Do Your Best to Keep Your Focus

Do Your Best to Keep Your Focus

Many of my days are spent at my computer in my home office. In many ways the computer, (at least during my working hours), has become the center of my universe. It is where I do my preparation for my sessions with my clients, (preparing resume’ updates, reviewing and making suggestions for Linked In profiles, doing research to support clients for whom I provide both career coaching and acclimation services). When I see clients “in person,” especially in the era of the pandemic, it has been through online technology such as Zoom. Even my networking meetings, professional association meetings and often family connections have all moved in that direction.

I am grateful to have the technology that has allowed me not only both to function and do the things I love, but still be of service to those whom I am meant to help with my skills. At times I think about the last world-wide pandemic 100 years ago, and how those individuals must have felt so isolated in their world, which was pre radio, television, internet, smartphones (etc.), and all of the ways we are able to connect and of which we can take advantage.

However, with our tools of connection, comes something that perhaps our predecessors did not have to deal. We are so much more prone to distraction and losing our focus on the task immediately at hand. We live in a world of “constant noise,” and others literally “shouting for our attention.” It comes in the form of news briefs, advertisements, political arguments, opinion pieces and just plain conversation with others. The noise can come 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from all corners of the Earth, if we so desire to let it into our life. And, we can fall prey to the distraction of it, and become focused on its message as opposed to the task at hand, on which we want to focus at a particular point of time during our day.

Even writing pieces such as this can be a challenge. As I write this it is mid-afternoon on a cold January day in New Jersey. I started out with every intention of writing this piece in the late morning of my day. However, first I needed to check my email. That led me to respond to clients. Then my wife asked me to check if I still had a computer camera from my old desktop computer to see if we could loan it to a friend who did not have a camera for her computer. That led me to finding the camera, loading the software for it on my computer and testing it out. After that, I became curious to what was going on in the world, and looking at online news articles. Then a telephone call, led to a conversation with a relative.

So, just how does one keep their focus? I have found it works best when I make a commitment to myself to identify just what items that I want to get done that day. If the item may appear to take more time than I have to devote to it, I’ll ask myself is there a “piece of it,” on which I can focus, and then get back to the rest at another day and time. It may mean making sure I do not have any of my sites up that have email or internet feeds and only the software that I need to accomplish the task at hand. It could mean closing the door to my home office, so I am not distracted by anything else going on in the house.

I think most of all it requires me to make a decision on where I want to focus my energies, and in turn making sure that those energies are providing me positive feedback to what I am doing. For example, in writing these pieces as I have for almost 10 years now, my focus needs to be on my readers, the message I would like to get out there, and where I believe it can be of help, even if it is only to a handful of readers. On the other hand, if I find that a distraction drains my energy, (for example, it makes me angry or contentious about what it is asking me to do or the opinion it is asking me to accept), I know it certainly is not something I should be focusing on, and certainly not at a time when I have things I would like to get accomplished.

Where are your energies focused? Are they pointed towards your passion and make you feel positive about your day and on what you are accomplishing? Or are they of a nature where they leave you, tired, frustrated or disgusted at the end of your day? Remember it all starts with FOCUS, and on what is most important for you to get accomplished for yourself and for those you are looking to serve.