Your Focus Formula: How to Successfully Stay on Task, Finish Projects and Achieve Your Goals

94 Pages·2015·0.73 MB·English

by  Diana Fitts

Your Focus Formula
How to Successfully Stay on Task, Finish
Projects and Achieve Your Goals
Written by Diana Fitts
DianaFitts.com

Published by Archangel Ink
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Copyright © 2015 Diana Fitts
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not
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Table of Contents
Part 1: Understanding Focus
Chapter 1: The Focus Myth
Chapter 2: Defining Focus
Part 2: Strategies
Chapter 3: Remembering the “Why”
Chapter 4: Visualization
Chapter 5: Disappointment
Chapter 6: Joy
Chapter 7: Excuses
Chapter 8: Getting It Done
Chapter 9: The Present Moment
Chapter 10: Too Much of a Good Thing
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Chapter 11: Lifelong Learner
Thank You
Follow Me
About the Author
Part 1: Understanding Focus
Chapter 1: The Focus Myth
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Focus. Many people hear this word today and think of monks in faraway
monasteries or ultra-marathoners that run for days on end. Maybe we all want
more focus in our lives, but that’s for other people without jobs, families, and
rush-hour traffic. We laugh and add it to the bottom of the list, below spending
the night in a bubble bath or curling up with a book.
Being able to focus feels more elusive than winning the lottery. Believe it or not,
this is what the world wants you to believe. The longer we spend distracted by
our favorite television shows, the more commercials we see and the more
companies benefit. This digital world is designed to tell us that focus is
unattainable and that we have no other choice but to split our time between
productivity and distraction.
Despite knowing what needs to be completed by the end of each day, we feel
pulled in every direction. Even when we finally work up the motivation to sit
down and start our taxes, we turn on the computer and see an alert about a
friend’s birthday. One click on a shopping site to buy a present leads to an
insatiable urge to buy a new soap dish. Hours pass, the deadline approaches, and
the allure of social media gets stronger. We make friends with a large pot of
coffee and spend the evening in a tug-of-war between the given task and
everything else the world has to offer. Who knew there were so many videos of
cats falling into bathtubs?
But what if I tell you that it is all a myth? Focus is there in every moment, just
waiting for you to use it. No matter the stream of distractions flowing through
your day, you have complete control over your time and how you spend it. Focus
is still focus and it hasn’t changed since the first day that the caveman sat down
to build a fire. The only difference today is that we need to be savvy about
trapping focus and not letting it stray.
This book is for those who want to gain control of their productivity by
discovering the elements that make up their unique focus formulas. Using simple
techniques designed to maximize time and attention, it will become clear that
modest changes can produce large results. We will examine everything from the
construction of your to-do list to the strategic integration of activities you enjoy
into your schedule. We will learn how to properly link your long-term goals to
your short-term goals so as to increase motivation and how to properly shape
your view of the present moment to get you through your most daunting and
dreadful tasks. With this book, you will learn how to shape your focus formula
so that it is easily implemented into your daily life and most challenging tasks.
This is your journey and the world around you is your guide.
How to Use This Book
This book is designed to equip you with the tools necessary to craft a lifestyle in
which you feel in control of your own focus and productivity. Through the
development of a focus formula, you will learn what that lifestyle looks like for
you. Whether you are a business owner with twenty years of expertise looking to
revamp your strategies, or you are a student looking to survive your final exams,
these techniques will help you discern how to optimize the focus in your life by
paying attention to your natural interests, dislikes, and productivity tendencies.
Focus is unique to every individual, and so too will be your journey through this
book. Some may find it useful to read from the first page to the last, and others
may want to jump around. Some may want to complete the exercises on their
computers, while others may want to use a journal to allow for further reflection.
Regardless of your preferences, I would suggest transcribing the exercises into a
separate computer document or notebook so that you can add to them as needed.
The more thorough you are with the exercises, the more insight you will gain
regarding your focus needs. This book is designed for you and, as such, needs to
meet your needs. Feel free to adapt and manipulate these techniques and
exercises as you see fit. This is your focus formula and the effectiveness of it
will be reflected by the thought and work you put into developing it.
Even in this distracting world, there is no excuse for being unfocused and
unproductive. You are in the driver’s seat of your own life and, with these
techniques, you will become better equipped to steer in the direction of your
choosing. Remember that you are in control. There’s nothing stopping you from
making today the most focused and productive day you have ever had. Focus is
not a miracle, but the results are nothing short of miraculous. So, read on and
let’s get started.
Chapter 2: Defining Focus
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Open the dictionary and you will find a definition of focus. Write it on a big
piece of paper, tape it to the wall in front of your desk, and call it a day, right?
Not so fast. Assuming that one definition will serve a wide array of needs is like
assuming that one road will lead to Los Angeles, New York City, and
Philadelphia. While focus may be a universal goal, the way it manifests itself in
daily life looks different from person to person and situation to situation.
Imagine that a songwriter and a university professor had to share an office
cubicle for a day. After debates of who gets to sit closer to the air conditioning,
both pull out their materials and get to work. It isn’t long before the songwriter is
distracted by the piles of papers that are crowding his space, and the professor is
holding his fingers in his ears so as not to hear the same lyrics repeated over and
over again at every possible speed and tone. The day ends and the only thing that
either has accomplished is getting a headache.
The problem isn’t that songwriters and professors have an innate hatred for each
other. Despite their differences, I’m sure the two would find each other
fascinating at a dinner party. Instead, it’s likely that the two have very different
definitions of focus. While focus to a songwriter might entail listening to a piece
of work on repeat, a professor might want pure silence. While the songwriter
might only want his computer and guitar, the professor finds it useful to make
notes on pieces of scrap paper with a big red pen. Similar to the way we all have
different preferences, dreams, and goals, we all have different needs when it
comes to enlisting the mental wherewithal to complete a task.
It may seem obvious that a songwriter and a professor may run into conflicts
when working in the same space. However, this problem is just as prevalent