How High Performers Keep Focused

Foreign. Everyone, this is Sean Butner with start your day with a high performance coach. Welcome to this morning show that I do during the week. So really all we're here to do is start your day with some high performance principles so that you can be more productive, more influential, more happy in your life, really just more engaged overall. Social. So today what we're going to talk about is how high performers are able to focus and keep focus because, you know, with everything going on in the news, regardless on where you stand on any of the various issues, it's distracting and it can, you know, pull us off our mission. It could pull us off of that, you know, heart of service to our families, to our teams, to our communities. So, so just wanted to do a quick video for that. So if you're joining me for the first time or for another time, I guess, comment below, say hi, say what's up? Super helpful, love to interact with the crowd. So if you have any questions, post them down below and I'll check them after this feed. They'll probably pop up on one of the the screens here. So also if you like these shows, be sure to hit subscribe or like or follow or whatever on wherever you're seeing us on Instagram, YouTube or Facebook. So as I was thinking about what to talk about this morning in, you know, a couple of minutes, I thought that focus is something great because it's something we talk a lot about in my high performance coaching group. And really all that, why it's important for high performance is, you know, you know, it's a superpower that people have to be able to really deeply focus on things. And with distractions like the Internet and Netflix, you have people coming into your office, whether that's at home and it's kids or it's in the office and it's co workers. And so how do you manage all the information coming in? How do you manage, you know, what your priorities are. Because either you're being proactive and getting after your day, getting after the things that further your goals and further what's good for yourself, for your company, for your family and community, or you're constantly reacting to the fire of the moment. And I'm not sure if you've ever felt this, but especially in my tech career, that, you know, you could be focused on something and then, you know, somebody comes in and you go a completely different direction and, and then at the end of the week you're like, I got nothing done on my projects. And really that is a focus problem. Right? Some people Say, oh, it's time management. It's like, not really. Like, if you had the right focus, you'd get the right things done. So in a high performance context, I'll share a couple of habits that I think are helpful for maintaining focus and for you to maintain your focus, you know, wherever you are and in whatever part of your life. So I also know that people think that, hey, I can multitask, I can do 50 different things at once. And I would say, like, probably, and I bet you, you could do a better job if you focused on just one or two things at a time. So with that said, the first thing to help you stay focused at your job, in your relationships, you know, on your health or well being, is just clear your mind, right? And so, you know, the classic, you know, personal development thing is like, do meditation. And it sounds silly sometimes, especially if you haven't done it, but it's a really great way to just kind of get centered. Because when you're centered, you can think about how you're going to react and not just get into that reaction mode. So, you know, meditation is really good. The David Allen's Get Things Done has a really awesome exercise where you just take everything, all the projects, all the tasks and everything you got to do in your head and put it on a blank sheet of paper so you can then figure out, do I delegate it, do I just drop it because it's not important, do I get it done today? You know, so you kind of figure that out. So meditation is really good for clearing your mind. Getting everything out of your head is really good for your mind. And the third thing that we talk about in high performance is, you know, to not be constantly engaging in your email box or I guess your slap chat to Slack instant messaging, whatever you do for your work or your organization. Because, you know, we'll get to this on the next point a little bit more. But you know, when, you know, you first sit down to work and you're constantly taking in all the messages that have been sent at you, either via email or instant message or text voicemails, that kind of thing, you're setting up your day to begin in reaction. And so, you know, the high performance habit is to think about what your priorities are for the day, to think about, you know, who you need to contact, who you're waiting for stuff on, and then what's the number one thing you have to get done that day and then just do that in the first hour. So you're starting your, your workday then with Reaction or with a proactive action and you know, you're not reacting. And then no matter what happens for the rest of the day, if you have to react, like, at least you got something done that was meaningful, that moved things forward for you. So again, meditation, that head clearing exercise is really good. And then, you know, start the first hour not in email and messages and all that stuff, but working on the number one priority you have. And if you're in a, like a customer service job where your whole job is email, you know, figure out how you can, you know, maybe group problem tickets. You know, this is something that I, when I did tech at Walmart, we had a customer service component of it. And, you know, you can get so lost in solving all that stuff that, you know, taking a step back to figure out like all these problems are. Because this is the big issue. If we solve this, all these other support things go away. Will help you advance in your career. It'll help you relax. So remember, step number one, clear your mind to keep focused. Second thing to think about is what's your intention for the day? You know, when people are off, not focused and distractions with their day, they just sometimes don't have an intention for what they want to accomplish. So that exercise of starting the first hour of your day, working on the priority day, and thinking about what you need to do helps set that intention. But it's also, you know, in your calendar, and especially if you live in a corporate environment, but that calendar, so, you know, people live and die by that. So if you have a priority that you got to get done that day and you didn't get it done in that first hour, where does it show up on your calendar to accomplish it or to work on it or to advance it on, you know, the next step? Because if you don't have it on the calendar, chances are when someone's like, hey, can you work on this big fire? Because I, you know, screwed up and I'm telling you at the last minute. So, you know, and they're all freaked out and you go, yeah, okay, I can. Or like, no, no, I got to get this thing done. And then I can help. You know, that's the difference. And, you know, being able to say no, but with a reason like, no, I can't do this because this needs to get done right now too, can help you push back a little bit in a more effective way. So, yeah, that intention is everything when you're trying to keep focus, trying to move the things that matter to you forward. Excuse me, Next thing is to have a plan, right? So we talked a little bit about that with the calendar. But I wanted to say, knowing what your, you know, big projects are, the big things that are moving you forward personally in your career, in your health, with relationships, if you have those on the top of your mind, you'll be able to say no to every opportunity. You know, so many times, like, I'm not sure if you've met the person that says yes to everything. It's like, hey, you want to go do that? Yeah, yeah, I'm. I'm good. And then they're like, man, I'm so tired. I've been doing all these different things. It's because they don't have a plan for what they want to accomplish. So other things kind, you know, that are shiny, get in the way, and they're like, yes, of course I'm going to do that. And of course there's a time and place for that. But, you know, if it's not moving you forward, if it. It's causing you kind of stall out, then, you know, you're actually hurting yourself. So, you know, what's your plan to move your projects forward? Is it on your calendar like we talked about? Is it something you're doing daily? Is it something that. Are you able to stay on track? Because if you keep getting pulled off by other folks, it might be you're just not clear on what you're going after every day. So. And how to execute it, which is the plan. The last thing to think about if you want to keep focused and keep moving those important things forward, is something called benefit extension. That. Something that one of my mentors talks about a lot, Brendan Burchard. And really all it is is like, why is this necessary for you and your life? You know, so why is this project necessary for you to complete at work, like, engaging in that? Why a bit more? You know, sometimes we can get bored or frustrated with. With things that we need to do because we don't see the big picture or because we think it's like, this experience sucks for me, but if I accomplish it, it's going to, you know, move the project to the. The final phase where the company, you know, has all that money coming in, or we're going to move the relationship to where my spouse feels more loved, you know, or my fan, my kids are going to be happy because, you know, they learned something. Excuse me. They learned something from the process. So let's get some. Some coffee here. But. So another way to phrase it is why is this important for, for the people around you. You know, sometimes finding that extra focus is knowing that people are relying on you or you're role modeling for the folks around you. So that one's super powerful to keep you focused, to keep you out of Netflix, to keep you out of social media, to keep you out of all the things that can really detract from you. So hope you guys really liked this video. This was fun for me. Let me know if you guys like this new format. I know I was kind of doing like weekly topics. This is a little bit more varied, maybe a little bit more interesting. I don't know. So I'm still figuring out. Let me know what you guys think again. You know, subscribe, follow wherever you watch this video. And I will in a couple of weeks be closing down my access to individual coaching because I, I have almost full, you know, all the spots are filled and coffee's starting to kick in, so. But if you're interested in figuring out and digging into your performance, you know, we have a high performance questionnaire that'll qualify you for a free strategy session. You can go to SeanButner.com coaching or Sean coach and when you go there, you'll get the application. You fill that out, you get a link to, you know, have that schedule that one hour strategy session. Then I get back to you if I think we can work together. So hope you check it out. It's really like the questionnaire is super helpful in just thinking through your life in that high performance lens, in the lens of the, the different habits we know really make a difference in people's lives. So, so many of my clients and people that I've taken through that strategy session say that that questionnaire is just worth it on its own. It's super valuable and it's free. So it'll take you like 20 minutes to get through it and it's super helpful. But if you're interested in that, again, it's SeanButter.com coaching or Sean coach will take you to that same link too. Hope to see you there, guys, and have a great day. Take care.