4 secrets of focused people

Flickr user emiliokuffer

(MoneyWatch) At one of my workshops recently, a man mentioned that he'd like to make better use of his time. In particular, he wanted long stretches of time to focus on big projects. But, as he asked his colleagues in the room, if he didn't return their emails immediately, would they hold it against him?

I think this question is quite common. People describe the modern workday as a firefight. Emails are constantly coming at you, seemingly requiring an instant response. There's no time to think except outside of normal business hours. And that doesn't seem very fair if you want a normal life, too.

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But some of this urgency may be more perception than reality. We inflict it on ourselves. Here's how to establish new habits.

1. Start small. Even in the most frenetic office environments, you're allowed to go to the bathroom or grab a coffee (or both). Consequently, you're probably already comfortable being off email for 15 or 20 minutes. Challenge yourself to close your inbox and turn off your devices for 20 minutes while you focus. If 20 minutes goes by without the earth crashing into the sun, you can start stretching this time to 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off through the day.

2. Be disciplined. The first time you try to go an hour fully focused on one project, you'll probably be jumpy. You'll find yourself mindlessly trying to turn on your smartphone, but that's just a sign of withdrawal. You'll get used to it. An emergency may always interrupt your focused time, but don't let that emergency be your own bad habits.

3. Create space. Designate certain times that you'd like to keep free, and do your best not let meetings and phone calls interrupt that time. I try to keep mornings open and schedule calls in the afternoon. It doesn't always work, but if anyone asks me to suggest a time, it won't be in the a.m., and hence I don't have a lot of early calls. Try to model this expectation with your teams -- that certain hours are better for meetings than others, to leave certain times open.

4. Try working at home. As long as you don't have children underfoot, it's the best way to avoid distractions. If you work in teams, you probably shouldn't work at home all the time, but once a week or so when you need to think creates a great balance.

How do you find time to focus?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user emiliokuffer

[energytoempower]

I do the following and so far its helping me get my work done faster and better:

- Come to work 30 minutes before everyone so you have guaranteed quiet time to look at your list for the day and organize your mind around it
- Have a list for the day. Otherwise you're at the mercy of whoever wants to arrange a meeting with you next
- Be okay with saying no, but do it fairly and nicely. Tell your coworker, "No, right now doesn't work for me but how about I come back to you after looking at my schedule?"
- If its okay in your company, put your earphones on. It automatically subtracts you from being sidelined by casual chatter here and there
- Open your work email/laptop on Sunday evening. I guarantee you if you do this one thing to prepare for Monday morning your whole week will automatically go well.
- Sleep. Sleep is my number one detractor from focusing at work. If I don't get my scheduled sleep from the night before my entire work day is one event after another cascading into wastefulness

Cheers
Eesha

Singapore

[kfhenderson]

I recommend doing what the author says: Schedule your time or someone else will. I literally make appointments with myself to do specific tasks/projects and they are blocked off my calendar so internal folks don't schedule me during that time. Then, when I make an exception for an external appointment, it's something I have control over. I'm not saying this works 100 percent of the time, but without it, my to-do list would roll over every day and I would have to crunch after hours to get stuff done.

[Haim Pekel]

Going over your to-do list the night before and working without interruption in one place also helps to prepare you to the day ahead, focusing you on the task at hand and preventing interruptions. IQTELL's Productivity app is the all in one place app that lets you prepare your to do list and run them from one tab.

The app combines all your email accounts, runs Evernote , syncs calendars and helps to attach files and notes...all in one place! To apply to the beta go to our site at iqtell.com

[Tobalcane100]

If I truly need to quiet time, I take my laptop and go to the public library. The one I go to is relatively new and has wifi. The library feels enough like office environment to do some real work, but not homey where I feel like wasting time in front of the tv.