Tip for today: Easy way to have more focus

Every person, at any given time, has a multitude of thoughts running through their mind.  These thoughts range from things that need to be done today, tomorrow, next week (and so on) as well as thoughts about things that have happened, concerns, and thoughts about how feelings, etc. 

It is very easy to get overwhelmed not only by obligations, goals and tasks, but also by the number of thoughts that your “mind” is holding on to.  Think of your mind as a warehouse, and in it is stored priorities and all things related to those priorities.  Every time something new comes to your attention that you feel is important to you, it is like throwing several more boxes (thoughts) into the warehouse…over time, that warehouse becomes cluttered and chaotic.  This is what typically happens with our thoughts if we are not taught how to manage them (and let’s face it, most of us were not taught this skill).

When you try to focus on one particular aspect of your life during the day, all of the other “stuff” in your warehouse impacts how much focus you have; it is as if each item in your warehouse is represented by one guy in charge of that item, and all those guys are all yelling out to you, “Hey, this other thing is important too!  Don’t ignore it…”  Now you have a mass number of guys trying to make sure that you “stay on top” of everything in the warehouse trying to get your attention, and this creates mental distractions.  What happens to your focus?  It becomes short-lived, scattered and minimally effective. 

Here’s a tip!

Take time every week or so to make a list ON PAPER of what you want to accomplish, focus on or achieve. It can be things that you want to get done that day, as well as this week, next week or even over the course of a few months.  You can list them in order of priority of you want to, but the important thing to do is get it out of your head!  When you make this list, it is as if the guys in your warehouse can sit quietly and await your attention because they now know that you are less-likely to forget because you took the action to write it out and have it as a visual reminder in front of you.  Those guys also feel acknowledged now because you have actually acknowledged them in your list. 

This is such an easy trick to quieting your mind and gaining clarity and focus so that the energy that you put forth can have more productive results.  Of course there aren’t really any “guys” in your head but there might as well be because all of your thoughts act as independent expressions of  you!  Oh, and as you get one thing on the list done, be sure to check it off so that you can allow your mind to “let it go”.  Have a great day!  ~Jennifer Tavana

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