Remember that an efficient and focused eight-hour day will always produce better outcomes than an inefficient and unfocused twelve-hour day. Busyness doesn’t always equate to effectiveness.
Audit your time and consider where you are getting the return for your efforts. Consider too your personal environment and how it effects your performance.
Your environment can in fact either significantly enable or greatly inhibit your ability to focus and maintain a high level of productivity. Designing and maintaining an environment that is conducive to performance is one way in which you can dramatically improve outcomes.
To begin with there is a need to remove clutter from your life. Remember that a clear room, clear desk and clear desktop helps you to maintain a clear and focused mind.
Understand also that most of your decisions are automatic in nature and that we usually choose the path of least resistance. This is often referred to as our default option i.e. choosing to change nothing or perhaps selecting the option that takes minimal effort from us.
We can, however use this innate ‘laziness’ to our advantage. So, how might you do this? Well, try to arrange your environment so that your automatic ‘lazy’ choices enhance your focus, productivity and performance rather than inhibit it.
If you are constantly checking your mobile phone, then place it out of reach. Choose to log out of apps that constantly distract so that you have to sign in to view them. Leave your gym gear by your bed each evening so that it ready for the morning. Leave those vitamins by your bedside with a grass of water. Makes good options easy and bad ones difficult. There are literally thousands of examples that are applicable to your daily routine! Optimising your choices can and will enhance your focus, productivity and performance.
Finally, always ensure that you reward your positive behaviours, particularly whenever you complete a task and use incremental rewards to reinforce good habits.
Joe McDonald, founder of create10 is a professional coach and trainer. If you, your team or organisation are seeking to improve performance then you can avail of one to one coaching, team workshops or online courses today! Email info@create10.ie & see www.create10.ie for further information.