Discover Prompts – Focus

How I try to stay focused

I suspect most people have been in a situation where they NEED to be focused on the job in hand, but a hundred and one other things get in the way. It happens to best of us, me included! I am easily distracted. Just looking at my PC now, this minute, I have 12 tabs open….now that’s not really focusing. First task is to close all but this one down! Then I can focus on this blog post. 😊

I have three very different projects on the go, all focusing on different things:

Physical and Design

Spring is here in Hungary and with it comes a mountain of gardening. I am fortunate, I love gardening, even the mundane tasks like digging and weeding. It’s back-breaking and blister-giving but very rewarding when it’s complete. The design part is when I eventually sit down, take a breather and grab my notebook. Planning the design is as fun as actually creating it.

Mental and Creative

I write everyday as I guess most of you reading this will do too. When I think about it, I write a hell of a lot… in varying forms. I blog daily, I write a journal, I read books and write reviews, I write my memoir, I write shopping lists, I write to-do lists….and so it goes on! I set aside time each day, (usually early morning) to write, this is when I am most alert and creatively minded.

Self-Help and Emotional

I used to be alcohol dependent, but not any more. When we moved to Hungary I became sober. With it I made many improvements in my life, strengthened my marriage and can now enjoy a better future alcohol free. This took a massive commitment by me and means I have an ongoing strong focus to stay alcohol free. I am nearly at my one year anniversary without alcohol and of course, will be blogging about my sobriety journey.

My tips that help me stay focused

1. I make a plan and stick to it. It could be yearly, monthly, weekly or daily. Although I have found if I have too many goals they become overwhelming, so I just stick to two or three maximum per time slot.
2. I use my journal to outline my plan, prioritise my goals and keep it in an accessible place, usually next to my computer.
3. I try to utilise my time effectively but also have to be realistic about my daytime schedule. I have an understanding family so I can usually work round these commitments.
4. I don’t beat myself up if I don’t manage to achieve my short-term goals. Sometimes life takes unpredictable turns and other things take priority. If this happens then I move my goal to the next day or week but always manage to complete it.
5. Celebrating little victories are important to me. Achieving something, however small gives me an enormous amount of pleasure and self-satisfaction.

Other things that help me stay focused

To stay focused I have to be motivated to achieve my goals with my current projects. Watching Youtube videos, reading other peoples blogs and checking out Pinterest for relevant ideas gives me loads of inspiration to continue and remain focused.

I create vision boards with useful suggestions for my chosen project. I do this in my journal or on a large piece of paper, adding notes and sections as I think of them. This is most helpful for my garden designing. I have also created a private Pinterest board, a good way to add ideas and I have access to it at my fingertips. This is very useful for my writing projects.

Finally I focus on the finish line, whatever my goals are, however I achieve them, I remind myself of the outcome and the benefits when my task is completed. Regarding being alcohol free, that does not have a completion date, I shall be alcohol free for the rest of my life.

What tips do you have for staying focused? I would love to hear them.