Laser Focus for Maximum Productivity

I’ve always had a a hard time focusing on just one thing, especially since I had my 3-year old daughter. In fact, my business partner now accuses me of having the attention span of a toddler. One of my clients has a similar challenge. She calls it being distracted by “shiny things”. I can relate. Shiny things are fun and exciting. They can open up new doors of possibilities. For someone like me, “shiny things” smack of entrepreneurialism. Much more fun than the mundane job of daily operations.

Or so I thought, until my coach introduced me to “laser focus”. When I’d complain that it was boring to focus on just 1-2 projects in a day, he’d remind me that focus doesn’t mean hard work, 24/7. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s putting an intense laser on a project for a short period of time. During that time, I focus on what’s going to be the most effective use of my time to make the biggest impact on that project. So instead of looking at the “shiny things” of possibilities for that project, I laser in on what’s actually going to work that day. Then I walk away…no need to keep working on that project as I did the most effective thing for the day. That then allows me to laser focus on another project. So in a day, I may do 3-4 hours of laser focus on a number of projects, allowing me to move forward on many projects without getting stuck in the day-to-day routine of each project.

The impact? More fun. More free time. More energy. More projects that actually work, rather than projects that “may” work. Fewer “shiny things”, but that’s OK. I’d rather have a successful project than a “shiny” project that never worked. How about you? Give it a try and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised!