment and rest. Just make sure you come back to it though. Avoid procrastination.
- Reward yourself for accomplishing your set tasks. Remember that it’s important to always feel good about your work.
- Be consistent. Move ahead towards your goals every day. Plan and prioritize your tasks constantly. Make it a habit.
How about you? Do you have any more tips on how to stay focused? Please share them below.
What to do next: Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
Very helpful tips here Fitz, thanks for posting this article!
These are really great tips, Fitz. As a former supervisor who had around 300 associates, hitting the monthly production target is our main job. Since I only had 4 Group Leaders, I had to balance their work load which I think is a top concern when I delegate the task. This is to ensure that it will be done on time, with less mistakes.
I also use a GANTT chart to monitor the development of each activity. Then, we have a daily meeting at the end of the day.
I would like to add a good point here – brainstorming. Although I am their leader, I am always open to suggestions, oppositions and comments. In this way, all of us can contribute by looking through different angles.
I may be their leader, but I am not perfect. They may see things that I don’t see. In fact, they are the ones who are really doing the job and I just supervise them.
Thanks and keep coming!
Fitz, are you aware that your posts are always helpful to me? I can say no more but thanks for these pieces of advice. Actually, as a government employee, BLOGGING is the number one factor why I lose my focus on work. I’ll do No.4 and cut the internet connection so I won’t get distracted by the urge to blog and plurk. Lol.
Some great tips here. Avoiding procrastination is my constant battle (hence reading blogs right now!). I wrote a post a while back on signs people are losing interest in their job, and I think this one is a great counter to that topic for ways to refocus. Great to discover this blog as well!
[…] a living out of your true life passion is a dream, but with enough focus, persistence and hard work, that dream could someday be your […]
[…] 12 Tips To Improve and Maintain Your Work Focus […]
[…] a living out of your true life passion is a dream, but with enough focus, persistence, and hard work, that dream could someday be your […]