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Read and apply these five focusing practices to improve your ability to focus as a manager.
A dog at play has the mind of a wise martial arts master,
a mind capable of perfect focus ~ Author unknown
Define Your Focus. How do you define focus? Read the definition below and determine how you can use focus definitions to focus:
- the concentration of attention or energy on something; “the focus of activity shifted to molecular biology”; “he had no direction in his life”
- maximum clarity or distinctness of an image rendered by an optical system; “in focus”; “out of focus”
- maximum clarity or distinctness of an idea; “the controversy brought clearly into focus an important difference of opinion”
- concentrate: direct one’s attention on something; “Please focus on your studies and not on your hobbies”
- cause to converge on or toward a central point; “Focus the light on this image”
- stress: special emphasis attached to something; “the stress was more on accuracy than on speed”
- concenter: bring into focus or alignment; to converge or cause to converge; of ideas or emotions
- a point of convergence of light (or other radiation) or a point from which it diverges
- become focussed or come into focus; “The light focused”
- put (an image) into focus; “Please focus the image; we cannot enjoy the movie”
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Blinders On. Even one distraction can bring your house of cards down, so be complete about this. This means: Clear your desk. If you need to, clear it all off into a pile on the floor to deal with after you are done. No internet or computer programs open that are unnecessary for your project. No TV or Radio unless it is instrumental or unless you are doing art work and you work best with music. No noise. If you have other people nearby that make noise on a regular basis, consider getting a pair of noise canceling headphones. No phone. That’s what voice mail and caller id are for. Don’t answer it. If you think it might be important you can listen to the voicemail and decide when will be the best time to call back. Imagine that you are in a meeting and can’t be interrupted. No email or feed reader. Just you and your project. From Dumb Little Men how to focus your mind on the project.
One Task at a Time: Laser-focused leaders know that multitasking saps their organization of focus, energy, and productivity. From Lisa Haneberg’s Focus Like a Laser Beam.
Find the still point: Still your body. One sign of fragmented attention is fragmented movement. For example, when you are at the theatre, it is easy to tell if others around you are fully attentive to the performance. People who sniff and sigh, move their heads this away and that, and wiggle in their seats are having some difficulty concentrating. Rapt attention is usually accompanied by still body posture. From 8 tips to Focus Your Mind.
The Five More Rule. There are two kinds of people — those who have learned how to work through frustration, and those who wish they had. From now on, if you’re in the middle of a task and tempted to give up — just do FIVE MORE. Read FIVE MORE pages. Finish FIVE MORE math problems. Work FIVE MORE minutes. Just as athletes build physical stamina by pushing past the point of exhaustion, you can build mental stamina by pushing past the point of frustration. Sam Horn, Top 5 Tips to Improve Concentration.
Get focused and if you need to learn more about focusing read the posts, articles, or book listed above.
Photo Credit: Through A Childs Eye by http://flickr.com/photos/raylopez/867883420/
Click here to read David Zinger’s focus
on employee engagement and strength based leadership.
1055 days ago
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1159 days ago
[...] Pink Magazine-“Overcoming Procrastination”FlyingSolo.comSlackerManager.com [...]
1171 days ago
[...] Pink Magazine-“Overcoming Procrastination”FlyingSolo.comSlackerManager.com [...]
Harrison:
Stay focused, one at a time, can lead to many.
David
Yeah, I have to agree with you that focusing on one task at a time is the way to focus. However, this have to depend on condition. Sometime you can define 10 tasks as 1 big task and do it concurrent. Then you can boost your speed and productive. Of course, first you have to define your goal and the 10 tasks that you are going to focus. For me this is considered “focusing on one task at a time”.
Eric: Thanks for taking me into despair! I’ll work on it.
Kevin: We need downtime at work too and you can always learn something for your work. So it could be a good sign.
I am so focused that I am reading blogs at work, that can’t be a good sign.
I really like point number 5. Like Edmund Burke said, “Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.”
1507 days ago
[...] via Slack Manager [...]
Keep on practicing and stay focused
1508 days ago
[...] 5 Practices to Sharpen Your Focus at Work By David Zinger Work FIVE MORE minutes. Just as athletes build physical stamina by pushing past the point of exhaustion, you can build mental stamina by pushing past the point of frustration. Sam Horn, Top 5 Tips to Improve Concentration. … Slacker Manager – http://www.slackermanager.com [...]