Protect Your Focus!

There's nothing like feeling like you're in flow on a task when you're at that edge of challenge, that edge of your ability with everything you are focused on what you're doing. You know, time seems to peel away and it's one of the many strengths that folks have as high performing introverts, right? The ability to focus for long times on specific things. Start your week. Great. Start your week with a coach. I'm your host, certified high performance coach Sean Butner, and we're going to talk about something that will help you advance in your life this week. So let's go. And you know, we know that sometimes it can be a huge struggle in an organization if they have an open floor plan, if you have noisy neighbors, if you are sharing the space where you're constantly being interrupted or you're constantly being unable to block time to really accomplish things. So this week in the high performance, high performing introvert series, we are talking about how to improve your productivity by doubling down on one of the strengths that many introverts have and that is the ability to focus. So when we can't get into focus or we don't feel like we're in focus, have that, that sense of flow for a period of time that's one with that sense of kind of ennui or malaise or restlessness or just kind of boredom can set in. Because I think as people we actually crave that type of experience. So what can we do to help you focus for longer periods of time or to really make sure you're focusing on the things that are moving your life forward and not just busy work? Because oftentimes too it's really hard to get in flow when you don't believe that there's meaning behind the work that you're doing. So that's what we're going to talk about today. So here are five strategies to help you focus a bit more. The first thing is very simple. Just keep the main thing. The main thing, which I think was Zig Ziglar who said that. I'm mistreating that probably. But really knowing every day what the daily mission is, what is the number one thing you have to get done that day and then trying to do that as soon as possible. Now, as someone that's been in corporate America for a while and someone that has helped people through high performance coaching really double their productivity or up their productivity and effectiveness in their jobs, you know this is the most important thing. So there's one thing that you would need to do going Forward here, if you're not already very disciplined in this, it's to, at the beginning of the day, determine what is the number one task, what is the number one goal, what is the number one achievement you have to do by the end of the day, and then spend the first hour really working on that. That's what we advise in high performance. And what you'll find there is one, when you have the most important thing done early on in the day, that gets you momentum, that gets you feeling like you're progressing. It helps you block out time so that you get into that flow state. And two, as you continue to move forward throughout the day, things don't matter as much. So if you accomplish the big. And this is what I mean by that, when you accomplish your big thing in the morning and then everything goes sideways because something unexpected happened later in the day, you're not on your heels trying to figure out how you're gonna get everything done. You're like, okay, everything after 10 o' clock when I finish, the number one thing is bonus time. And so I can react to this, I can be a little bit more calm about it, a little bit more at peace, handle it effectively, and then the next day, you do the number one next thing. And enough days doing that and you have tons of progress. So that's the number one thing. The second thing that we'll talk about and share, that I share with my clients is to think about kind of like, what is your macro strategy for the day? Right. And what does that really mean? That's a fancy way to say, what is the structure of the day? Like, one is, do you have work times, when do you have social times, when do you have transition times, when do you have breaks, when do you have time for social media and emails and all that type of stuff that sometimes can distract us or things that we need to do for our job or things we need to do for our families and people we live with. So really having that in mind each day where, you know, I'm going to go to work at 6 in the morning, I'm going to go to work at 10 in the morning. Whatever you do, you know, these, this is how my workday kind of looks. I'll spend an hour doing my number one thing. I'll spend the next two hours doing work blocks and I'll get into block scheduling here and the micro strategies coming up. You know, this is when I'm going to take breaks to, to relax, to rejuvenate, to, to really bring the joy to My day. So it's not just a monotonous type of run through. And there you go. So I find, and this is really, you know, for a lot of my career, was against my instinct, which was that I don't like structure in the day. I like to be able to kind of react and, you know, handle things as they come. And as I've gotten older, as I've gotten wiser, as I've, you know, progressed in my career and in my work, in my business and what I do every day, I found that some structure opens up a ton of time for you, right? So when, you know, when you're going to work out every day and you don't have to think about it, one, you're going to be more likely to do it, right? You know, I used to run marathons and there came a time when it's 6 o' clock in the afternoon, that's when I did my run. And just your body gets ready, you know, you start kind of going on autopilot with some of that stuff. But, you know, you're in your workout clothes and you go for a run, you do it, come back, eat dinner and however it works out. So actually having that structure is super helpful. And I found I've needed it a lot more to open up more free time. Right. To have more space to think, to dream, to strategize, to really reflect on what's going on. You know, that little bit of structure went a long way. So I highly recommend you thinking about what's the structure of your week? What's the structure of each day? You know, if you have a work day versus a home day or, you know, not workday or whatever, however you divvy it up, it's really good to kind of have that high level, big picture, 1,000 or 10,000 foot view of how it's gonna look, right? And now we'll get into three, what I'll call micro strategies. You know, tactical things that should be part of that grand strategy, but will really help you get into flow, really help you produce more, will help you be more effective in what you're doing. Okay, so point number three here, guys, is pit stops, right? When are you taking time to give your eyes a break? If you're looking at the computer all the time, when are you taking breaks to do a little meditation, to kind of get your energy up, to shake up what's going on? When are you taking pit stops to go for a quick walk or to see the sun? If you work in the basement of the corporation you work at, because that was me for a while. So getting these little breaks can one, help break up the day a little bit, which can help you be a little bit more creative. Two, it's all about helping you take little breaks so you sustain your energy throughout the day. Because if you make it to lunch and you're just wore out because you've been focused for four or five hours before that, and the rest of the day you're just going to be trying to do stuff but kind of going through the motions because your head's hitting hazy or you're just completely drained and you don't have the capacity for it, that after lunch dip, never, you never recover from it. And so it's taken half the day out of you and that adds up over time. So really like it could just be every hour. And we'll get into the block time here. You do a ten minute little break where you go to the bathroom, you get some water, you do some stretches, you go outside for a quick walk, you see the sun, do a meditation, close your eyes. That type of stuff again can really be impactful. Okay, idea number four. Another micro strategy. Wellspring habits. Right? I like to start my day with a little bit of music and journaling, if I can, because I know those two things help me feel energized, they help me feel happy. You know, it kind of fills my energy cup so I can handle things going on afterwards. That's what I mean by wellspring. It's the things that fill your energy well, so that later you can use it in doing videos or doing meetings, or really sitting down and focusing on the work you need to do. The things that use up your energy throughout the day. And so having one in the morning, having one in the afternoon, maybe after lunch is really helpful. And then one in the evening. Right. So three days or three times a day, having something that is helping you feel connected to your life, stuff that you want to do, maybe hobbies, it might be, you know, reading, it could be playing basketball or socializing. Whatever it is for you, you know, what are the things that really help you feel energized and ready to serve at a higher level each day? Having three of those. Okay, the next and final strategy, the fifth one, which is a microstrategy, is block time. Right. And that is, if I were to open up your calendar today, would I see one hour blocks where for 50 minutes you're focused on one task and then 10 minutes you're doing one of these pit stops. A wellspring one of these types of break type things to help you sustain your energy throughout the day. Right. So it's 50 minutes on, 10 minutes off. And when you get in this rhythm of planning out your blocks and really getting at it, you'll find that you're just that much more motivated, you're that much more on. There's something magical about knowing that you're going to give it your all for 50 minutes and then take a break. I know a lot of my clients have resisted this idea and then when they implement it, they are super just enthusiastic about doing block time. So it's one of the things that kind of ties up everything we talked about today. You know, the first block should be your number one most important mission. You should have times when you're gonna do social media and emails during the day. So it's not pulling your focus out. You should be having those pit stops, you know, doing those well swing hats. Keep your energy up and then the block time is where the rubber meets the road and you're really just crushing it. So if you could do, you know, try to do two blocks next week, the number one thing, and then an extra one right after that and if that works well for you, try to add some more. You start communicating that you're being focused. And unless it's, you know, house on fire, building on fire, somebody's dying, like protect your focus. That's a whole other video that we could talk about. But really at the end of the day when you block it, you get it done. So make sure you are thinking about your schedule and figuring out how you're going to protect your focus. Because again, your focus is your superpower and when you can protect it, that's when the good things happen, that's when the success happens. So definitely try that out. Let me know how that worked for you by replying back in the email or commenting below where you're watching this video. Love to hear from you. And that said, guys, this is Sean Bonner saying go out there, live with more joy, more personal growth and more impact in your communities. I'll see you guys next week when we're going to talk about how to up your people skills through inspiring people with a really quick technique. So I know you're going to love it. See you guys next time. Sean Butter signing out. Sam.