How to Stay Focused: Tips for Staying on Task

[Tyrion101]

There are times in everything when you don't have the focus you need to keep at what you're doing, and I was just wondering, how do you not get sidetracked when you need to get something done?

 

[Stephen Tashi]

There are times in everything when you don't have the focus you need to keep at what you're doing, and I was just wondering, how do you not get sidetracked when you need to get something done?

You must learn about yourself and understand what motivates you, even if that knowledge isn't very flattering. (And most people do get sidetracked.) Observe your own behavior and moods objectively. Note things that affect them. It's good discipline to write down these observations..

Some random suggestions:

I notice that you tend to discuss generalities in your posts. Try asking more specific questions - but only if you can take the criticism that may come without being discouraged.

Stop watching TV and I mean completely stop. I did. I get much more done now.

 

[Evo]

There are times in everything when you don't have the focus you need to keep at what you're doing, and I was just wondering, how do you not get sidetracked when you need to get something done?

I just know that I have to get this one thing done and do it. It's a no-brainer for me. If you don't have the discipline to finish one thing in your responsibility, then you need to rethink your abilities.

It's a competitve world and either you have it or you don't. If you don't, you can try to struggle and may succeed for awhile, but you won't succeed in the long run. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's true. You may achieve mediocrity, and many people are happy with that.

I managed people for many years, my personal observations.

 

[chiro]

Hey Tyrion101.

I think the combination of Stephen Tashi's and Evo's responses are good: understand what motivates you and just get the job done.

Don't think too hard about this: if you are procrastinating then you clearly don't want to do it for some reason.

You might be interested that a lot of people require some kind of stress to keep going and to stay motivated: when people have absolutely no stressor then they can become complacent and un-motivated.

It's going to depend on really what motivates you: is it money? getting good grades? pleasing your parents? pleasing your boss? getting money so you can feed you and your family? believing so strongly in what you do and its impact on other people? wouldn't do anything else?

Depending on the motivation, you will be suited to some jobs and not others. You might be great at being told what to do but horrible at having freedom to make decisions. You might be horrible working with lots of people. You may not really care about money that much, only that you have enough to live and save a little and that the meaning of your work is more important.

You should think about the above kinds of things and realize that everyone is different, is in a different situation, has different priorities, and has different commitments and reasons for their own motivations: it's not a right or wrong thing, but it's important to identify so that you can move on to something that will work out both for you and the other people around you who interact with you.

 

[lisab]

Motivation is important, for sure. But also try to become aware of what distracts you. For me, it's stress. If I have to focus on something important, I need to clear my mind/life of what's stressing me. Having a neat, clean, quiet place is critical for me.

 

[mkongsfelt]

It can be really hard to stay focused on what you are doing some times. I have been struggling really a lot with this. I have had days going by without achieving anything at all! This is a huge problem, that could eventually end up in stress and illness. It could also just be annoying to feel that you are not achieving what you should be able to. There are no easy solutions - and the solution is always individual. But I think that a key factor is to be motivated about what you are doing. And if you are motivated, you should try to find a way to create this motivation.

As lisab also suggest, you should try to look at what distracts you. What bad habits you have. For me it has been a bad habit to start the day out by surfing the internet for news - i could end using hours without even getting started on just the first task of the day.

There are lots of other tricks to use. One thing that I have found very useful is to do the least motivating and most annoying task of the day first! It really motivates for the rest of the day to have killed that annoying task.

I hope that you could use some of these suggestions

Regards
Mikkel