Tools to increase focus

"How do you get into the zone?"

Sometimes we start working and soon find ourselves in the zone. Nothing can reach us, we are in our bubble and chip away at a task without engaging at all with the outside world. And before we realise it, a productive day has gone by in a flash and we find ourselves fresh, yet hungry, as we had forgotten to eat during the day.

I know: it's the perfect circumstance to get things done, but it doesn’t always happen, especially if the task is not exactly our most favourite thing to do. So let’s look at ways to get into the borderlands of the zone and focus on the task at hand.

The first order of the day is to make sure that any distractions are kept at a minimum. I’m talking about phone notifications and email popups! Most of us seem to be all too ready to react to those and interrupt whatever flow we have managed to create.

Turn off any notifications but plan time slots to check and engage if necessary.

Speaking of ‘time’: you may want to change your focus from “achieving a goal” to “being fully engaged”. Rather than being obsessed with the idea of finishing a task and stressing out over remaining time, why not shift your mindset to working fully focused for a given period of time and then reassessing how much you have achieved and what to do next?

Sometimes the pomodoro method is your best friend: work for a given period of time (e.g., 50 min), followed by a break (e.g., 10 min). Then repeat. It’s amazing what that shift in perception can bring about.

Use a timer to focus on progress rather than success.

Accountability for your work and progress can be a huge incentive to stay focused. I find that my clients benefit from me being around in a variety of ways.

Naturally, I help with physical task (that huge wardrobe won’t move on its own accord, right?), but the main benefit is in presence, guidance and the ultimate stick (“you are paying me by the hour, remember”). All those and many others help keep my clients focused on the task at hand and be accountable to themselves.

This element of accountability is crucial to creating focus. Some people need the pressure that’s created by another person, and that pressure can come in many forms besides being in the same room. Body doubling is perfectly feasible using a video call, for example. Having someone else working at the same time and occasionally checking in may just offer the incentive to stay on track.

This is one of the reasons why those shared working spaces have taken off as they did: people – especially those running a small business – can benefit not just from the connection to other professionals, but from the fact that there are other people working on their own projects in close vicinity.

Find a shared working space or a buddy to body double.

Focus can be created in various ways, but for anything administrative, the above seem to be working brilliantly for many people. Try it out?