Stress Management Techniques and Self Improvement

“Oh, @!#*, I forgot to check the figures I need for my next client”. “Jim, Jim, I asked what your thoughts were on the recommendation?” Jim had totally lost focus – his mind was on his next appointment and he had no idea which recommendation the MD was asking about!” Step 4 in creating an extra hour a day (email me for the 7 steps michael@timecreationcoaching.com.au) is knowing what you DO with your time and what you are thinking when you do it. Today we will look at keeping your mind focused.

Have you ever experienced what Jim was going through? Maybe at work? Maybe at home with your partner or kids? Maybe as simple as missing a turn while driving because you were on the phone or deep in thought. Yeah, we’ve all done this at times.

One of the greatest challenges our clients experience is being able to stay focused, to concentrate and stay in the moment. There are two keys that we have found to enable our clients to stay focused. They are:

• Relieving your mind of having to remember “everything”, and
• Telling your mind what it is you want to focus on right now.

The one common characteristic of people that struggle to concentrate is that there system for collecting, sorting, remembering and recalling information is ALL IN THEIR HEAD! Interestingly there is a high correlation between interrupted sleep and this trait too. The “all in my head” system means the mind must stay on and continually be ready to “make available” information that might be required. This reduces your minds ability to concentrate.

Imagine your mind is a whiteboard. Picture all your thoughts as images and words randomly put on the whiteboard. Everything you think, you feel, you need to do, you want to do is all on the board. Nothing comes off, but every hour more stuff goes on. That’s your mind using the “all in the head method”.

The solution – have a time creation system to get all that information out of your mind. Getting all the information in to a system will “clear your mind”. Picture the whiteboard again. You take everything off the whiteboard and put it in to the system. The whiteboard is now clean and you can use it to think about the task you are working on. You know that when you have completed this task you can go to your system and move on to the next task.

Now that you have your system in place you choose a task/project to work on. You know that is the most important thing to be doing right now. You tell your mind you want to focus on this task – “I choose to focus on the cash flow forecast until it is complete”. Sounds simple, and maybe a bit odd. But, it works!! By the way don’t get simple and easy mixed up 

A great starting point for improving your focus is just to notice (make a short note) when your thoughts move away from the current task. This will increase your awareness of what’s happening and provide an excellent foundation for your time creation system.

Michael Erwin is a Time Creation Coach who helps managers and sales people eliminate procrastination. His clients, include Channel 9, Coles Myer, and Hoskins Wallace Real Estate, have improved effectiveness by up to 50% and increased sales by as much as 70%. For more information go to Time Creation Coaching.

Time Can Be On Your Side!
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