Focus is more important than most people realize it.  Without it, you can’t get anything done, and when you start to lose it, your work suffers.  Learning how to keep your focus is a mental skill that takes some practice.  Here are 5 tips to help you harness it and keep it throughout the day.

Warm Up

Each day or each block of work should start with a warm up.  Just like stretching before you exercise, you need to get your mind flexible and ‘in the zone.’  Pick a certain activity that you like doing and that relaxes you.  The best activities are those that banish all other thoughts from your mind, like meditation or light exercise.

Take Lots Of Breaks

This is absolutely the best productivity tip in the world – take lots of breaks.  Throughout the day, get up often to get away from the computer.  Engage yourself in something physical for a few minutes.  You might want to time your working and breaking.  For example, work for 40 minutes and then take a 20-minute break.  This keeps you from burning out.

Stop Multitasking

Everybody thinks that multitasking – doing more than one thing at once – is a great skill to have.  But actually, it’s a productivity killer.  It ends up taking you longer than it would to do each task individually and none of them will be done thoroughly.  Instead, focus on one task at a time and give it your full attention.  If you can’t do that, get up and take a break, and then return to the task refreshed.

Limit Distractions

Chances are, you’re indulging in lots of activities throughout the day that are distracting you and hurting your focus.  Constant email checking is probably the worst.  Instead of checking throughout the day, designate set times when you’re ‘allowed’ to check email.  The same goes for Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and whatever else distracts you.

Avoid Shiny New Objects

There will always be some kind of ‘shiny new object’ that dazzles you and keeps you from focusing.  If you find yourself obsessing with every new info product each guru puts out and loading up your hard drive with unread ebooks, it’s time to slow things down.  Focus requires you to get rid of all the noise and give your attention to one thing at a time.  Resist the lure of free downloads and the latest trends; instead, pick a method and stick with it until you start to see results.  If you have to, make a list and save all of those shiny new objects for later when you’re not busy.

It’s always a struggle to keep focus, but by following these 5 tips and catching yourself when you get distracted or turned around, you can develop much better focus skills.

Tony