Are You Losing Focus

Are You Losing Focus?

You are a one man office-your work may be piling up, and you may even be wondering if you can get it all done. What do you do? Do you jump into the fray and tackle the “pile-up” or do you give a frustrated sigh, and turn to such distracting ventures as browsing your favorite forums, checking stats, or even playing a mindless game of solitaire? It can happen, and it does happen. Here are some things that I have done to conquer these “I’m lost” moments, which leads to procrastination.

1. Make a to-do list for each day until you get over the “I lost my focus” feeling. The to-do list gives you direction for the day. If you accomplish the tasks for a day, reward yourself.

2. TV- this is a major distraction for many. If you have a TV in your office-it’s time to get rid of it. If you can’t do that, keep the TV off while working. But you may be saying under your breath, “But there is a program I like to watch every day.” Record it, and reward yourself by watching the recording after you completed your to-do list. If you cannot record your show-you may be able to find the recording online.

3. Internet Distractions-Internet distractions, such as, reading and contributing to your favorite forum or forums or hitting the social media circuit-Twitter, Facebook, etc. can absorb you into major distractions for hours. You will need to force yourself to put aside the temptation until you have your workload under control.

Losing focus can happen anytime. For instance, on one “I’m losing focus” occasion I found myself playing a mindless game of solitaire. When my husband happened to glance in my office, his comment turned into an accusation of, “I thought you were working. You’re just playing solitaire.”

I hid my guilt by saying, “No, solitaire, helps me to collect my thoughts on what I have to do.” Whoa! How do you like that feeble excuse? He didn’t buy it. As a matter of fact, I didn’t either. We both laughed. I closed solitaire and began work in earnest on my to-do list.

All in all, losing focus is a human trait that we all have to overcome. And for the individual that works alone, it’s up to you to recognize the problem and resist the temptation. If not, the to-do list can get very long, indeed.