First off, thanks for the encouraging comments! I’ve been 100% focused on launching a new business the last 6 months. Yes, thing are finally taking off now, PLEW! (I’l do post on that later!)
Anyways…
I was talking to my wife yesterday and she brought up a GREAT point regarding the ability to focus and success in life.
That is, the MORE you can focus in, and get in the zone, in your business, in your marriage, with your health, or just about anything else in life the more likely you are to succeed.
I’m NOT talking about self-discipline here, I’m actually talking about the ability to get so FOCUSED on the task at hand and let the whole world around you just become a blur.
The MORE you can focus :
- The MORE productive you’ll be
- What you produce will be of MUCH higher quality
- Dramatically increases your ability to absorb information and learn
- You’ll build MOMENTUM and come up with breakthroughs and ideas you never would have otherwise
Now here’s the PROBLEM: a lot of you (and you KNOW WHO YOU ARE) can’t focus for more than 30 seconds without getting distracted.
Why is this?
Well, let me see, you’ve:
- 2 chat boxes open
- the TV running in the background
- been trying to do 3 things at once
- a baby’s crying and spousing calling you
- people texting you on your iphone
- new updates on twitter and facebook
We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information and distractions 24/7. All of these distractions and non-stop multi-tasking are killing our ability to focus 100% on ONE THING and do it REALLY well.
“So Amit, this all sound great, but how the heck do I get in focus?”
Listen up…
Focus is mental muscle that you’re gonna have to build. Here’s a few steps I suggest you follow to get started:
#1 ISOLATION
Find a place and time to work for at least 2 hours a day where you can COMPLETELY ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS. That means, no TV, no chat, no email, no SMS, NOTHING except whatever specific important task you need to get done.
#2 MEDITATION
The best way to improve your mental focus is to start meditating on a daily basis. You’ll see a big difference with just 20-30 minutes a day. You won’t believe how hard it is to sit still and think about nothing for just 20-30 minutes!
#3 LIMIT MULTITASKING
Find 2 1-hour blocks of time each day to do all your multitasking (ie chatting with 4 people while checking email, and twittering or whatever!) You’re goal is to eventually reduce this to just 1 hour per day.
Make a commitment to do this for 30 days straight and you’ll be AMAZED at what you accomplish! 
Hi Amit, I fully agree with you.. sometime we think that multitasking saves our time, but we do not realize that it is reducing the quality of the tasks which we are performing if we single out them. We just rush to finish it and move to the next one. Information keeps flowing to us from left right and center, and it is left upon us to really filter prioritize things.
Your suggestion of isolation, meditation and limiting multitasking is really great, let me try that our.
Thankx & Regards
Madhan.
This would a challenge for a scatter brain like me. Sometimes I think I’m like the guy in the movie “My Cousin Vinny”. He could not find peace in any place except a prison with sirens going off. Really would like to do the meditation, just to calm my mind sometimes.