I must admit that I have a very hard time finding focus and getting things done. I am probably not the only one. Is this laziness or something else? I vote for something else. It sounds better, and I have ample evidence of being able to work hard, especially when I am interested in something. So what is the problem? My assessment is that I am fairly easy to distract and that the world is made up of distractions.

If you think about it, distractions are all around us masquerading as fun, news, opportunities, et cetera. You may begin your day with a goal or a plan and have a clear idea of when and what you want to do but then you think of something else that is fun, interesting, or even more important. Sometimes you are absolutely right in your assessment, yet the initial task never got off the ground. Consider this, there was a reason you wanted to do that particular task in the first place. Now, though, you have not accomplished it in favor of doing something else. This is not always bad, just something to be aware of.

So how do you find focus?

My idea is this: Simplify and slow down. Find the one thing that you really want to do today after some quiet reflection and then begin the task with as few distractions present as you can manage.

And as a little experiment try this: Don’t give yourself a specific time frame but try and do the task as well as it can possibly be done before moving on to the next thing. Yes, I am advocating having no massive To-Do list for this particular focus experiment. For some that will be very hard, almost unthinkable, but if you can’t focus anyway and end up with a list of un-done tasks to be moved to the next day then why not give this a try?

In the end, you might accomplish only that one important thing but that is a base to build on. I have an idea that succeeding in focus on one task will lead you to the next quite naturally. Focusing is a skill that can be learned and developed, but as with all skills you need to practice it regularly.