By: Laurence Roy Stains
Very few men are endowed with the sort of concentration that allows them to cut through clutter and get the job done. Most of us are overwhelmed screwballs who need to learn what this focus thing is all about.
Athletes are always striving to perfect their focus. "You have to pay attention to the most task-relevant cues," says Robert M. Nideffer, Ph.D., a performance psychologist in San Diego and president of Enhanced Performance Systems. "You've got to separate signal from noise."
If you're going to advance your game and post a win, you can't get distracted—by the noise around you or the noise inside your head. You have to pinpoint what's important and execute accordingly.
The enemy of focus is distraction. Only during an Internet bubble could a distraction be so pie-in-the-sky. Usually it takes the form of the work that has to be out the door by 5 p.m. When that workload reaches inbox-busting proportions, it sucks up all your attention. The result? You get so caught up in what's urgent, you lose focus on what's important.
That crucial distinction was made by Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and it is, for my money, the best part of that best-selling classic. If you spend your days reacting to the urgent but often unimportant priorities of others, your career will consist of putting out fires. You may be efficient—but will you be effective?
Your top priorities, the things that will help you keep focused, should be your long-term goals—the projects that will define you, advance your career, and maintain your passion for your line of work.
Only your boss gets the luxury of concentrating full-time on what's important. And we all know why he's able to do that—he delegates the urgent stuff to you. If you're dizzy with conflicting demands on your time, how can you keep your eyes on the prize? Here are some smart ways.
Think by the Week
Most planning tools—calendars, daily planners, and to-do lists—help you be more efficient. But you're only prioritizing your crises each day.
Covey's cure-all: a weekly worksheet. Organize your life on a weekly basis; this allows you to schedule time for your top priorities and the actions that prevent crises.
Tell People to Leave You Alone
"It takes the average person 2 to 15 minutes to recover from each interruption," says time-management coach Joy Baldridge of Baldridge Seminars International. "Interruptions are the biggest time robbers and focus busters."
To minimize an interruption, she recommends her "plus, plus, dash" trick. Say two nice things (the plus, plus, or ++), then dash (--) off. Example: "Hey, great to see you. I wish I could talk now. Right now isn't good, though; let's talk at 3."
Clear Off Your Desk
Is your desk a mess? I hope so. Psychologists have discovered that messy desks are a necessity in a wide variety of careers. They're also distracting. Although we're barely conscious of it, we all have the same method to our madness.
We keep a "hot" pile of papers, probably next to the phone; a "warm" pile or two toward the edges of the desk; and various "cold" piles atop the filing cabinet and every other square inch of horizontal space. These last are mostly completed projects or "just in case" materials.
Their presence may ratchet up your sense of being overwhelmed. "As emotional arousal increases, focus becomes more difficult," says Nideffer. So take a rainy Saturday to stash or trash that stuff.
Straighten Out Your Life
If your output is down but your workload is the same, maybe something is bugging you. "One of the hardest things to realize is when your own emotions are slowing you down," says Jeffrey P. Kahn, M.D., a psychiatrist in New York City and president of the consulting firm WorkPsych Associates.
"Listen to what people tell you. If they ask, 'Are you okay?' it's appropriate to say, 'I'm fine,' but then ask yourself, 'Am I okay?' " If, on the other hand, you feel frazzled, but everyone admires your ability to juggle a zillion tasks, then give yourself some credit: You're multifocal. "I see that a lot, particularly among very successful people," says Dr. Kahn.
Respond Right Away
"In high-pressure situations, people tend to rush," says Nideffer. You've done this, I'm sure—you get an e-mail or memo, and because it requires a moment of thought or the retrieval of more information, you set it aside. Later on, you come back to it (when you're even more rushed) and spend time trying to figure out where you left off.
Try not to pick up the same piece of work twice. "Read it and respond," says Dr. Kahn, "rather than put it aside and think you'll respond later."
Carve Out Time
If you're feeling overwhelmed, break it down. Ask yourself, "What is it, exactly, that I'm not getting to, and how can I get to it?" Doctors need to return phone calls, contractors need to take care of paperwork, salesmen need to sit down and make long-term plans. They all need to carve out an hour or two for these tasks. "Protect that time," advises Dr. Kahn. "Then you don't have to worry about it while you go about your day."
Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit
In the end, your workday will inevitably be a hodgepodge—a crazy salad of big projects, short deadlines, interruptions, distractions, and surprises. Roll with it all, but make sure to do what Dr. Kahn calls "picking the low-hanging fruit—tackling the easy tasks that you can get done quickly. That helps you feel like you're on track."
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