THE 1 THING YOU MUST DO TO GET FOCUSED

This is a little thing that has been bugging me for years. It’s the ONE thing you should do to get focused. I think most people will agree with me that it is an important step towards making your dreams come true. But unfortunately, it’s one of those things people rarely do!

It’s so simple and yet so powerful. And you can apply this to your whole life in general, but also to a specific goal or project:

You need to write down what you want. You need to think about what it is you want and then write it on paper. That’s it.

Now, why is this so important? Well, let’s take a look at the benefits:

It gets your goals out of your head and onto paper. Once they are on paper, they become real, visible and tangible. You can see them and touch them. This makes them much more powerful than when they just stay in your head as vague ideas.

It makes you really focus on what you want because you need to think about it in order to write it down. Writing something down makes it much more concrete than just having an

Have you ever walked into a room and completely forgotten why you went in there?

Or have you ever sat down with the intention of writing a blog post, but then gotten distracted by Facebook?

These are both examples of how getting focused is not easy. You need to be able to focus on your values and goals. But most people struggle with this.

In fact, many people will never get focused on their values and goals for the most part. They will always remain on the hamster wheel and never really accomplish anything of significance.

Most people try to distract themselves when they feel like they can’t deal with something going in their life. They go watch TV, scroll through Facebook, or play a video game because they think it will help them feel better. But all it really does is distracts them from what they should be focusing on: their values and goals.

Right now, you are probably distracted.

You may be reading this on your smartphone during your commute to work, or you might have left it open in the background while you look up something else online.

This is a typical behavior. It’s the age of distraction, where we live in a world of constant interruption and “multitasking” is the norm.

To accomplish something meaningful and valuable, you need to get focused.

You can’t operate successfully in a state of constant distraction. To make important decisions and take action on them, you need to be able to concentrate.

Focus is not just about reducing distractions; it’s also about maximizing your effectiveness and productivity on the tasks that matter most to you.

In this article I will tell you what focus is, why it matters for achieving success in all areas of life, and how to develop the ability to focus on demand.

When you find it hard to focus, what do you do?

I used to hit the internet for a quick fix of distraction.

I’d open up Facebook or Twitter and start scrolling through my newsfeed. I’d check my emails on Gmail, then head over to Google Reader to see if anything new had come in.

After I was done with that, I’d check my Yahoo! account, then my other email accounts. I’d jump from site to site, looking for something interesting that would hold my attention.

The next thing I knew, twenty minutes had passed and I hadn’t gotten anything done.

You see, when you give in to distraction, you don’t just lose the twenty minutes spent on checking emails and social media sites. You also lose the time it takes for your brain to refocus on what you were doing before you decided to check messages and social sites.

In college, I was known as a “workaholic.” People would joke that I didn’t know how to have fun. I don’t think this was true — it was just hard for me to stop working on things and relax.

A few times per month, someone who has read my book or followed my blog will email me something along the lines of: “I’m having trouble focusing on the things that matter most to me. Do you have any advice?”

My answer is always the same: “Get rid of your distractions.”

I believe that people who are good at focusing are good at getting rid of distractions, and people who suck at focusing are bad at getting rid of distractions. It’s really that simple. Either you eliminate your distractions, or they’ll eliminate you.

So what does it mean to get rid of your distractions?

Being focused means being 100% committed to something. It means being single-minded in purpose. If you’re focused on a task, you’re saying no to everything else — especially all the other things that need to be done, but aren’t as important.

How To Actually Do Deep Work

I’ve been trying for a long time, but I can’t seem to get into the habit of deep work.

I’ve read the books, watched the videos and listened to the podcasts. I’m interested in this stuff and want to do it, but I just can’t get myself to actually do it.

I’ve tried all sorts of things – which I won’t list here – like using an app or writing 3 daily big rocks on paper or something similar. But none have worked.

Do you have any suggestions?

P.S.: The reason why I think that deep work is important is because sometimes I have a great idea (thoughts) but if I don’t write them down right away, they are gone forever and then it’s too late to do anything about it.

Focus on one thing. Focus on the exact, specific thing you want to achieve.

Jot down your goals. Find the one goal you want to focus on most.

Find out what motivates you.